Taking on cat with heart murmour?

[K77 CTR]

Thank you bex, am guessing cat ECG's only use 3 or 4 leads then and not 10 like humans. I'm certain my vet suggested an echo as well so guess he will be being shaved, poor kitty

Will let you know the outcome on Tuesday

[CDP]

parapaul said:

anonymous said:

[redacted]

Second hand

At least he didn't say "used".

[BlackVanDyke]

Cats Protection and many others will agree to pick up the tab for pre-existing conditions where it's looking unlikely or impossible to insure the critter otherwise - definitely worth asking. Even if it's from a small rescue, Cats Protection etc might still agree to help out.

[K77 CTR]

Monte has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an enlarged atrium and turbulent blood flow through one of the valves. Will develop heart failure in the future but when nobody knows.

He's been started on aspirin every three days and review in nine months

[ali_kat]

K77 CTR said:

Monte has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an enlarged atrium and turbulent blood flow through one of the valves. Will develop heart failure in the future but when nobody knows.

He's been started on aspirin every three days and review in nine months

That (pretty much) kills all of us (heart stops) and an Asprin every 3 days is better than every day, or twice a day.

Sorry K, I know exactly how you are feeling, but I'm trying to lighten it for you :hugs:

Some useful information

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/heart/cardiomyopathy...

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/hypertrophic-cardiomyop...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophic_cardiomy...

[bexVN]

ali_kat said:

K77 CTR said:

Monte has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, an enlarged atrium and turbulent blood flow through one of the valves. Will develop heart failure in the future but when nobody knows.

He's been started on aspirin every three days and review in nine months

That (pretty much) kills all of us (heart stops) and an Asprin every 3 days is better than every day, or twice a day.

Sorry K, I know exactly how you are feeling, but I'm trying to lighten it for you :hugs:

Some useful information

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/heart/cardiomyopathy...

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/hypertrophic-cardiomyop...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophic_cardiomy...

Sorry to hear that horrible to learn when they have an illness. Aspirin is a good start. Cats cannot tolerate it more than 3 times a week so this is unlikely to ever increase in dose, there will be other meds that can be used in the future. I really hope the Aspirin does hold things for now.

[ali_kat]

Bex, you are right! Sorry I meant rather than a tablet 2/3 times a day, which I know K was worrying about before

[bexVN]

ali_kat said:

Bex, you are right! Sorry I meant rather than a tablet 2/3 times a day, which I know K was worrying about before

I know . (I was hopefully backing up your reply (but I don't think I made that very clear!)

[K77 CTR]

ali_kat said:

That (pretty much) kills all of us (heart stops) and an Asprin every 3 days is better than every day, or twice a day.

Sorry K, I know exactly how you are feeling, but I'm trying to lighten it for you :hugs:

Some useful information

http://www.fabcats.org/owners/heart/cardiomyopathy...

http://pets.webmd.com/cats/hypertrophic-cardiomyop...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertrophic_cardiomy...

Thanks for the info Ali, will have a read. I am pretty aware of heart failure in humans and guess it's pretty much the same for cats. Really hope he doesn't show signs of heart failure for a long time, can't stand the thought of him being short of breath and struggling, needing more medication.

The vet was in two minds whether to start him on aspirin or not as had nothing to compare how fast the disease was progressing but he didn't want to run the risk of him having a blood clot when we could do something about it now.

I'm glad the aspirin is only every three days and is a minute amount to give him so hopefully he'll take it without issue.

[K77 CTR]

bexVN said:

Sorry to hear that horrible to learn when they have an illness. Aspirin is a good start. Cats cannot tolerate it more than 3 times a week so this is unlikely to ever increase in dose, there will be other meds that can be used in the future. I really hope the Aspirin does hold things for now.

Thanks Bex, he was really well behaved which surprised me and they managed to do the echo without sedating him. They couldn't do the ECG as he wouldn't tolerate the sticky pads on him. Hilarious watching them do a BP on a cat though.

They did mention that in the future he will likely need a beta blocker but at present as he isn't showing any symptoms just to manage him on 1/4 of 75mg aspirin every three days. Makes it so much easier as I'm off on holiday in a few weeks and didn't want to have to rely on the cattery to give him medication.

I've been told to check his resp rate on a monthly basis but they never told me what was normal, any ideas?

[ali_kat]

Bex

K77 CTR said:

Thanks for the info Ali, will have a read. I am pretty aware of heart failure in humans and guess it's pretty much the same for cats. Really hope he doesn't show signs of heart failure for a long time, can't stand the thought of him being short of breath and struggling, needing more medication.

The vet was in two minds whether to start him on aspirin or not as had nothing to compare how fast the disease was progressing but he didn't want to run the risk of him having a blood clot when we could do something about it now.

I'm glad the aspirin is only every three days and is a minute amount to give him so hopefully he'll take it without issue.

Don't panic, Monte will be fine for a long time yet xx