Heart Murmur In Cats Uk

Heart murmur is also known as heart arrhythmia.

Heart murmur in cats uk. A heart murmur is one of several types of abnormal sounds your veterinarian can hear when listening to your pets heart with a stethoscope. However the clinical signs may be subtle and not noticeable until the disease becomes advanced. Heart ultrasound echocardiography is very helpful as it allows a view of the internal dimensions of the heart the wall thickness and the contractility of the heart to be assessed.

Murmurs in cats do commonly change in intensity with stressexcitement or variation in heart rate. In some cases affected kittens will actually outgrow the murmur as they reach maturity and the heart too grows to full functionality and this condition is fairly common and rarely impairs the cats heart function in later life. Heart murmurs are very common in cats one study shows more than one third of cats have a heart murmur.

What is heart murmur in cats. Like others have said a murmur is a really unhelpful symptom because it can mean that the cat has heart problems like HCM or nothing at all. A heart murmur may be heard by your vet when he or she listens to your cats heart.

A specialist is your best bet to know for sure if its just a murmur or if there are actual heart issues. However the significance of a murmur very much depends upon the situation. Heart murmurs in cats can be due to the excitement of the veterinary visit physiologic heart murmurs or due to underlying heart disease.

In some cases sudden death of affected cats can even occur. This results in an abnormal noise which can be heard by your vet when listening with a stethoscope. Many healthy cats with a heart murmur never develop any problems with their heart and go on to lead long happy and healthy lives.

It can also show where a heart murmur is originating from. Normally two distinct sounds are heard when listening to the heart of a normal dog or cat. What are the signs of heart disease.