A heart murmur is an abnormal sound that your vet can hear through the stethoscope. The sound is caused by an abnormal flow of blood within the heart. Not all heart murmurs are serious, but because your vet cannot tell just by listening, it is important to have some diagnostics performed.
Unfortunately, a benign or innocent heart murmur can sound like a heart murmur caused by severe heart disease in a cat. So all heart murmurs will need to be evaluated thoroughly by a board certified cardiologist to ensure the health of your cat.
While hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in Bengal cats is one of the reasons for a heart murmur, there are others.
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Congenital heart abnormalities
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Acquired heart disease
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Secondary Heart Murmurs
HCM Testing
One of the benefits of purchasing a pedigree pet is a known health history. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) affects one in seven domestic cats. Pedigree cat breeders can reduce these odds IF they do their part.
What should pedigree breeders be doing to reduce the risk of HCM and other heart diseases?
They should be testing their breeding cats with an echocardiogram performed by a Board Certified Cardiologist every 12 to 18 months until the breeding cat is over the age of five years old, preferably until the cat is eight years old or older.
While the first test on a breeding cat is done at around one-year-old, heart testing needs to be repeated. Many forms of heart disease, including HCM, are progressive. Cats may not exhibit the first signs of it until they are 4-6 years old, occasionally even later.
We do all we can to be sure you have a healthy happy lifelong companion, including testing the parents for HCM.
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is a condition of the heart in which the muscular walls of the heart are thickened. It is a disease that can affect any cat, dog, or even people. However, Bengal Cats are particularly predisposed to this condition. This disease must be diagnosed from a board certified cardiologist (not just a Vet).
This article will cover signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, and prognosis. Click Read More next to this topic.