# Anesthesia and heart murmurs?



## Heffanator (Apr 19, 2005)

Is it dangerous for a 14 year old cat? The vet said on 4/19 she had a slight heart murmur and she has to go under anesthesia to get her teeth cleaned monday. I'm worried...My dad keeps saying "I hope she makes it through the weekend" That's real discouraging even though I am force feeding her with a syringe every 2 hours. =(


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Can you tell me what kind of tests did they do to diagnoze your cat with a heart murmur?

Did they to electrocardiograms (ECG) or radiographs (X-rays) or ultrasound?

I heard that X-rays are the most useful in this case.


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## Heffanator (Apr 19, 2005)

she just listened to her heart beat and said she had one. she didn't say it was bad or anything. my mom noticed she had one too. I'm going to tell them monday before she has surgery to do an ultrasound or something because I don't want her to die from getting her teeth cleaned. I would rather them sedate her to clean them and just numb her when they extract teeth (if any) and then keep her on pain meds.


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

From what I've read about this, anesthesia can be used only if she doesn't have any sign of heart problems, and if a full biochemistry profile and complete blood count reveal no major internal problems. In that case anesthesia is usually ok even in old animals. 

So I would press them to do some real testing before they use anesthesia, as listening to hearth-beat seem inadequate to me.

BTW, did you know that in some states like California this is against the law and according to their law they can provide only anesthesia-free teeth cleaning services, as anesthesia is considered to be dangerous.

But on the other hand, I heard that anesthesia-free dental cleaning are ineffective because they do nothing to remove the pathogenic bacteria that live below the gum-line and cause periodontal disease, simply because this cannot be done effectively on awake animals.

Anyway, keep us posted on what you decided and how everything went.

Joe


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## Heffanator (Apr 19, 2005)

i really hope they won't put her under if they don't have to. It's more peace of mind for me and the fam. I also want them cleaned THROUGHLY and extract any that need it. I told mom "I hope dad knows this isn't going to be cheap." Mom said "I don't care, she's going" ha! Dad doesn't mind though, he doesn't like to see her suffer. :/

Ha! Oh and something funny happened tonight. My b/f Matt took my mom her arm brace to her at work and he asked "So, did you like Sarah?" (the baby, first time she saw her) and she said "Oh yeah, she was a sweetie" and when he left, my dad was sitting there and he goes "I hope they aren't practicing!" and I told mom "Yes, she is very good practice, nothing wrong with that" Mom told him "They don't want one now, use your head." ha!!


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Ha ha, you know how parents are... 

You probably didn't know, but mine and Vierka's parents live in Slovakia and since 1997 (when we moved to Canada) we try to go to see them every 2 years. Well... as often as we save enough money for the trip.

Now we go there in June for one month and I can't wait to listen to all these little baby comments about when and where and why not yet? And so and so... We always make fun of it.

You can imagine, now when Vierka is finally out of university and earned her degree and has a pretty decent job, they all are excited about a prospect of baby 

Before it was like: "You know, you guys should be careful, she is still studying and you have enough time, you want to travel too, there is so much time for a baby... " 

Hahaha, it's all perfectly understandable... We'll be the same way one day 

joe


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## Heffanator (Apr 19, 2005)

Joe- Matt's mom nags us about grandkids already, and we're 19, (he'll be 20 in July)! She always goes "Ya know, I would like a grandchild" ha! She said she doesn't want us to have one now but to keep in mind that she does want them one day. It's too funny. I told her we will stick with Sarah for a while. =) haha


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## Joe (Apr 9, 2005)

Very similar story on our side, except I am almost a decade older than you are, so family is kind of expecting it more. But now one of my cousins is expecting baby, so eyes of our family are on them now. That will buy us some time 

ok ok, I am kidding, it's not nearly as bad..., plus Vierka is much closer to your age, so there is not so much of that pressure on us as yet.

Btw. where is debate going?


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## Heffanator (Apr 19, 2005)

I wish I could be an Aunt first but my brother is 15 so I better not be!  I will probably be the first of the grandkids to have a baby so the only practice I have is Sarah, unless somebody else suprises us in Matt's fam. 

What debate? I'm confused....ha


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