Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
How common is heart disease in healthy cats with murmurs
By Nakamura, Reid K et al.·Published in Journal of feline medicine and surgery·2011·Advanced Veterinary Care Center, United States·View original on PubMed →
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Original publication title: Prevalence of echocardiographic evidence of cardiac disease in apparently healthy cats with murmurs.
- Species:
- cat
Plain-English summary
A group of 32 healthy domestic cats with heart murmurs were examined to see if they had any underlying heart disease. Surprisingly, over half of these cats (53%) showed signs of heart disease when tested with an ultrasound of the heart. This suggests that if your cat has a heart murmur, it’s important to have further tests done to check for any potential heart problems, even if they seem healthy otherwise.
People also search for: cat heart murmur causes · healthy cat with heart murmur · heart disease in cats symptoms
Abstract
The objective of this prospective study was to determine the prevalence of echocardiographic evidence of heart disease in apparently healthy cats with heart murmurs. Thirty-two privately owned domestic cats were examined. All cats were considered healthy on the basis of history and physical examination, except for the finding of a heart murmur on auscultation. Cats on any medications (besides regular flea, tick and heartworm preventative) or that were pregnant or lactating were excluded from this study. The prevalence of echocardiographic evidence of heart disease in this population of cats was 53%. Therefore, identification of a heart murmur on routine physical examination in apparently healthy cats warrants further investigation.
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Search related cases →Original publication on PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21276739/