Cardiac auscultation remains a key diagnostic approach for detecting potential heart disease. While multiple studies have assessed murmur prevalence in cats, little is known about the precise origin of the blood flow disturbances causing these murmurs. This study aimed to assess both the prevalence and clinical implications of heart murmurs identified during routine examinations in cats. Clinical records and echocardiographic data from feline patients evaluated for heart murmurs were retrospectively analyzed. Complete clinical information was available for 856 cats. The underlying cause of the murmur was identified in 93.1% of cases—72.3% with a single source of turbulence, 26.4% with two, and 1.3% with three. The most common cause was systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve (SAM) (39.2%), followed by dynamic right ventricular outflow tract obstruction (DRVOTO) (32%) and physiological (flow) murmurs (6.9%). Over half of the cats (56.7%) with murmurs exhibited no detectable structural heart abnormality. Findings suggest that specific murmur characteristics—such as timing, intensity, and point of maximal intensity—can serve as useful indicators for identifying underlying heart disease.
