Just found out my 1 year old cat has a heart disease

[trmiv]

We brought our cat in to visit the vet a few months ago for a checkup. He's a large cat, 1 year old and 25 pounds, but not really that fat, just a huge cat. The doctor found a heart murmur that concerned her. She mentioned in big cats, the worry of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a problem. She recommended an x-ray to see if he had an enlarged heart, and then an ultrasound if the x-ray showed he needed it. Well the x-ray confirmed an enlarged heart, so the cardiologist wanted to do an ultrasound. They did the ultrasound today, and confirmed he has hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Apparently this is a disease which causes the walls of the heart to become increasingly enlarged. There is no cure for the disease, and apparently cats with the disease live an average of about 2 years. He's 1 year old now, and she said at most he will live another 2-3 years before his heart fails.

Both my wife and I are pretty saddened by this. We've become so attached to him, and he's the most lovable cat I've ever seen. He loves to lay on the couch in back of your shoulders and purr, and loves human attention. He doesn't have a mean streak in his body, just the nicest cat.

Anyone have a cat have this disease? How long did the cat live?

 

[ElFenix]

 

[fbrdphreak]

Don't doubt the resilience of cats though. A stray my gf adopted got pregnant with kittens, had the four kittens, then shortly after being fixed jumped out of a two story window. She's doing great to this day, that was several years ago.

The kittens (now grown) are huge; all around 20lbs and they're several years old, probably with many to go.

Best of luck with your kitty, just try not to focus on it and enjoy all the time you've got :sun:

 

[MX2]

Poor kitty cat Give him the best time he can have while he is here

 

[ballmode]

time for a new animal

 

[sixone]

Awwww, kitty.

Like MX said, make the most of your time with him. They say the candle that burns brightest burns fastest.

 

[trmiv]

Thanks.

The more I read on this disease, the worse it gets. It's basically a death sentence, could be 6 months, could be 2 years. The doctor said he is at extreme risk of heart failure. He just turned 1 year old two weeks ago.

 

[cyclistca]

Do you have a pictures to share?

 

[trmiv]

The day we got him

Him today

 

[Jeff7]

Wow, he sure is a big guy. You sure you're not feeding him too much?

My cat, Beverly, is probably only about 10lbs, 14 years old, and is solid muscle. She still will bolt around the house like a crazed kitten, and she stays in shape by constantly following everyone around the house.
Scotty, who died just a few months ago due to complications from a stroke a month or two prior, was about 15 pounds, and the same age. "Lazy" would best describe him. He was kind of smart though - he figured out that he could swipe Beverly's supper dish by pulling it away with his paw. She never got the hang of that trick. He'd also sit down, stare at you, and move his paw up and spread out his "fingers" to indicate that he wanted his head scratched.

Their feeding regimen is dry food and water available 24/7, and once a day they get about an ounce or two of wet canned food.

 

[slightlyhuman]

jesus that's so sad.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

poor kitty

 

[Pacfanweb]

The wife's terrorist punk cat was diagnosed with a murmer that was supposed to shorten his life about 7 years ago.

Tonight I clamped one of the wife's hair clips to his leg and watched him freak. Seemed pretty healthy to me.

edit: moral of the story is, the vet isn't necessarily correct about your cat's potential lifespan.

 

[trmiv]

He's been on light cat (Royal Canin light) food since he was 6 months old on advice from the vet. It's carefully measured 1 cup a day. The vet is surprised he has kept gaining weight too. He was 23.3 pounds a month ago, and when we took him into today he was 25.15 pounds. This condition, however, has nothing to do with his weight, it's apparently genetic. His condition is already in a rather advanced state. The scary thing is, the vet said cats barely show symptoms when they have heart failure, and it's usually too late when they start showing it. If we see any change in behavior, he needs to go the vet immediately. I just can't believe it, he's so lively, so sweet, so playful. He, of course, doesn't understand he was just diagnosed with a terminal illness. He's just happy to be sitting here by me and swatting at our dog as she walks by the couch like it's any other day.

The wife's terrorist punk cat was diagnosed with a murmer that was supposed to shorten his life about 7 years ago.

Tonight I clamped one of the wife's hair clips to his leg and watched him freak. Seemed pretty healthy to me.

edit: moral of the story is, the vet isn't necessarily correct about your cat's potential lifespan.

Just having a murmur is a different thing. The vet said most cats with just murmurs live long lives. He unfortunately has disease with no known cure that cats who have it live an average of 2 years, and very very rarely live 4 years. Luckily , one of the leading veterinary cardiologists in the country is in the area, and he did the diagnosis.

 

[TheRyuu]

My Dad's cat has a HUGE tumor on her front right paw.

Cat's 17 (I think) years old though.
I'm not expecting it to make it to 18...

Pretty good for a cat though.

The best you can do is hope for the best for the cat and do what the vet says.
People say you can "always get another one" but nothing can really replace that family pet you've had for years.
The cat/dog/*insert various animal* becomes a close friend.

 

[xcript]

Poor little guy.

 

[aidanjm]

very sad. and he looks so healthy on the outside. his fur is very glossy. hopefully he will be able to pack lots of contentment and pleasure into his remaining few years.

 

[trmiv]

No, it's not curable. He's on a beta blocker which is supposed to help reduce the risk of sudden heart failure, but eventually the disease is going to win out. According to the paperwork they gave us, his case is already pretty advanced. Eventually his heart wall will grow too much, and his heart will give. But, the risk remains that he could die suddenly any time from it. Also, cats with this disease are very susceptible to blood clots.

 

[soydios]

My old cat had a heart murmur for most of her life (dunno about if she had swollen heart walls). It never seemed to slow her down at all, and needless to say, she ended up succumbing to lymphoma at the age of eleven. We had to put her down, because she couldn't keep food or liquid down (she would eat/drink, then regurgitate it a short time later). But it was a quick decline (she caught, killed, and ate half a mouse thirty-six hours before she went to sleep for the last time on our cool garage floor).

 

[Buttsmacker]

take him to an INTEGRATED vet... they practice both western and eastern medicine. I know this will fall on blind eyes, but they work miracles. You could save your cat's life.
But i'm sure i'll be ignored like usual when i try to tell people about the wonders of eastern medicine.

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: Buttsmacker
take him to an INTEGRATED vet... they practice both western and eastern medicine. I know this will fall on blind eyes, but they work miracles. You could save your cat's life.
But i'm sure i'll be ignored like usual when i try to tell people about the wonders of eastern medicine.

We took our ~14-15 year old dog to an integrated vet. Previous blood tests at our regular vet had revealed kidney failure and basically imminent death - treatment at the integrated vet increased her quality of life (much more lively, playful, etc) and she lived for 6+ months after we started treatment. Much longer than the regular vet predicted