As with many cats at Tabby’s Place, we don’t know much about Abigail.She came to us from a shelter that was overcrowded and anxious to save as many cats as possible.Abigail was apparently picked up as a stray.Abigail is adorable, as you can see, and was only about a year old when she ame to us and very friendly, however, so we have to believe that she was owned by someone at one time.During the intake exam, our vet detected that Abigail had a strong heart murmur.Heart disease is unusual in a cat so young, but not unheard of, so we scheduled Abigail for an ultrasound.The cardiologist reading the ultrasound could not detect any problems with Abigail’s heart.

But, we was concerned that she seemed to have such a strong murmur.So, he recommended we take her to board-certified cardiologist, who could do a more thorough workup.

So, we scheduled Abigail for a day at the cardiologist.After a series of x-rays and ultrasounds the cardiologist determined that there were physiological abonrmalities in Abigail’s heart that were causing the murmur.This diagnosis came with mostly good news: the abnormalities are not causing her any problems and most likely never will.There is, however, a small chance that the abnormalities could be a precursor to heart disease, which could develop.

Abigail does not need any medications at this time, but she will need to have an annual ultrasound, just to be certain that her situation has not progressed.Abigail is a doll and, since she is young and not likely to develop heart disease, we are hopeful that she will be adopted.But, even the small potential for her to develop heart disease and the need ror an annual ultrasound will decrease her chances of adoption.