Puppy Care

heart disease

As cats get older, problems with their heart, kidneys and other organs can occur. The most common diseases of older cats are cancer, renal or kidney disease, diabetes, hyperthyroidism (disease of the thyroid gland), dental disease and heart disease. Cats age seven times faster than we do and examinations done by your veterinarian twice a year can help detect problems earlier when they can still be treated. Laboratory tests, such as blood work, ECG, ultrasound and blood pressure monitoring can help detect problems earlier.

A common heart disease that affects cats is hypertrophic cardipmyopathy (HCM). Cardiomyopathy is found more often in cats than in dogs. HCM is an acquired heart disease that causes the muscular walls of the ventricles to thicken. As the disease progresses the pumping capabilities of the heart reduces. The ventricular heart muscle eventually gets thicker and stiffer and decreasing the ability to contract to push the blood out as it should. The chamber of the heart is smaller, so less blood is pumped out of the heart., This results in the amount of blood that once filled the heart is less than it should be and the heart muscle can’t contract as well to move the blood out of the heart into the body. The heart now has to pump faster and harder than normal to keep the blood flowing throughout the body. The resulting pressure begins to back up the blood into the lungs causing edema and congestion and eventually leads to congestive heart failure.

Sometimes, the faulty heart will develop changes in the conduction system that tells the heart when to contract. The heart may develop arrhythmias and which results in sudden death similar to those found in some of our young athletes that collapse during practice.

Another problem that can occur from the cardiomyopathy is a disease called feline aortic thromboembolism (FATE). Occasionally, blood clots can dislodge and clog the arteries going to the rear legs. The dislodged blood clot can cause severe pain, a lreduction of blood flow to the legs, paralysis and death. The common term is of this condition is a saddle thrombus. With intesive therapy, 40% of cats may recover and regain use of their legs. However, these cats still risk developing another episode and still suffer from the primary heart condition.

Cats are very good as masking underlying physical problems so early detection is key to helping these cats live a full life. Some fat and lazy cats may be suffering with a heart disease. Of course not all fat and lazy cats a have heart disease, but the only way to tell is with full exams by your veterinarian. Diagnostic tests, such as, EKG, blood pressure monitoring and ultrasound can help the veterinarian detect heart disease. Ultrasound is the only way to truly detect the thickened walls of the heart and is now used to screen our young human athletes as well.

Special medication can be given to help cats with their heart function and reduce the edema in their lungs. The prognosis for a cat that has already developed the congestive heart failure is guarded, and even with medication, survival rates are 12-18 months after diagnosis and sudden death can occur at any time.

Develop a wellness plan with your veterinarian for early detection and diagnostics. By diagnosing disease conditions earlier, small changes in diet and adding medication can help your cat live longer.

You can find more on Cat Health Care at LuvUrCat.com