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Old October 5th 06, 12:35 AM posted to rec.pets.cats.health+behav
Lynne
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Default Cat heart murmur and incompetent humane society vet


wrote:

What type of murmur exactly is this?

In any case, regardless, be extremely careful of the condition of the
teeth.

With cats this is for sure, teeth problems go straight to the heart.
It's probably the same for people but it's not been studied that much
with people.

If the murmur is caused by valve irregularities, then the bacteria from
the teeth, traveling in the blood stream, have an easy time latching
onto the valves. Then there is a life threatening condition of
bacterial endocarditis.

I have noticed that people doctors will also miss a murmur. They just
want the individual in and out and are doing the most cursory of
stethoscope examinations. Although most doctors will say that murmurs
are benign, that may be so statistically. But the ones that are not
benign, in the end, will kill you, inevitably. THe last research I read
gave a mean of around 7 years before death [for people] when the murmur
is no longer benign, unless there is surgical intervention. And most
quacks don't know enough to even begin to figure out which benign
murmur will not be benign in the future. So they throw out meaningless
generalities.

I would ask the human society to pay for the heart surgery if needed.
Do they make little kitty heart valves? That will be one big bill.
Also, I would ask them to look into care. It is possible that a beta
blocker and an ACE inhibitor will buy time when the murmur is no longer
"benign." These drug are not too expensive. A beta blocker is dirt
cheap. I don't know if this is done with felines.


8 in 1000 human babies are born live annually in this country with
congenital heart defects of one degree or another. Many of those
defects are not diagnosed until autopsy, after the person dies of
other, unrelated causes later in life. This makes it pretty clear that
the vast majority of heart defects are benign. I doubt there are
similar statistic for cats. Regardless, whether human or feline, if a
murmur is indicative of a life threatening problem, there will be
symptoms beyond the murmur. Humans with good medical care are prudent
to explore any murmurs. Unless and until Charlie demonstrates
symptoms, there is no reason for his servant, Rich, to be worried. If
he has the means, getting an echo will be more definitive than watching
and waiting. Maybe. I don't see any reason to alarm him if the kitty
is healthy and thriving, which he would not be if he had any kind of
life threatening cardiac anomaly.

Good dental hygiene is important regardless.