A New, Easy-to-Learn, Fear-Free Method to Stop Purring During Cardiac Auscultation in Cats.

BACKGROUND

Purring in cats can interfere with cardiac auscultation. If the produced noise is loud enough, purring makes it impossible to perform a meaningful auscultation as it is much louder than heart sounds and murmurs. Our study introduced and tested a new, simple, fear-free, cat-friendly method to stop purring during auscultation.

METHODS

The technique involves grasping the cat's larynx from ventral with one hand, while simultaneously holding the stethoscope in the other hand to perform the auscultation.

RESULTS

The incidence of purring was evaluated in 582 cats, in a veterinary teaching hospital and in a cat-friendly private practice. Fifty-one (8.8%) cats were purring during their physical examination. The tested method had a success rate of 89% in terminating purring. A comparison between investigators (a veterinary student versus an experienced veterinary cardiology specialist) showed no significant difference in the effectiveness of the method (p = 0.57). The incidence of purring was not significantly different between the teaching hospital and the cat-friendly practice (p = 1.00). Sick and older cats purred more often than healthy and younger cats.

CONCLUSIONS

This new, simple, easy-to-master method is an improvement over previously reported techniques and supports the need for stress-free, cat-friendly handling in veterinary practice.