Detecting cardiomyopathy?

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Jennifer & Saima (GA)

Jennifer & Saima (GA)

Member Since 2011
About 5 years ago, we lost our 3-year-old cat Freya very suddenly to a blood clot. She seemed perfectly fine and normal (in retrospect, perhaps starting to rest a little more and run around a little less, but that seemed normal for her age and we thought nothing of it), then one evening dropped dead as she was coming into the kitchen after using the litter box upstairs. Needless to say this was a huge shock and we were very upset to learn how common heart problems are in cats, although with time and research I started to feel thankful that the clot had caused her to die instantly rather than endure the pain of saddle thrombus.

I guess my question is, is there any due diligence I should be doing with my civvies to keep an eye out for this condition? Callie came into the kitchen last night and lay down on the floor when I got home from work, and even though I have no reason to suspect anything is wrong with her (and I know she had been napping upstairs prior to that and that was probably why she was lazing around a bit), I was reminded of Freya and all the guilt I felt over maybe not having noticed that she was slowing down. Later she was trotting around asking for treats and hopping up on the lid of the trash can to inspect what we were doing on the counter, just as usual, so who knows.

The problem is I really don't want to take them to the vet other than for their annual checkup (which is due in the summer) if I can avoid it. They hate going and it's obviously stressful, and there are dogs and sick cats and so on. I wouldn't want to subject her to an ultrasound when I have a history of being kind of paranoid, hypochondriac, OCD, overly worried about my cats, etc. What would you do in this instance?

Also how do you know if your cats have Maine Coon heritage? Mine are medium-sized (about 10 lbs), about 1 1/2 years old and eat Wellness. Elsie is orange tabby and Callie is buff tabby. They have longish hair so I'm not sure if that would be a sign. I hear Maine Coons frequently suffer from heart disease.
 
As far as Maine Coons, I know the larger feet and long hair is probable. You might visit some Maine Coon sites and compare the pictures there to your kitties.

Oliver was a Maine Coon mix and yes, there is some predisposition for diabetes and heart disease. The first sign we had of the cardiomyopathy was that he had gained weight, practically overnight. We took him in for an X-ray and they found lots of fluid. Many cats do well on medication. Unfortunately he didn't. We had the fluids drained several times but it kept coming back.

I hope your kitties will be fine as many are. Our Maine Coon before Oliver lived to be 22 so it isn't a given by any means.
 
Jennifer, a heart murmur can be heard by a vet who gives a good listen to the heart. If a heart murmur is detected, then a cardiologist would do further tests, ekg and ultrasound, etc. to determine if there is a problem. Their mother has fur like them as does their dad but both parents came from a short haired momma cat and a short haired tom that showed up. I have never seen any signs of MC in any of them.
 
One thing you can do at home is get a baby scale and log regular weights.

Any changes in weight over time - Google Docs spreadsheet can do a graph - may alert you to potential issues, regardless of cause.

For diagnosed cardiovascular diseases, sudden fluid build up will cause the weight to change and alert you that there may be an issue requiring veterinary attention.
 
Do any of the kitties have a heart murmur that you know of? This can be found on a regular exam. The vet may suggest an echo. An echo will show if there is HCM. You can monitor the respiratory rate at home. An elevated RR can be indicative of heart failure. I lost a kitty when he was 2 1/2 years old to HCM.

Sandy
 
The only sure way is a cardiac ultrasound. Trouble breathing can indicate trouble with the heart ie fluid buildup /edema. A heart murmur would , as Hope said, lead to followup, however, Merlyn had HCM and did NOT have a heart murmur. It was classified as Severe when he was diagnosed and he was only diagnosed at the ER when we were there for obstipation...(couldnt poop) and they Xrayed him. He did live 2.5 years after diagnosis. He did not have any blood clots.

All blood clots/saddle thrombus are not due to heart disease.
http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=PRINT&A=3351
http://www.petplace.com/cats/aortic-thromboembolism/page1.aspx

edited to add that a regular chest xray can tell if the heart is enlarged or if there is fluid build up.
 
Thanks for the information, everyone! I guess for now I will just continue to keep a close eye on their behavior, check breathing rate once in a while, and make sure the vet gets a good listen to their hearts at their annual exam. Thanks also, Hope, for the info about their parentage. For some reason I was thinking that we didn't know who their mom & dad were... but now I remember you saying that you were trying to trap their feral mom and just hadn't been able to yet.

It's so scary in general how cats hide/minimize illness. I had no real idea that Saima was so sick until a week before she died, and even then I figured it was "just diabetes" and we'd get it under control. :cry:

ETA: Saima's heart was so enlarged on the X-ray when we took her in due to elevated respiration rate and not eating, that the vet recommended PTS either immediately or drawing off the fluid, then saying our goodbyes and bringing her back the next day for PTS. We opted for immediately, and I still feel OK about that decision since she was obviously declining and very ill, but sometimes I wonder if I should have taken that night to do some more research. She was only 12 and I sort of wonder if she could have been treated. We just weren't strong enough to contemplate taking her home and spending a sleepless night, knowing that she had a death sentence for the next day, and unsure how much pain she was in. I know many people who have done that (spend the last day with their dog at the park, feeding his favorite foods, etc.) and their courage and love just blow me away.
 
I'm sorry to hear of your past experience .. very simliar to mine .. Cheddar was just barely over a year old when we laid down on the couch to take a nap .. he rolled off me and went to his toys .. laid down on his side, let out a soft meow and passed instantly .. It is very sad to lose them so suddenly ..
 
Its very scary to lose a pet suddenly and I think we all start to look in the shadows and worry. We do become more atuned to them and learn to see signs of someone not feeling right too though.We felt horrible when we lost Peanut to cancer. How could we not have realized her heart was being eaten up by cancer? We'd seen her slowing down, but a cat going on 13 should finally be acting her age we thought. We lost her within a month of having things checked out. We learned to watch those sutle symptoms more.

Learning to be more watchful lead to finding Smokey's mammary cancer before it had time to get anywhere outside of the masses, which is very unusual because mammary cancer is a very fast moving cancer.

I don't think there are always signs of early cardiomyopathy. Smokey had it and despite frequent vet visits, xrays, even CTs before her double mastectomy and a biopsy that sounded like they visually wandered around in there a while, did not show any signs of heart problems. She was not diagnosed until we wanted her heavy breathing looked into.

The one thing I can say to watch is to monitor their at-rest breathing. If you see that get to a point of being over 40 breaths per minute, then I'd have their hearts looked at. That is the one measurement Smokey's cardiologist had us keep track of.
 
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