Heart murmur

**Looney coon** · 20th March 2011, 07:52 PM

Took Mac to the vet at 6 months to have him neutered and chipped. The vet mentioned that he had a slight heart murmur and wanted to re check him in 6 months. She said on a scale of 1 to 6 it was a 1.

Yea.... I'm just a little freaked out as this little guy has stolen our hearts and we want to make sure he has a long and happy life.

I contacted the breeder and she said there was no history of heart murmurs in her cattery and from what I can find online sometimes this just goes away in kittens.

I would appreciate any thoughts or information...

**jckkerrison** · 20th March 2011, 08:37 PM

I think there is another thread on here about this,you might find that when Mac goes to be checked again all will be ok,sometimes simple stress can cause it & as he had been starved for his op it would have caused him more stress than usual,next time it may not even be audible,fingers crossed,even a slight infection can cause it but once that is cleared the murmur disappears as well,my daughters MC has had a heart murmur from a young age & it still varies from between one & two,she will be twelve tomorrow is still a very active cat & has had no problems what so ever.There are tests that can be done by heart specialists but I would be guided by your vet she will do regular checks if it is still there & if she ever thinks he requires to be seen by someone else she would refer him, I know its hard but try not to worry about it carry on everything as normal & don't get too freaked out by it.
He is a super looking boy just luv his ear furnishings & whiskas,give him a cuddle & kiss from me....X

**Looney coon** · 21st March 2011, 01:32 AM

Originally Posted by jckkerrison

I think there is another thread on here about this,you might find that when Mac goes to be checked again all will be ok,sometimes simple stress can cause it & as he had been starved for his op it would have caused him more stress than usual,next time it may not even be audible,fingers crossed,even a slight infection can cause it but once that is cleared the murmur disappears as well,my daughters MC has had a heart murmur from a young age & it still varies from between one & two,she will be twelve tomorrow is still a very active cat & has had no problems what so ever.There are tests that can be done by heart specialists but I would be guided by your vet she will do regular checks if it is still there & if she ever thinks he requires to be seen by someone else she would refer him, I know its hard but try not to worry about it carry on everything as normal & don't get too freaked out by it.
He is a super looking boy just luv his ear furnishings & whiskas,give him a cuddle & kiss from me....X

Thank you for the information. He was actually starved for 2 days. The first day he managed to find the food bowl that was hidden on top the refrigerator behind the coffee grinders and ate just 15 minutes before he was to be taken in.

We had to repeat the whole ordeal again for the next day.

He now likes to hang out on top the fridge and the picture was taken the night before he was chopped so maybe he was protecting his family jewels.

**mcguy** · 21st March 2011, 01:33 AM

Mac is definitely one beautiful MC boy!!

As people have said already, the murmur may not be there the next time or could be but is totally benign. On the other hand, it could indicate the start of a serious heart problem and be worse in 6 months. The only definitive way to know is to have an echocardiogram done by a board certified veterinary cardiologist. From the listing I have, I don't see any vet cardiologists in San Francisco, but UC Davis vet school has a whole raft of them. If you absolutely, positively want to know right now whether Mac has any heart issues, you should take him there. Most vet schools actually have pretty reasonable rates compared to vet specialists in private practice, but we are probably talking $200-$400 for an echo. There are sure to be regular vets in San Francisco that will do echo's, but do not waste your money having anyone other than a vet cardiologist do it!!! Regular vets--even those trained in radiology--are simply not competent to recognize and diagnose unusual heart conditions. We learned this the hard way when a radiology vet specialist MISdiagnosed one of our girls has having "severe HCM." Took a vet cardiologist less than a minute to conclude that her heart was just fine (she does have a fairly rare but benign structural feature). One reason to wait a while even if you want to have an echo done is that 6 mos. is generally considered too young to recognize things like HCM.

The most common heart issue in MCs has been HCM, but some HCM cats have murmurs and others do not, so it is not a reliable indicator. The MC mix we had that died of HCM did not have a significant murmur most of the time, so it was not always obvious to each vet. What you should find out from the breeder, though, is whether they have tested their breeding cats for the one known HCM gene mutation in MCs, and whether they have had echocardiograms done on their breeding cats. When our girl was misdiagnosed with HCM I was pretty skeptical as I knew she was mutation free and her parents had been regularly echoed. The chance of her developing HCM was extremely low.

**Looney coon** · 21st March 2011, 02:09 AM

As I mentioned I was told that heart murmurs were very rare at this cattery. I had met both Mac parents and his grandparents. The cattery has been around for 17 years and I will ask about the DNA testing.

Regardless Mac is a member of our family and I could never return him... so no matter what happens he's stuck with us and will get the best care I can give him.

Hopefully the recheck in 6 months will be OK.

Mac helping the wife paint.

**Looney coon** · 28th August 2011, 03:17 AM

Well it's been over 5 months and on Mac's re check I am pleased to report no sign of a heart murmur on his recent check up.

He is in puurfect health!
He is getting quite large though and has a magnificent pluming tail that is almost another cat in itself.
Thank you all for posting the heart murmur information.

I'll post an up dated picture soon.

**jckkerrison** · 28th August 2011, 09:34 AM

That is brilliant news so pleased for all of you & looking forward to seeing his latest picture of tail with cat attatched...x

**pralinehalo** · 28th August 2011, 07:15 PM

Yay! So glad to hear that

**Looney coon** · 17th April 2012, 05:18 PM

Just an update on Mac... At 1 1/2 years old still no sign of a heart murmur!

Again thank you all for the information and I can't express enough how helpful this forum is for Maine Coon guardians.

It was very upsetting to get the heart murmur news.... however it passed just as I was told here it would.

Here's a picture of Mac with his new buddy Clancy... yep added another Maine Coon to the family.