Heart Murmur In Cats And Anesthesia

But sometimes the position cats are standing in when we listen can affect the sounds we hear.

Heart murmur in cats and anesthesia. Heart Murmurs in Cats. It is therefore imperative to reach a complete cardiac diagnosis rather than to settle for a diagnosed murmur as reason enough to avoid general anesthesia especially when non-elective procedures are considered. A systematic evaluation of murmur characteristics is indicated when a heart murmur is detected in a cat.

If the heart murmur is severe enough to cause heart disease such as congestive heart failure then signs such as coughing difficulty breathing rapid breathing or even collapse may be seen. Typically murmurs are caused by leaky heart valves or a narrowing or thickening of the chambers of the heart or heart muscle which can indicate heart disease. Cat heart murmur medication costs between 200 and 500.

On the other hand heart murmur in cats and surgery expenses go anywhere from 800 to 1500. ANESTHESIA FOR FELINE PATIENTS WITH HEART DISEASE Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy HCM is the most common cardiac disease in cats. Anesthetic events known medical conditions and previous ad-verse drug responses.

Anesthesia paired with any cardiological condition poses a serious risk and many veterinarians will refuse to perform the operation entirely if they suspect a murmur. The murmur may first appear at 6-8 weeks of age and a kitten with an innocent heart murmur will usually outgrow it by about 4-5 months of age. The presence or absence of a murmur is not a good predictor of heart disease in cats.

Lumb and Jones V eterinary Anesthesia and Analgesia. A veterinarian cannot tell the cause of the heart murmur just by listening to the heart. A leaky valve or dysfunctional large vessel will mean that there is usually backflow of blood which means that the output of the heart is decreased and the heart will need to work harder to move the same amount of blood than a normal heart.

Heart murmurs in cats can be associated with structural heart disease pathological heart murmurs but a high percentage of cats with murmurs appear to have no evidence of structural heart disease non-pathological heart murmurs. To be clear you want to avoid anesthesia if possible but it is not something that has to be avoided at all costs. Heart murmurs are graded 1-6 with 1 being of the least concern and 6 being of the most concern.