Cat Heart Disease - Human heart showing heart wall - Illustration by Patrick J. Lynch Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License - I added the arrow and label to show the heart wall.
I have made several posts about the Bengal cat and HCM. HCM is a heart disease (there are others such as DCM) that affects Bengal cats and other cat breeds such as the Maine Coon. It seems odd to me that a cat breed can have a marked predisposition to such a devastating disease, a killer. This can only be due to cat breeders getting it wrong. If I'm wrong tell me, please.
Anyway, here's more about this important subject. I have used the human heart as the illustration is available and the cat's heart is very similar. HCM means Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. In practical terms it means the thickening of the heart muscles. It is an inherited disease (a genetic disease) that affects many animals including humans, pigs, dogs.
It seems that in Maine Coon cats the cause of cat heart disease (specifically HCM) could be a dominant gene. But the whole area of HCM is still being researched. We are still very much in the dark about it in relation to its cause in Bengal Cats for example.
Because the heart muscle thickens it is less elastic and the area of the ventricle (the chamber from where it is pumped) is smaller. This means less blood is pumped out of the heart (less efficient) and turbulence can be created. The valves can leak as a result too. This causes a heart murmur. Fluid can build up on the lungs.
Sometimes there are no apparent symptoms and your cat can die suddenly. It develops slowly and your cat can show no signs before 6 months of age. It can be years before a successful diagnosis can be made.
There is no cure, just treatment to ease the life of the cat. The test to diagnose the disease is an ultrasound test (echocardiographic test).
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She is a champion cat. Not surprising. Photo copyright Helmi Flick - please respect copyright.
7 comments:
that's a great explanation of feline hcm. but i think you made a typo. almost no kittens show symptoms at 6 months of age. hcm does not usually show up until middle age. that's more like 6 years of age for cats. some cats don't get it until they're 10 years old. it really sucks because a good owner can take his cat to the vet every year just like they're supposed to, and the cat can always look normal and healthy. echocardiograms are not a part of routine veterinary examinations. so the cat looks normal, the owner thinks his cat is healthy, and then one day the cat is suddenly dead. hcm is horrible.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I was unclear at the end. I agree with what you have said. I meant that HCM does not manifest itself before 6 months of age and even then as you state it may still not show.
Hi Anonymous 1,
It is not always true that cats do not show symptoms till middle age. Kittens can have murmurs and die very young (probably being homozygous for the gene) and young cats do die at less than 4 years old, some as young as one.
HCM is a very variable condition caused by many different gene mutations hence some types are late onset, while others show up very early.
Thank you for your helpful comment. It is appreciated.
i have this...
its not plesent at all.
no sports for me...
there is a cur for humans however... a trans plant.
Sadly our cat April (Bubba) got saddle thrombosis from this condition, and died 36 hours after being diagnosed. I wish we knew how horrible this disease is. If I knew then I would have demanded an EKG, and ultrasound. She was a special cat and is missed.
Here is a tribute to her on MySpace
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=420336464
Hi,
I would like to dedicate this page to Bubba. I can feel how much she is missed.
Michael
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