Heart Murmur In Cats And Anesthesia

Some normal adult cats may have an intermittent heart murmur that shows.

Heart murmur in cats and anesthesia. So basically having a murmur doesnt really mean much. This happens when the heart walls are thickened. 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.

If you have an undiagnosed murmur it is important that this is further evaluated before surgery. The anaesthetic risk is increased for patients with cardiac disease even if they are able to compensate. Cats Protection will only refer a cat to a specialist if classed as grade 5 or 6.

One study found prevalence to be 16 Paige C et al. Cats with HCM can have normal lives and then as they get older the heart can start to fail. Heart murmurs are rare in cats and when they occur in a younger animal they can present significant obstacles to otherwise standard healthcare like spaying and neutering.

I think that sometimes cats with mild heart murmurs suffer much more from things like severe dental disease that goes unchecked because of the fear of putting them under anesthesia. Any dog or cat with a murmur especially one that is suddenly detected meaning on his last exam it was not there but on this exam it is there or a pet that may be undergoing anesthesia. The presence or absence of a murmur is not a good predictor of heart disease in cats.

Anesthesia and other factors such as surgery itself can affect heart rate. Heart Murmurs in Cats. Many practitioners are reluctant to anesthetize patients with a murmur yet not all heart diseases are alike and they certainly do not carry the same risks.

Anesthetic events known medical conditions and previous ad-verse drug responses. By monitoring your pets heart rate your veterinarian can make anesthetic adjustments quickly. While there are some medicines that can help they usually dont cure HCM.