Please tell your friend not to panic. At age 9, Mordred was diagnosed with a heart murmur (grade 4 of 6). He'd been to only one vet (the one who'd given him to me) all those 9 years, and she never found it, so there's no way of knowing how long he'd had it. Just one week after she had listened to his heart during his annual checkup, I just happened to have him to another vet for a second opinion on his teeth, and this second vet heard it right away! Mordred was given an x-ray in-house, and the doctor saw no signs of any disease. I made an appointment with a cardiologist, who did an ultrasound, and he also found no sign of disease. His only recommendation was to have Mordred checked by his GP twice a year and to return in 2 years for another evaluation. That was a year and a half ago; I'll take him this spring/summer back to the cardiologist. I figured that the cardiologist not wanting to see Mordred for a full 2 years meant that there wasn't much to worry about. He's doing very, very well with absolutely no symptoms whatsoever.