What do I do about "kitty heart murmurs"???

Question

I just recently took my cat Jazz (who is male and 4 1/2 years old) to the vet because I thought he had a broken tail as he was no longer moving it and is normally very expressive with it. I took him to the pet hospital on Tues. of this week and they took x-rays and found that he had some trauma to his spine right above his tail. Then they told me that he was constipated pretty bad and that I was to bring him back in the following day to get IV's to prepare for sedation and an enema to clean him out. After he was dropped off, they called me at work saying that he had been breathing through his mouth a lot, coughing, and that they had heard a heart murmur when doing an exam. by then, I had already racked up a pretty heavy bill and they wanted me to do all these extreme tests to check his heart including an MRI at another facility before they could help him further. Then this nurse told me if i didn't do the tests, he could die at any time without warning!!! WTF! HELP!!!!!!!

All that I am doing now is giving him liquid laxitives three times per day, feeding canned food and canned pumpkin, and giving him lots of love! He's starting to move his tail more and seems to have more energy. I'm just really worried and stressed out by the way the pet hospital, and especially the nurse, handled the situation because they didn't leave me with much besides to have all the tests done for them to "know anything" and to put him on medication!!! Well, if meds are anything like ours, they will have side effects and will cause other problems. I feel at this point that he will be with me as long as he's supposed to be, but if there is anything I can do to keep him healthy and happy that I'm not already doing, I would jump to do it! THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT HAS ANSWERED AND SHOWED CONCERN FOR MY "JAZZY KITTY", IT REALLY HELPS TO RELIEVE SOME OF MY WORRY!!!

Answer 1

what a difficult situation. I'm so very sorry to hear it.

In general there isn't much that can be done about heart murmurs.. they either get better or they don't.

but you have so much more going on here than just a simple murmur.. Sounds like the trauma to his spine has caused a lot of problems.

I can sit here and armchair this, but honestly I think the best solution would be for you to go in and have an honest conversation with your vet about Jazz's chances of recovery. If you do all the tests, then what..

from the very limited information you have posted, it doesnt sound good. I hope there is a solution in there..

Answer 2

There are many MANY types of heart murmurs (over 200 types just in people). Some cats will have a murmur one year, but not the next. I've had one that had a murmur till he was on the operating table for removal of an internal cyst, they said his heart was strong and steady the whole time with no murmur showing... so it really depends.

There is a murmur associated with cardiomyopathy where the ventricles of the heart thicken up and have a hard time pumping blood. With this disease you really can't do anything, science has no cure for that. I lost a cat (out of the blue!) who had this develop over one year's time. He was fine the previous year at his annual physical, but in 11 months it came on so hard and fast that what looked to be an upper respiratory ended up actually being a chest full of fluid and practically no blood pressure to move blood through his heart.

The nurse should give you the upper and lower limits of what they think is going on with your cat. Don't do expensive tests if this won't be able to do anything other than tell the vet it's hopeless, MRI's are usually not useful. If there is heart disease there already, they can't do a whole lot about it. All the tests would say is that the walls of the heart are thicker than they should be. There's no reversing the process.

You can say no to any proceedure.

Answer 3

I am NOT A VET, but to let you know, my oldest cat is 18 and has a congenital heart murmur from birth. Well, she has lived a good long life so far, and other then having a touch of arthritis is very health and extremely active(like she's still a kitten) for such an old cat. My vet always wants to do as many tests as he can, but you don't HAVE to do them all. I would go back and talk to your Vet about what they could even do if they found anything with an MRI, then deiced if you really want to spend the money. It sounds like you take very good care of your cat's health, but everyone has an upper limit to what they can spend. Get more info first and then make the decision on IF you can spend the money on an MRI.

Answer 4

i'm very sad to hear about Jazz's problems. i hope he gets better!

i had a cat who had a heart murmer. she lived a nice, long life and it never gave her issues.

i'd have a talk with your vet to see if they think Jazz will make it, and decide how much $ you can spend on the tests and whatnot. if Jazz will get better that's one thing, but if you're going to face a possible death no matter what you do, then it's another.

i had a little kitty i had to put to sleep because he developed FIP. it took 3 visits to our normal vet and a trip to the university animal hospital to get a diagnosis. then i had to put him to sleep because nothing can be done about FIP. i have his ashes and am still heartbroken over my cat. however, i know he was suffering a LOT and being put to sleep was the right choice.

so, you have to know your options. hopefully Jazz will come through it!

Answer 5

i've got self assurance a heart will become heavy while it cares deeply approximately somebody or something it can't help or replace. I surely have a heavy heart yet I even have solid buddies and family individuals as a help equipment...and that makes residing with a heavy heart ok.