Heart Murmur in Older Cats

Charlie is a feral kitten that we rescued when he was weeks old. He had a full veterinarian exam and we were told that other than his infection from the wild animal that had bitten him that he was a healthy Maine-Coon mix cat. Life with Charlie was fun until it wasn't at age nine we learned that he had developed a heart murmur.

Charlie on the day we trapped him

We had adopted a feral kitten when he was injured by a wild animal. The animal had bitten off the kitten's toes and by the time we found him he had a very bad infection. Both the mother and kitten had to be trapped as they both needed veterinarian care. Due to the extreme illness, we kept the kitten and tried to socialize him to live indoors with humans and their dogs.

Charlie, Boris, and mom at our shelter

Charlie adjusting to living indoors

Charlie on the day he mastered the scratching post, with sibling Boris

Charlie loves his litter box for all the wrong reasons

Some feral cats can be socialized others cannot. Know that I thought maybe the medication at a young age affected the cat because this cat would tolerate us but was terrified when we touched him, Did he associate my human touch to when he was in the animal hospital for two weeks? I don’t know but do know that I had tamed adult feral cats in about six months but Charlie did not like people.

So the cat lived with us, tolerated us and grew into an adult cat that was a Maine Coon Mix. A beautiful cat that was hard to handle. We had to give him his Revolution when he was sleeping and trap him for his veterinarian appointment.

Charlie the semi-feral cat tolerated us and that was okay..until it was not okay. Charlie liked to play with a plastic ball with a bell and one day he stopped due to a coughing spell. Then another day he was playing with our dog and again he stopped for a coughing spell. It seemed whenever Charlie played he would cough. Then one day he stopped eating and this cat was so sick that I did not have to trap him or put on gloves to hold him. Charlie came to me and laid on my lap.

That was the weekend that we really knew something was wrong. Since Charlie was not eating or drinking I syringed fed him to keep him hydrated and I also gave him CATMX a high-calorie paw gel. The gel enabled him to eat because it gave him an appetite.

The following Monday I made an appointment for Charlie and on the day of his appointment, he was feeling better, and once again we had trapped him. We thought he is fine, he is back to his old self. But that soon faded when we were told he had a heart murmur and that was why he was coughing when he played. Other than the cough there were no other outward symptoms such as poor appetite, weight loss, breathing problems like asthma, or weakness. The only thing we noticed was the coughing when Charlie played with his cat toys or when he ran from the bedroom to the living room.

The veterinarian at this time would like us to watch Charlie and when he goes to sleep to count his heartbeats in a minute's time. From that reading our Veterinarian will determine what other tests are needed / blood-work to check for anemia, blood parasites or diagnostics tests like an X-ray, electrocardiogram, or ultrasound of his heart.

Learn more about heart rummer in cats here