Our cat has one. She'll be 5 yrs old next month. I don't know if she's had it all along, but we've known about it for a year or more. Supposedly the size/type/location is pretty common in cats and also is not a problem (or at least it isn't at this time). The one vet at the animal hospital suggested having her checked an extra time or so a year, to make sure there's no change, but otherwise there's nothing we need to do. I would guess different types of murmurs would be more problematic than others. Ask your vet to clarify the situation for you.

Good luck!

Some kittens do grow out of a heart murmur, depending on what the cause of the murmur is. If the murmur gets louder or does not go away, then it should be investigated further by a cardiologist.

meghane, our cat's murmer has been there awhile (as I mentioned). Our vet(s) isn't concerned about it. He says the murmer she has is very common (some % of cats--a fairly high am't, have one like hers). Would you think we're ok just having them listen to her heart twice a year (vs. once)?

Hi cat mom, got your email, thanks.

There are such things as innocent murmurs, where we can't find a cause. But without doing an echocardiogram there is no way to tell if the murmur is innocent or not. Cats tend to get certain diseases such as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy which can cause murmurs. This disease gets progressively worse and may eventually lead to heart failure. It can be treated though. Of course, it's impossible to treat a disease if you don't know it's there. There is no way to tell just by listening if there is a cause for the murmur or not. Many cats with HCM are stable for a long time, and their murmur doesn't get louder even though the disease is progressing.

For some reason, cats get the short end of the veterinary stick. The AVMA just published the updated Pet Demographic Sourcebook and found that cats are less likely to see a vet, and people are less likely to spend as much money on a cat as a dog. In fact, the number of cats seeing vets just once a year has DECREASED while the number of cats as pets has INCREASED. I think that some vets are unintentionally supporting this trend by not recommending the same high quality of care as they would a dog, assuming people wouldn't do it anyway. Which of course is wrong. Also since your kitty doesn't seem to have any clinical signs of heart disease, sometimes vets don't recommend finding out what the murmur is. I don't think it is wrong to not investigate a murmur that isn't causing a problem, but I do think it is wrong for the vet to not offer it to you, especially since it could be caused by a treatable disease. Listening just isn't enough. IMHO of course!

Our vet knows that we are pretty proactive when it comes to care for our cats (our other one recently had a skin biopsy done to try to determine the cause of some patches of hair loss). I can't imagine that he wouldn't recommend an echocardiogram if he felt it was warranted.

What exactly is involved with doing an echocardiogram; e.g., sedation? hospital stay? ??? Would a regular vet be able to do one, or would that need to be done by a heart specialist?

He may not have felt it warranted then, especially since the murmur has not gotten worse and your cat is not affected. Echos, especially done by a cardiologist, are pretty expensive- usually $200-300. Between the cost and the fact that most likely the murmur is innocent, he may have decided that it isn't worth investigating.

If you were going to get an ultrasound, I would recommend getting it done by a cardiologist. However if that was not possible, some regular vets can do it, but not all have experience or an ultrasound machine capable of doing echos. Most cats do not have to be sedated, they just have to lay there for ~10 minutes while they get the images with the ultrasound. They prefer not to sedate because it can affect how the heart beats, and not be a true representation of what is going on. However, a mild sedative can be used if kitty is being ucooperative. Most cardiologists have pets dropped off in the morning and picked up later the same day, so they can get to patients as time allows without having Mom wait forever. The biggest limiting factor for a regular vet to do echos is that many don't have the equipment- a very nice ultrasound machine- or the experience. They don't teach echos in vet school, so most regular vets who do echos have gone through some extra continuing education program. Some radiologists do echos also, which is another option.

Both vets (on separate visits) have said that there is nothing to worry about, so I am reasonably sure that the murmer is innocent.

We went through a lot about 5 years ago with our two previous, older cats, as well as our kitten (who was with us for too short a time). Our vet knows us to be pro-active when it comes to care for our cats. I would think if he felt it warranted, he'd suggest taking her for an U/S.

We'll be going to the animal hospital to check both cats' weights again next month (our girls with the murmer could stand to lose a lb or so, so we're weight watching at the moment). I'll ask the vet then about echo/U/S, and what grade or level the murmer is.

Thanks for the info Meghane! As always, you have been very helpful!