Heart Murmur In Cats And Anesthesia

In a study performed in cats with a cardiac murmur but without any clinical symptoms ultrasound examination of the animals revealed that 53 of these cats suffered from heart disease NAKAMURA et al 2011.

Heart murmur in cats and anesthesia. Cats and murmurs are a little bit of an enigma. The murmur may first appear at 6-8 weeks of age and a kitten with an innocent heart murmur will usually outgrow it by about 4-5 months of age. What Are The Symptoms Of A Heart Murmur In Cats.

There are usually no external symptoms clinical signs of a heart murmur in itself. Anaesthesia in dogs and cats with cardiac disease. More if there is more complication.

Cats with HCM can have normal lives and then as they get older the heart can start to fail. On the other hand heart murmur in cats and surgery expenses go anywhere from 800 to 1500. A thorough physical examination may reveal risk factors such as heart murmur andor arrhythmia.

Prevalence of cardiomyopathy in apparently healthy cats. The ultrasound will tell us a lot. A leaky valve or dysfunctional large vessel will mean that there is usually backflow of blood which means that the output of the heart is decreased and the heart will need to work harder to move the same amount of blood than a normal heart.

An echocardiogram cardiac ultrasound is a simple non-invasive imaging test that can evaluate your murmur. If the heart murmur is severe enough to cause heart disease such as congestive heart failure then signs such as coughing difficulty breathing rapid breathing or even collapse may be seen. To be clear you want to avoid anesthesia if possible but it is not something that has to be avoided at all costs.

It is therefore imperative to reach a complete cardiac diagnosis rather than to settle for a diagnosed murmur as reason enough to avoid general anesthesia especially when non-elective procedures are considered. Heart murmurs in cats can be associated with structural heart disease pathological heart murmurs but a high percentage of cats with murmurs appear to have no evidence of structural heart disease non-pathological heart murmurs. Anesthetic events known medical conditions and previous ad-verse drug responses.