Heart Murmur In Cats Uk

Often one of the first symptoms of heart disease.

Heart murmur in cats uk. Heart murmurs are surprisingly common in cats. Heart ultrasound echocardiography is very helpful as it allows a view of the internal dimensions of the heart the wall thickness and the contractility of the heart to be assessed. Lethargy low energy Exercise intolerance slowing down when playing or running.

However heart murmurs in cats cause a peculiar swishing sound whilst the heartbeats. Your vet will be able to hear whether you cat has a murmur using their stethoscope. Symptoms of heart disease in cats include.

A specialist is your best bet to know for sure if its just a murmur or if there are actual heart issues. Heart murmurs A heart murmur means that in addition to normal lub-dub heart sounds the vet can also hear extra sounds when listening with a stethoscope. Not all heart murmurs indicate a problem.

In a normal heart cycle heartbeats create a sound in unison to the closing of heart valves. Describing the murmur as significant isnt really helpful in terms of how you might agree to any treatment. Murmurs in cats do commonly change in intensity with stressexcitement or variation in heart rate.

Fast shallow noisy or heavy breathing. However the clinical signs may be subtle and not noticeable until the disease becomes advanced. Heart murmurs in cats can be due to the excitement of the veterinary visit physiologic heart murmurs or due to underlying heart disease.

Ask your veterinarian to screen for these issues once a year in order to know if your Ragdoll needs further attention. This is the only test which can readily distinguish between different types of heart disease in cats. Heart murmurs in cats are usually graded on a scale of 1 - 5.