On 13 Sep, 17:37, "Irulan" wrote:
I took Lily in today for her yearly check-up and shots.
Everything checked out ok, except that she has a heart
murmur. They suggest performing an ultra-sound to see
exactly what is causing the murmur. On a scale of 1-6,
her heart murmur is about a 2-3. The vet says if she was
up in years (10-12) they wouldn't worry so much, but Lily
is only 5.

We will schedule the procedure, but we have to wait a
couple of months to have the money. It's not an
emergency, but any purrs or prayers for her well-being
would be much appreciated.

I know you're worried, but please don't panic. A majority of the cats
I've had have had a heart murmur, Izzi, Spook, Cav and Annie were all
diagnosed with them, ranging from mild to 'quite severe'. Cav's is the
worst, according to the vet, and he was diagnosed at 2 years old. He's
8 now, and he regulates himself, staying in cooler parts of the house,
not running around too much etc. It's not got any worse, and he's in
good health. Annie's actually got a lot better between the age of 12
months and two years.

I do wonder what the point of the ultrasound would be. If it's going
to be a struggle to find the cost of the ultrasound, which won't
actually help Lily, then why do it? If the vet finds out that the
murmur is due to something that is fixable but expensive, it doesn't
really leave you or Lily any better off, and as I said, cats seem to
deal fairly well with the problem without outside help. A scale 2-3
murmur may not need any treatment, and I would question whether the
ultrasound procedure is really necessary. My vets have always 'kept an
eye on' the situation. Izzi's death was partly due to kidney problems,
and partly to the heart murmur, but she was 16 going on 17 when she
died, and her murmur was a 2-3 / 3-4 depending on the vet listening to
it.

Anyway, there's lots of advice out there on the net, including this:-

http://www.cats.org.uk/documents/vet...01-heartmurmur

I wish you and Lily all the best.

Jeanette