cat w/heart murmur and neutering

My cat is 5 months old and our vet detected a slight heart murmur.  Not yet confirmed on ultrasound, so not sure of cause.  But he is completely energetic and doesn't show any signs of a problem.

Vet said there is a slight risk of a problem during the neutering procedure, but since he'll only be under general anesthesia for 5-10 minutes, he'll probably be just fine.

Do you have any thoughts on this?  The ultrasound is kind of expensive, plus the cost of potential open heart surgery if a defect is found.  I plan to continue monitoring the murmur as he grows, but not sure expensive diagnostics and invasive procedures are worthwhile at this point.  I would like to have him neutered soon.

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

Your cat may have what is called an Innocent heart murmur.  Many kittens and puppies can be born with a low grade systolic heart murmur (1 or 2 on a scale of 1 to 6) that is not necessarily heart disease or a heart defect that requires surgical correction, but rather a passing phase in the kittens or puppies development.  These types of