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Heart murmur gradingCan anyone explain it please? Basically one of the new rescues has a grade 3/5 heart murmur (presumably that means it's a grade 3 out of 5 grades). She's a 9 year old black and white female who came in with a black and white 6 year old male after their owner no longer wanted them so dumped them both and left them to fend for themselves 
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Sorry RCR - I don't know. Have you Googled? |
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 Edit: have now but still don't understand it  |
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Heart murmurs are common in cats, quite a few of our elderly ones have them. The vets generally say not to worry about them, unless the cat starts to show illnes, like coughing etc. They can evetually go into heart failure, which in turn will make them suseptible to a thrombosis. You must also be careful about them being given steroid injections because this can also lead to heart failure. Spice has had a heart murmur since we got her, at 15 and she is now nearly 19, she has many other problems, but her heart murmur doesn't appear to bother her. |
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Is it just elderly cats and kittens that can get it or can younger cats get it as well farthing? (just out of curiosity) |
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My friends Siamese girl had a heart murmur; she was only 2ish when it was diagnosed; never seemed to bother her. |
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RCR cats can be born with a heart murmur (my cat Arthur has a pronounced heart murmur) you can actually see it if you watch him as well as listen to his chest - the vets did some tests on him and think that he was born with it (basically a faulty valve in his heart) As long as the cat is active I wouldn't worry too much. The vet might be able to do some tests and give you an idea if the cat was born with it or if it is due to heart disease, Arthur saw a specialist in Colchester who put some dye into his blood stream and then did an ultrasound (linked to a monitor) to see the flow of the dye and his blood, he reckoned as Arthur had always been very active that he was born with it, and he is still very active now. |
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The new cat, Molly, we have just taken in has a murmur and she is 8, and there is no recording of one being present when she was last seen at the vet, in 2007. |
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There are actually 6 grades of heart murmurs ranging from Grade 1 being the least to Grade 6. Some kittens are born with heart murmurs which can disappear as the kittens grow, much like humans. More serious heart murmurs in very young kittens often lead to the kitten dying or being pts usually once weaning has started. This is due to the heart not being able to cope with the growth of the kitten. Cats can lead a relatively normal life with the lower grades of heart mumurs with yearly check ups to monitor the heart and the grading, which can increase. Cats can also just develope heart murmurs of all the grades. My Tate developed a grade 5 heart murmur aged seven and a half and died because of it just turmed eight. The prognosis of a cat with a grade 5 or 6 is not good. Grade 3 should be able to be monitored. One cause of heart murmurs can be HCM so it may be worth investigating that. A DNA test has been developed for HCM in Ragdolls and Maine Coons as it is a genetic issue with these two breeds. |
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Thank you for that, Kay, very informative. |
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