A Look At Heart Disease In Cats

Heart disease in cats is a relatively common condition. It can be very difficult to detect in early stages since most common exhibit no symptoms. Felines of any age or breed are at risk for developing heart problems. So, what are some of the most common types?

Types

There are three main types of feline heart disease. Your pet may develop dilative, restrictive, or feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. The dilative form is characterized by thinning and weakening of the muscular walls of the heart. The muscular walls become thicker and firmer because of the hypertrophic form. The restrictive type is less common and occurs when the walls are progressively replaced by scar tissue.

Symptoms

Feline heart disease can be fatal quickly and suddenly since cats usually experience no symptoms early on. It may be difficult to notice signs when they do appear. Common symptoms include difficulty breathing, vomiting, loss of appetite, and breathing with an open mouth. More severe signs include paralysis, fainting, and sudden death.

Diagnosis

Most vets usually only find something wrong with your cat’s heart during routine examinations. A heart murmur could suggest that your cat may be having problems with his heart. A variety of tests will likely be done including chest x-rays, echocardiograms, and electrocardiograms. Echocardiograms are usually the most useful.

Treatment

If your cat’s heart hasn’t start to fail, the condition may be able to be controlled. So that the heart doesn’t have to work as hard, diuretics may be given to remove excess fluid. If your cat has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, he will need to take calcium channel blockers to reduce the stiffness of the muscular walls.

Blood pressure can be lowered via vasodilators. The heart’s workload will also be eased by this type of medication. Your cat may also be given betablockers and aspirin when battling this condition.

Many different health problems can affect your pet such as feline pancreatitis. Fortunately for you, cat-illnesses.com is a great resource for all owners. So, come by today to start reading about various diseases that can affect your cat.

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Find Out If Your Pet Has A Heart Problem

If you are worried that something is seriously going wrong with your pets heart then there are a few things that you can check before rushing off to the local animal hospital.

Although some of the early stages of heart failure in cats and dogs have no visible signs, heart failure can be diagnosed through an evaluation by a vet.

There area few very similar things to look for in both cats and dogs with mild to moderate heart failure can sometimes experience heart enlargement, coughing, lethargy and difficulty breathing.

The signs to look for for really severe heart failure is going on you can usually tell by the animal having difficulty breathing (even when at rest), fainting, not wanting to exercise, loss of appetite and weight loss. Do also double check as even drooling can be involved so watch carefully to see if your dog is drooling (more than usual).

If some of these symptoms to exist then it is best to go directly to your local animal surgery and have your vet take a look at your pet.

There are several waysyour vet may check to see if your pet has heart problems are EKG, chest x-rays, blood testing, or a heart ultrasound. The ultrasound is going to be the one to be of the most use to you as it gives your vet the ability to be able to see and measure the extent of the heart disease.

If the worst comes to the worst and there is something wrong with your pet then it is not to worry as there are many vets now that are experts in pets cardiology enabling them to even a pacemaker into your pet.

If you are really thinking that your pet could be suffering from one or some of these symptoms then it is best to at very least to see that it is checked out to make sure it is not a heart condition. The thing is if it is left untreated it can result in worse problems or even death of a pet which as everyone who has gone through that knows it is not easy to have a pet pass away.

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