A heart murmur is caused by turbulence in the blood flow through the heart. Most often it is due to a leaky heart valve, although it can be a sign of serious heart damage. Murmurs can also be "innocent", meaning there is nothing physically wrong with the heart. These are most often heard in young animals, and they can sometimes grow out of an innocent murmur. I would get a second opinion, or see if your vet is able to run an EKG or ultrasound the heart to identify the problem.
The presence of a murmur itself does not necessarily mean that surgery cannot be perfomed. It does mean that some more diagnostics need to be done, and if the surgery is done, the anaesthetic needs to be carefully monitored.
The life of an intact tomcat is not exactly easy on the heart either!
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