HEART MURMUR RELATED: Puce's bloodwork results are in

[papie]

There is nothing obviously abnormal that could explain the heart murmur.  It isn't her thyroid.  Ugh.  The vet recommended a heart X-ray, AND a referral to a cardiologist and a heart ultrasound.  I told her we will hold off on the X-Ray because she couldn't give me a good enough reason to do both, and we will call the cardiologist. 

That is $150 for the consultation and about $400 for the ultrasound. 


FML.  Now how do I tell DH?  And it's MY cat.  grumblegrumblegrumble

ETA: trying to get more views, lol.  Does anyone have experience with this?  I spoke to H and although he says we can do it if necessary, he is wondering what the point of the u/s is.  Like, what happens AFTER? Can we treat it? Is it something that may require surgery, which we may or may not do? Or do we just want to know for the sake of knowing?

I have to call my vet back before booking the cardiology appt basically, because as usual, H has a million questions whereas I am all "ok, sure!".  But my vet doesn't work tomorrow. 

[papie]

bump.  I do what I want.  :-P

[papie]

I don't know, she didn't tell me. Ugh, I really need to call back and find out, I was just reading about class/grading online.

But my cat will be a GOOD patient, lol. She just freezes and sits there when at the vet or the groomer.

[papie]

May 9, 2013 20:30:23 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

I have a heart murmur. Well.. sometimes it shows up on EKGs and sometimes it doesn't.

This would be a lot more helpful if you were a cat, lol. 

But so do they know why you have that? Will it go away? Is it dangerous?

[zoidberg]

I would want to know if there are treatment options and what the possible outcomes are. If it's purely informative, I would not bother.

[papie]

May 9, 2013 20:39:17 GMT -5 @tambcat said:

May 9, 2013 20:32:41 GMT -5 papie said:

This would be a lot more helpful if you were a cat, lol. 

But so do they know why you have that? Will it go away? Is it dangerous?

I'M NOT A CAT?!?

lol. Okay, here's the story. My mom has mitrol  valve prolapse, so when my pedi detected a heart murmur, she referred me to her heart specialist husband, who listened to my heart, said, yep, murmur, must be MVP. I was medicated for dental appointments for several years. Then I saw a new doctor, mentioned the murmur, she did an EKG, and no murmur. It was assumed to have resolved itself. THEN I saw another doctor later for palpitations, and she did an EKG, and there WAS a murmur. But it was not MVP (can't remember how they knew this) and nothing to worry about. Then I think I had someone else listen to my heart later, and that person didn't hear a murmur. It's all kind of fuzzy. All I know is that I may or may not have a murmur, but if I do, it's not a big deal, doesn't impact my life, and nobody seems worried about it.

I think I missed the backstory on Puce, but I wouldn't be worried about just a murmur if she seems healthy. But there must be some reason you took her in....

eta: oh yeah, my mom does have MVP, and it's not a big deal. The only thing she's had to do was take antibiotics before dental cleanings and certain surgeries, and they are saying they aren't even necessary before cleanings now.

She just went in for her regular shots and checkup. She really needs a dental cleaning, so I was like "Ok, let's book the appt" and the vet was like "oooooh wait!  I hear a heart murmur.  I don't think we ever heard one before?"

and that's how it all started.  I hate how they pile on the tests and stuff and you end up paying more on vet bills for the month than on your mortgage.  And MY MORTGAGE AIN'T CHEAP. 

Ugh. 

[janiejones]

Mr.JJ has a heart murmur, and when I found Pepperoni, and mentioned the Murmur he thought they were kindered souls, so we adopted Pep.

We have an extensive review of what the murmur indicated/presented as at the time he was rescued, but all of it can mean nothing. Pep lives a more sedentary dog lifestyle and the murmur doesn't seem to have increased at all. (They listened a bit at his last check-up and weren't concerned that it has grown at all).

[natsnow]

I hear that, sister. I took my cat in for surgery to remove bladder stones and the vet told me he had a murmur. no one has ever mentioned it before and he's only 2. shetold me I could ttake him to a cardiologist and get an echo if we want to know. idk, he didn't end up having the surgery and he has a follow up appointment in a few weeks, so we'll see. I'm not really sure what to do, bc like you said... does it really change anything? although I have a strong attachment to my cat and am kind of a crazy cat lady, so we'll see I guess.

[goaskalice]

Maybe I'm super ignorant, but our car has a heart murmur and our vet doesn't seem at all bothered by it. She didn't suggest any further tests, she said she'd watch it and let us know if it gets worse.

[belovedbride07]

We just dropped $600 at the vet last week, and apparently our fluffy has a heart murmur.  He had one before when he had hyperthyroidism, but his thyroid is gone and no vet heard it again until last week.

Unfortunately, the reason we were at the vet was blood in his vomit, so the vet wasn't too focused on the heart murmur.  We did a full chest/abdomen x-ray and there was nothing abnormal (well, not with his heart or abdomen...we did end up paying extra to have the x-rays reviewed by a specialist because he had spots in his lung that could've been cancerous, but thankfully don't appear to be).  She feels pretty strongly that the murmur and whatever his gastrointestinal issue is are not related; she thinks its possible that the murmur is a structural issue that only sometimes results in a murmur.  Or something like that...I was kind of focused on the "your cat might have X, Y, or Z serious disease" and don't remember all of the details.

So...maybe this isn't much help because apparently our vet thinks this is NBD (at least for now).

[isabel]

May 9, 2013 20:34:18 GMT -5 zoidberg said:

I would want to know if there are treatment options and what the possible outcomes are. If it's purely informative, I would not bother.

This is where I am.

Our dog had advanced lung cancer. We did everything we could to get a good diagnosis because we wanted to see if it was treatable. It ended up being too much, so we didn't do anything with the information. That said, we knew there could potentially be treatment options, which made it easier to justify the exploratory screenings.

If they can't do much for the murmur, I'm not sure it makes much sense to figure out what the situation is. I'd want to know the potential outcomes and treatments available before spending that much.

[iamgrace]

How long has the cat had the murmur and how severe is it?

Penny has had a murmur all her life and my first vet wanted us to do ultrasounds, etc, etc.

Her second vet says the murmur is so very slight that its not worth worrying about (yet) and to just watch for symptoms of heart problems.

It is so slight that he couldn't hear the murmur until I told him she had one. I don't know if the second vet is just shitty, or what, but Penny is in good health still.

[papie]

Thanks everyone. belovedbride07, I hope your car has nothing serious! I am sorry for everyone with sick pets.

iamgrace, I don't know how severe it is, the vet said she could hear it very clearly. She is almost 10 and it is the first time anyone has ever mentionned a murmur. I think that is why she wants it checked, because it is a new thing for her.

I'll leave a message for the vet to call me back and discuss possible outcomes and treatments before calling the cardiologist.