My kitten has a 4/6 heart murmur. What should I know and do?

Congrats on your new pet! Adoption is a wonderful thing. When Winston sees your veterinarian, discuss diagnostics to confirm and establish a baseline for his condition. Common tests may include chest x-rays to assess cardiac size and an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) to assess cardiac architecture and function. The echo, more than any other diagnostic, will determine if he will need medication to manage his condition. You can read more about cardiac conditions at this link: http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/Health_Information/HeartDisease.cfm

Bonus would need a cardiac exam including ultrasound to determine the cause of her heart murmur and possible prognosis or treatment. Heart murmurs can because by defects with in the heart itself, pulmonary hypertension, or patent ductus arteriosus among other things. In a cat there is no way to determine what is causing the murmur without doing imaging of the heart. Each potential cause may have a different treatment or prognosis. Cost for an exam and cardiac work up can vary by region and also individual veterinary clinic. There may also be a difference in fees based on whether the exam was performed by a general practitioner or a veterinary cardiologist. I would recommend starting with a local general practitioner veterinarian for physical exam and wellness assessment. From there they can make recommendations as to your next step or possible referral if recommended. I would strongly recommend trying to prevent her from becoming pregnant again until you know her heart condition, as pregnancy and labor can severely stress the heart. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding your potential new puppy. Young puppies can occasionally have what is known as an innocent murmur. This is a heart murmur they will outgrow usually by 6 months of age and is not associated with any ongoing disease. Other murmurs are associated with congenital heart disease and go on to cause the puppy significant disease. I recommend having the puppy evaluated by a board certified veterinary cardiologist. A procedure known as an echocardiogram will likely be needed to assess for any structural heart disease. This will give you the longterm prognosis for the puppy. I hope this information helps!

At this age, as long as Kona is doing well, I would just monitor for now. Continue going in every 3 weeks for her vaccinations and the veterinarian will check the murmur with each visit. Innocent murmurs, which happen often, are harmless heart murmurs that typically show up around 6-8 weeks of age and can persist for several months. The murmur will typically resolve by 4-6 months of age. If the murmur is still there at the time it is recommended to spay, I would hold off on the spay procedure and have a cardiologist do an echocardiography on her to see what the cause of the murmur is. I would avoid making her exercise too hard but she can still play. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction!

There is not much to be done for a heart murmur in a cat. Regular checkups with a vet will hopefully be able to catch early heart failure when medications can be started. You can also talk to your vet about the cause of the heart murmur and talk to them about possible medications that can be started now in hopes of delaying heart failure. It sounds like the medications that Susie is on are a good start for IBD. Other things that can commonly help are probiotics, immune stimulants like antioxidants and acupuncture, hypoallergenic food diet, Feliway, and steroids. Without intestinal biopsies, IBD is nearly identical to intestinal lymphoma. Here are some helpful articles: http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=3650 http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=598

Hi, thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! A grade 4 heart murmur is loud for such a young dog. He should have a chest X-ray, heart worm test and an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) with a cardiologist to diagnosis what is causing the heart murmur. Then you can be provided a prognosis and treatment plan. These tests can be expensive. X-rays cost over $100 and the echocardiogram costs around $4-500. Medications cost depends on what his diagnosis is as does life expectancy. I would see if the rescue can get these done for you prior to adoption. Good luck!

A murmur is the sound of abnormal blood flow through the heart. It is not an indication of function. The next step would be to have an echocardiogram (ultrasound of the heart) performed on Molly. This would assess cardiac architecture as well as function. An echo can be done by your veterinarian and then submitted to a veterinary cardiologist for review or you can schedule it directly with a specialist. Afterwards, medications would be dispensed if indicated. Life expectancy would be determined by the severity of her condition. This could be discussed with the veterinarian after results of the echo are returned.