Heart Murmur

I heard a heart murmur! It was cool. Dr. A. was listening to the heart of a cat I was holding, and she let me listen through the stethescope. I heard, *lub... WHOOSH... lub... WHOOSH* It was neat! Bad for the cat, of course, but this level wasn't deadly, I'm pretty sure. They always rate them _/6. This was 3/6. They are defined in the following way:

• 1/6: only an experienced cardiologist can hear it
• 2/6: you can hear it slightly on one side of chest
• 3/6: you can hear it well on one side of chest
• 4/6: you can hear it well on both sides of chest
• 5/6: you can feel it with your hand on the chest
• 6/6: you can hear it through the stethescope with it held almost 1" away from chest

It was interesting to know! Heart murmurs, I just learned, are when the valves of the heart don't properly close, so blood flows back, kind of like backwash. It's not supposed to happen.