Cat Heart Diseases

Video Transcript

"Milkbone, here, is going to help me illustrate some important concepts about heart disease. Milkbone is a very active cat, as you can see, she want to move around, she's very curious about her environment. And, although she's thin, she's very happy. This is very typical of what we see with cats with heart disease. The signs that they have are very subtle and they're easily missed. So your cat can, actually, have very serious heart disease and look completely normal to your eye. That's why it's very important for you to have periodic visits with your veterinarian so your veterinarian can listen to your cat's heart and pick up any abnormalities that they may find. Certain abnormalities in the way the heart beats, which is called an arrhythmia, can be found by just a simple stethoscope over the cat's heart like this. And we can also hear a gallop rhythm which is an indication that there might be some abnormality. Heart murmurs are also, often, the very first sign of heart disease in cats. So have your cat's heart checked regularly so that we can pick up any problems soon and start treating it before there is a very serious problem, such as sudden death."