An ultrasound will give you a clearer idea of that you're dealing with.
Putting her on meds at this young age may prolong her life for many many years,
vs waiting for her condition to be terminal/fatal.  

I had a cat with murmur from birth on, but it wasn't monitored or investigated
any more than the annual "it's still there".  At 10, she had heart failure, and
although with meds she lasted another 10 months, she may have had a longer life
is we had a clearer picture from a younger age.

Janet Boss
http://bestfriendsdogobedience.com/
http://photos.yahoo.com/bestfriendsobedience

How long or hard is she playing and how long does the panting last? Does it
happen if she is not exerting herself much?

There are many cats that have had heart defects and acted normal in
every way...until they dropped dead. If your cat is suspected of having
a heart issue, do the ultrasound so that if a heart ailment is detected,
you kitty can be put on appropriate medication that may buy her some
time and improve her quality of life. I recently lost my cat Omar to
heart disease. He was normal in every way and it wasn't until he started
panting one day while I was clipping his claws that there was any sign
that something was wrong. I got him to a vet immediately and he was put
on medications that signficantly improved his condition. We had several
good months together. Unfortunately with heart ailments, there is a risk
the cat can throw a blood clot and die, which is what happened to Omar,
however that does not in any way minimize the importance of getting a
diagnosis and treatment as he was all the better for it. You can see
Omar's photo memorial here:
http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=4910678&uid=476350

I strongly urge you to go ahead and get the ultrasound. It's better to
do it with the possible outcome being that there's nothing wrong as
opposed to not doing it and leaving your cat to die with an untreated
heart condtion.

Megan

                                   

congenital heart condition.  The vet suggested to get ultrasouind to see

If you love her, get it done. We just had one done on
our nine year old--$240 bucks and now we know she has a healthy heart. Her
heartbeat was just too fast due to an overactive thyroid. Now she is on
medication and fine.

Panting when she plays: depends upon how hard she's playing, re;
therpanting.  may be totally normal, may be a sign of a heart prob.

My personal opinion: get the ultrasound done.  It's not all that expensive,
it's not particularly stressful for the cat, & they vet will have more info
with which to work.  IOW - I can't see a downside to having one done.  (I
had one done for one of my cats when I adopted her when she was a year old,
when the vet heard a loud heart murmur during her first vet appt.)

Cathy

By all means, assuming you have the $ to do it, get the ultrasound
done.  If there is no problem, you will be relieved to find that out,
and if there is, you may be able to prolong your cat's life with meds.
Please let us know how it turns out, and best of luck to you.

Ginger-lyn

If you don't get her an echocardiogram and rule out heart disease, she
*will* be sick a lot.

She is absolutely the healthy cat  except she starts panting

She's *not* absolutely the healthy cat if she pants after exercise.  Panting
in cats is often a sign of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or heartworm disease.

I skimmed over your post too quickly.  A congenital defect is more likely
than HCM in a one-year-old.

Dose your car have a heart murmur?  If so what type?

Phil