XPost from ML: Cat heart murmur questions

[papie]

My girl's bloodwork is back.  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

 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. 
Read more: pandce.proboards.com/thread/175078/heart-murmur-related-bloodwork-results#ixzz2SqgEQup6

ETA: Additional info: She is almost 10 years old and this is the first we have heard the murmur.  She is otherwise healthy and slim, and just needs to get her teeth cleaned, which the vet won't do without knowing more about the murmur.  But it shouldn't be the only reason, right?

[lavender444]

I had a Yorkie and a Boxer that had heart murmurs. My experience with it was short lived with both of them. My Yorkie had Congestive Heart failure and it moved quickly. My Boxer had cardiomyopathy and was too old to go through treatments so we did comfort measure only for him.

I, personally would schedule a sit down with the cardiologist and wait to do images until after the consult. Most specialists have sit down appointments where you can discuss the best course of action before doing any testing. A cardiologist will have more highly trained ears than the standard vet, too. They'll be able to listen to the type of murmur it is and have a much better idea of what's going on and if testing is even neeeded. I've learned from experience that specialist like to do their own testing anyways since their machines are more sensitive. To save yourself money I would just do all the testing with them, since a treatment plan will be made with them anyways. But I agree with you, if you are going to do the ultrasound (which is what we always had done) the x-ray won't show you much that the ultrasound cannot. The x-ray will mainly tell you if the heart is enlarged, or there is fluid around it. The ultrasound can do that as well. The x-ray will be cheaper, though.

As far as treatment, for both of my dogs treatment options they were mostly medical and not surgical. We've been pretty unlucky with our dogs heath and have seen a specialist for a lot of things. I find that most animal treatment closely mimics human treatment. And very rarely has surgery been in the treatment plan. Most things are controled by medication. Make sure before you go in, you and your husband have a plan for yourselves about how far you want to go with treatment. I've found that just because you can treat, doesn't always mean you should. Once you get to the specialist those lines become really blurry.

GL to you and your kitty!

[caligurl]

The oldest of my 2 cats is 10 years old and he has had a mild murmur basically since birth. At every exam over the years the vet would listen and note but never anything more. Just recently, due to his age, she ordered a chest xray and blood work (senior blood panel). The blood work is standard when cats reach 10 years but the xray was as a precaution because she thought the murmur sounded louder than it has over the years. Everything came back normal and he's fine. The visit was expensive but the peace of mind is priceless. This cat is "mine" technically because H gave him to me as a gift when he was only 6 months old but he is definitely ours because H loves him so much. H always winces at the vet bills but he has never complained about paying them. I would vote to get the procedure done so at least you'll know if there is anything there that requires monitoring, medication, etc. Then once you have a baseline, you can make a more informed decision about future procedures. Good luck!