Feline Heart Disease

Feline heart disease comes silently and most people don't know their cats have it until it is too late. If you are a cat owner, you want to do everything you can to keep your pets healthy and safe. To many people, pets are another member of the family, and sometimes they are the nicer part of the family. If you are a pet owner, it is important to have your cat go in for a regular checkup with the vet.

What to Look For

Signs to look for are breathing with their mouth open or rapid shallow panting, vomiting and diarrhea. Their back legs may become paralyzed.

What this disease does is it increases the heart muscles and makes the left ventricle smaller. This means there is not a sufficient amount of blood pumping through the heart. When this happens, they have an increased chance of getting a blood clot. This usually causes painful paralysis of the back legs. After that happens, the chances of your pet living much longer are slim. If their blood pressure goes high, this will lead to blindness.

Heart Failure--Which Side

If the heart fails on the left side, this is pulmonary edema. This can cause the cat to experience shortness of breath, rapid breathing and tiredness. A sign of feline heart disease is if your cat starts coughing up a reddish fluid. If the heart fails on the right side it is congestive heart failure. The outward symptoms of this are limb swelling, or fluid in the abdomen.

Stages A and B

Stage A (hypertrophic cardiomyopathy) has no outward symptoms but it strikes certain breeds of cats. The Persian, Ragdoll, British, American Short Hairs and Maine Coon cats have the greatest chances of inheriting feline heart disease. There is no specific age as cats as young as 3 months to 19 years of age can have feline heart disease and most of them are male.

If your cat has Stage B that means that the heart disease is there, but your cat doesn't show any symptoms. There are some options if your cat is in this stage. Beta-Blockers or diltiazem, used in humans, is an option.

Stages C and D

Stage C is a serious feline heart problem, such as congestive heart failure. The visible sign of this is difficulty breathing. If your vet suspects stage C then he may want to run a test called, ultra-rapid echocardiograph. This will show whether the heart is enlarged, or how much blood is going through. The medication to treat stage C is dubutamine.

Stage D in cats or moderate congestive failure. If your cat has this, then he or she will have to have a long-term maintenance therapy. This will help with fluid retention and will help prevent inflammation of the veins. If the vet finds the heart rate is fast, then they may prescribe diltiazem. If your cat has severe heart problems, the vet may prescribe furosemide, spironolactone and thiazides to help treat it.

Acquired Heart Problems

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopothy or HCM is one of the most common heart conditions found in adult cats. Feline Dilated Cardiomyopathy or DCM is a very rare condition. If you suspect this kind, your vet needs to check the Taurine levels in the blood. If this is a problem, then your vet may prescribe taurine supplements. Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Dysplasia or ARVC is when the right side of the heart fails. The veterinarian may prescribe Sotalol. Hyperthyroidism is the thyroid not functioning correctly. If the heart disease is caused by this then the veterinarian may prescribe a beta-blocker, ACE inhibitor or duretics. Systemic Atrial Thromboembolism or STE is common in cats. If the veterinarian suspects this, then he may do an echocardiography test. This will show up as a blood clot in the left atria of the heart.

Natural Treatments

If you want a natural treatment for your cats feline heart disease then there are several options. Hawthorne supports the circulation system and the heart. There is one brand made for this problem and it is PetAlive Heart and Circulation Tonic. This tonic prevents heart disease and improves blood circulation. Although it can safely be used with any prescribed medications, it is a good idea to check with your veterinarian first.

References

• The Cat Health Guide
• Claws and Paws