My 2 kitties :(

[Miss_Leonie]

Hi,

I just want to share my story, and maybe some cat owners can give me some advise. (Sorry for my bad English)

I went to the vet with my 2 cats (my babies  ) a norwegian cat and a siberian cat. They are 9 and 11 years old. For their yearly check up and shots. I know my Norwegian cat has troubles with digestion, had her tested a few times, but nothing really came out, she trows up a lot, but there are also weeks that she is doing well.
But the vet want to test her even further (more bloodtests / ultrasound to the stomach) because she lost to much weight in a year time, kinda was expecting this. so I am going back with her on wednesday.   

After that my Siberian was up for his check and shots, after listening to his heart several times she said she could hear a Heart murmor. So I have to go back tomorrow for a heart utrasound. Totally was not a expecting this
He never showed any signs of a heart disease.

Totally scared now for both, and also a tiny bit for my wallet. Any cat owners with some experience in these things?

[Princess Lala]

I don't own any cats currently, but as a pet owner (ferret and reptiles) I feel your worry and its always a scary thing to take an animal to the vet and find out your little fur/scale/feather baby may have something serious. 9 and 11 are a decent life for cats, they can certainly live longer, but this is around the time for organ failure and health problems start to develope on their own. I hope your kitty will be alright, he may need surgery if the ultrasound confirms he has tumors, but keep in mind his age its a hit or miss when vets decide to perform surgery or not. Hopefully he doesn't have any tumors and of worst case he does then I wish at least they are small ones easy to remove. If shows no signs, the vet may have caught something early to where his life can be saved before he is in any pain! That's a good thing! I love to see happy people with their pets, I wish your lovely beautiful kitty the absolute best health! Please keep us updated

[mskittylovesrobin]

Sending you lots of positive energy and healing to your cats. Hugs xx

[Miss_Leonie]

Thank you so much both!

Princess Lala, there are strange noises in his heart, I used a translator to find the wright name, but I think it did not work..
So strange heart noises not a tumor.

[Nebula Light]

I'm not sure about cats and these types of conditions, but my mother has a heart murmur (meaning her heart beats strangely/makes an extra palpitation) and she is in great shape, in her 50s. She keeps an eye on it, but it does not effect her. I hope this will be the same for your kitty and that it is nothing serious! 

[ringwraith10]

A heart murmur is, I believe, relatively common in older animals (including humans). You do want to have your vet run tests to make sure there isn't something severe going on, but right now I would say don't worry until you have a reason to worry.

As to your cat with digestion issues -- it may simply be that you haven't found the right food for your cat? If your cat is eating food that is not good for her, that would definitely cause throwing up and weight fluctuations. Ask your vet to recommend a food that would be better for her (but, again, it's still good to run the tests just to be certain that there isn't something else going on!).

I wish you luck! I'm having similar problems with my dogs, so I can definitely sympathize!

[SpaceButtPonies]

I have two kitties myself but haven't had any issues as of yet. I wish you the best of luck and hope things come out okay for your fur babies. <3

[Princess Lala]

Oh, a heart murmur okay not tumor! xD I don't know why I kept reading the word tumor, my apologies! Well I did some reaserch on them and your cat can still live a longer healthy life, it seems common in cats and dogs. A lot of pet owners that have a cat with heart murmurs are reporting that their cats are just taking a medication to help it, that's a lot less scary! I still hope your kitty will be fine, I'm sure he will be! Keep a close eye on his health, he is lucky to have an owner who takes him to the vet!  *many hugs*

[northstar3184]

My understanding is that heart murmurs are common with older cats. Last November, two of my older cats (ages 12 & 13 at the time) got check-ups. Both were diagnosed with heart murmurs. The vet advised me to just keep an eye on them. They haven't had any heart issues and are both doing well.

[Miss_Leonie]

Thank you all so much for the support!
They made a ultrasound of his heart, he has a slightly thicker heart wall,
And they are going to examine his blood.

Because he does not show signs of being sick at all, I hope he can live happily for a few years more, I will keep a close watch on his health!

[Pheasant]

That's terrible to hear. I don't have any advice; just best wishes and hopes that all works out well. :hugs:

[Galactica]

Hmm,  well I would follow the advice of your vet-  but since you mentioned you have cats with digestive issues-  well I have a Bengal and they also have digestive issues-   and in fact she was very then, wasn't excited by food much, and wouldn't eat wet food mostly.

Well we finally after many years and trying ALL KINDS of foods- all super high quality, no-grains, easy digestion- you name it.

Well FINALLY we switched to single ingredient cat food-  and she started doing SO WELL.  Her fur got shiney and she actually got a little plump!  So apparently she had some allergies to her food.  We now switch back and forth between single ingredient pork and single ingredient duck- (we were told to try foods she hadn't had before because she might have built up allergies to them).   

Also- diagnosing a food allergy is pretty difficult, so don't expect your vet to catch it. 

And it could be entirely unrelated to a heart murmur- which may have no symptoms at all.  I had a cat with a heart murmur all her life and she lived to be about 18 (she passed away from cancer- so it did not kill her).

[Whippycorn]

Sorry about your kitty worries,  being a pet momma can be very stressful sometimes. 

Not a cat but bf's parents dog got diagnosed with a heart murmur at the end of last year.  She has medication for it and now you wouldn't know she has any problem at all.

Digestive issues are always difficult to diagnose, and sometimes older animals can become sensitive to ingredients they used to be ok with.  But I agree that with pet foods it's usually the fewer ingredients the better.

I hope you can sort your kitties problems out.

[Skeen]

Heart murmurs are fairly common in cats.  It's the thicker heart that is most likely more concerning.  My own baby, Slick Dwayne, has an enlarged and slightly thickened heart, and he just takes a small dose of a blood pressure medicine to make sure his heart isn't working too hard.  He gets on fine. 

For the throwing up... Norwegians and Siberians are long-haired, right?  Could she just maybe be throwing up hair often and bringing her food with it?  I had a long-hair who did that once.  He hated being brushed so in the summer we had him shaved.  Solved his problems! 

[kaoskat]

Unfortunately, this is a WYP post and you do not have enough posts to access that feature just yet. I do very much hope your kitties will be ok and all the worry will be for nothing.