HCM

[alana0011]

I took my two year old Grayson to the emergency vet yesterday because his breathing was off, and the night before, he was very lethargic, although I didn't notice the breathing.
Long story short-they put him in oxygen and ran tests and did bloodwork. He had fluid in his lungs, and although the vet said she couldn't rule out FIP completely, she thinks it was heart disease-HCM, as she called it. Bloodwork showed something abnormal with his heart and something was off with his kidneys too. She didn't feel good about the situation, but I opted for treatment, and hours later when they called, his breathing was worse and the prognosis was poor, so I had him put down. I'm gutted.
What might have caused this? He has been a healthy cat, and I had no warning at all about heart problems. I'm having difficulty finding out a lot about this disease.

 

[F+V]

I'm so sorry for your loss - can't imagine the pain of losing him. He was so young.
I don't have the answer you are looking for, but this could be genetic. Also, 16% of apparently healthy cats have heart diseases which cannot be detected by just listening with a stethoscope during regular vet visit. Our vet did NT-proBNP test to see any abnormality in heart. Source: Prevalence of cardiomyopathy in apparently healthy cats - PubMed

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I am so sorry. I do think you did the right thing by putting him out of his suffering. It is a horrible disease and often times people say their cats were fine and they went out and they came home, and their cat was dead. It can be a very quick killer and unless you get an echocardiogram, which is not recommended in a normal cat, you would have no way of knowing the disease is there.

There is no reason for this disease. You couldn't have prevented it. Nothing you did or didn't do caused it. It just sucks but sometimes very bad things happen to wonderful, sweet and very loved little cats for no reason at all.

I am truly sorry for your loss.

 

[fionasmom]

I am so sorry for your loss. HCM can strike cats of any age and there is nothing that you would have noticed in the early stages which would have changed the outcome. No one does random ECGs of their cat and even in the presence of mild symptoms a vet may not recommend going further with diagnostics.

 

[alana0011]

Thank you for the replies. I feel comforted.