Christian has a grade 4 heart murmur at 18 months old.

[Janeyk]

Sounds like your boy is in good hands 

[Philip]

I have done a lot of research and hope Christians is haemodynamic but wont know till he has an echocardiogram.

He is asymptomatic so I have time to find a cardiologist.

A friend of mine has a friend who is a veterinary cardiologist and they have suggested in the meantime to start Christian on Omega 3.

Being a nurse, I have a good stethoscope and have listened to his heart and it sounds quieter that it did when he had just got home from the vets so maybe its not as bad as first sounded. (well thats what I hope anyway).

Thanks for all the reassurance though.

 

[Kucinta]

My two boys were both discovered to have heart murmurs at their first annual check up. They did go to a cardiologist for scans etc but the murmur was shown to be haemodynamic in nature rather than caused by a heart malformation.

They are now nearly 5, and the heart murmurs have crept up to grade 3. However they both seem fit and healthy and all I can do is keep an eye on them. They are both nervous of strangers, so I wonder whether at least part of the problem is 'white coat syndrome', ie made worse by the stresss of visiting the vet.

[Janeyk]

I've had a cat with a heart murmer from being a kitten although wasn't as high grade but the grade only slightly increased over the years.  There are a few very positive threads on this subject in Health and Behaviour so may be a good idea to scroll down and I'm sure will help 

[cazzer]

my moggy has a grade 4 heart murmur.      Don't know how old he is as he came to us as a stray but he is 10 years plus.      He runs around like a mad thing, jumps fences and hurls himself at the aviary to scare the birds, just like a well cat.  As my vet says the cat hasn't read the text books!     We don't medicate him as he got so stressed when we did.  I was really worried when I first adopted him [especially as he had to have a lot of teeth removed] but don't worry so much now. 

Christian may well be the same, so try not to worry.             

[Dawn F]

don't worry too much philip our bluto had a heart murmer for years and caused him no problems

[clarenmax]

I don't know much about the gradings of murmurs, but do try not to worry 

[Gill (sneakiefeline)]

I love that picture and hope that he will be fine.......afraid dont know much about this 

[Philip]

I took Christian and Skye to my vet for their boosters today.

Sadly found out that Christian had a grade 4 heart murmur.

I have to think about taking him to see a cardiologist for further investigation.

He seems ok. I hadn't noticed any lethargy or dyspnoea.

Have been reading some posts on here that cats can go on for years with a grade 4.

But cant help feeling shocked and frightened that I'm going to lose him sooner rather than later.