Heart Murmur In Cats Life Expectancy
Furthermore what is the life expectancy of a cat with a heart murmur.
Heart murmur in cats life expectancy. Grade Levels Vets grade heart murmurs on a scale of 1 to 5 from the barely audible grade 1 to the very loud grade 5. If left undetected and untreated it can lead to congestive heart failure in cats. Cats with this type develop it later in life.
Also young cats may have structural heart diseases commonly recognized in adult cats such as HCM. 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. Veterinarians grade them from 1-6 with 6.
While you can expect your cat to live its life span with heart murmur the life expectancy reduces to about 6-18 months if it develops congestive heart failure from heart murmur. The life expectancy of a cat with a heart murmur will depend on the underlying issue that caused this condition. Heart disease in cats is detected but there is a lack of any outward signs.
Heart murmurs in kittens often disappear by the time of puberty about 6 months of age. The life expectancy depends on the cause of the murmur. My cat Arthur has a bad heart murmur he is about 7 years old and very healthy my vet said as long as he doesnt get out of breath and is generally fairly active then he suspects that he was born with it and has had to cope with it.
What About Heart Murmur in Cats. For those with no signs of heart disease there is currently little evidence to indicate that treatment will delay development of HCM or extend a cats life expectancy. And up to to 3 years with proper medication.
Occasionally cats are reported to have incidental murmurs as adults and this is called a physiological murmur eg the blood flow within the large vessels exiting the heart may occasionally be heard as a murmur but this is usually of no clinical significance and does not result in. Those that suffered from extracardiac health problems and structural heart diseases also have good chances of having prolonged lives. If the murmur is innocent no treatment is needed and the prognosis is usually very good to excellent.