Cats can suffer from heart disease, just like any other species. However, cats are very adept at hiding the early signs of the disease. Their relaxed behavior and ability to sleep can hide symptoms that would otherwise be obvious in an active animal. The difficulty in recognizing other heart diseases is the similarity of symptoms to those of the lungs or respiratory tract. Thus, you should be aware of any health problems in your cat, and consult your veterinarian as early as possible.
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Part 1 of 4: Recognizing the Early Signs
Step 1. Notice if your cat seems lethargic
When the heart tries to support the body's activities, but is unable to do so, this usually makes the cat lethargic.
- This lethargy can arise simply from a cat's slight increase in activity, such as walking, or climbing stairs, which puts a strain on its circulatory system.
- If the cat's circulation is not able to support its activities, it will become dizzy, lethargic, and weak. As a result, the cat will choose not to move and continue to rest.
Step 2. Feel for an abnormally increased respiratory rate
Another sign to watch out for is heart disease if your cat is breathing faster, even at rest. This is known as an increased respiratory rate.
- If you notice your cat is breathing abnormally too fast, pay attention and count the number of breaths it takes in one minute. Repeat this step a few times to make sure your count is correct. This information will be of great use to your veterinarian, as many animals breathe rapidly while in the clinic making a proper examination difficult.
- The normal respiratory rate in cats is between 20 and 30 breaths per minute. A breath rate of more than 35-40 breaths per minute is considered high, and above 40 is considered abnormal.
- Cats breathe faster because of the buildup of fluid in the lungs, which makes the exchange of oxygen in the lung tissue ineffective. To get enough oxygen, the cat has to take in more breaths, to cope with poor oxygen exchange.
Step 3. Watch the cat panting for breath
Another sign of heart disease is a cat breathing through its mouth or panting. Mouth breathing is not common in cats (unless they are under a lot of stress or after a lot of play).
Breathing through the mouth is an attempt to draw more oxygen into the lungs, and is a sign that oxygen exchange is impaired
Step 4. Be aware of the cat's "air thirst" position
If your cat is having trouble breathing, his body may enter an "air thirst" position. The cat is curled up on its stomach, with its head and neck held straight up. His elbows were kept away from his chest, so that his chest could expand as wide as possible with each breath.
Step 5. Recognize that a poor appetite is something to watch out for
When a cat swallows, it must stop breathing. When his heart is struggling, and he is having difficulty breathing, then he will not have time to stop breathing and swallow food.
Part 2 of 4: Recognizing Advanced Signs
Step 1. Notice if your cat has ever fainted
Unfortunately, as heart disease progresses, the signs and symptoms will also get worse. One of the advanced symptoms of heart disease is fainting. Cats become prone to fainting, because their body circulation cannot meet the blood supply to the brain.
Step 2. Look for or feel for fluid in the stomach
A sign of advanced heart disease is fluid accumulation in the abdomen due to fluid exchange in the blood vessels that makes the fluid enter the body cavity.
Step 3. Be aware that paralysis of the hind legs is possible
Another very serious sign of heart disease is paralysis of the hind legs.
- In advanced heart disease, a blood clot that forms will usually block a point in the main artery to the hind leg which divides into two.
- These blood clots block the circulation of blood to the hind legs, causing them to become paralyzed.
Part 3 of 4: Taking Your Cat to the Vet
Step 1. Take your cat to the vet for a physical examination
If you notice any of the above symptoms, take your cat to the vet. As part of the examination, the veterinarian will listen to the cat's heart using a stethoscope, and based on what he finds, will suggest any other necessary tests.
Step 2. Watch the cat to check its breathing
To get an idea of the severity of heart disease in cats, the vet may examine the cat while it rests in the basket or box.
- This is done to check the cat's breathing when he is relaxed, before experiencing stress from the examination.
- The vet will calculate the respiratory rate, and will also check the cat's breathing.
Step 3. Check for abnormalities in the cat's breathing
In a healthy cat, watching the chest expand and contract during breathing can sometimes be difficult. However, if the cat is having difficulty breathing (whether due to heart or lung disease), the chest rise and fall will be more obvious to see.
- One of the signs that indicate abnormal breathing is if the cat's stomach expands and contracts during breathing. This is known as "belly breathing" and is a sign that the cat is having trouble getting air into its lungs.
- It's important to remember that cats rarely cough from heart disease. This is in stark contrast to dogs, which often have a cough due to heart problems. A cat's airway may not have receptors that trigger coughing, which is due to the presence of fluid in the lungs.
Step 4. Tell your veterinarian about the cat's history of abnormal heartbeats (heart murmurs)
Your vet will need to know if your cat has previously been diagnosed with a heart murmur.
- The presence of a heart murmur at a young age indicates previous heart disease, which has the potential to worsen.
- However, the absence of a heart murmur at a young age also doesn't mean a cat can't have heart disease. If a cat with no history of a heart murmur suddenly develops one, and is having trouble breathing, then being aware of a new murmur may be important.
Step 5. Let the vet listen for a heart murmur
The vet will listen to your cat's heart to determine if there is a murmur or not, how loud it is, and check the rhythm and rate of the heartbeat.
- Most cats with heart disease have a heart murmur. Heart murmurs are caused by turbulence of blood flow within the heart chambers. Disorders of the heart such as thickening of the valves or the walls of the heart cause blood turbulence which is heard as a murmur.
- While it is true that heart disease in cats is often associated with murmurs, the presence of a murmur does not necessarily indicate heart disease in cats. For example, a cat that has a murmur is not necessarily heart failure. Many cases of heart murmurs also do not cause serious circulation problems.
Step 6. Ask your veterinarian for the cat's pulse rate
Heart rate is an important marker in determining whether a cat is sick or not. A cat's normal heart rate is around 120-140 beats per minute.
- However, the range has leeway, because a cat that is under stress will have a faster heart rate. In clinics, most veterinarians consider a pulse rate of up to 180 beats per minute to be normal. Above 180 is considered too fast. This is important because a diseased heart experiences a decrease in the volume of blood pumped out in each beat to lower than normal conditions.
- To overcome this, and maintain blood pressure, the heart will beat faster (a higher number of beats multiplied by a lower volume of blood out, will maintain blood circulation).
Step 7. Ask your vet about your cat's heart rhythm
An abnormal heart rhythm is a warning sign that your cat's heart is having trouble pumping blood. A healthy heart rhythm falls into one of these two patterns.
- First, the heart rate is regular with equal pauses between beats. Second, the cat has a "sinus arrhythmia". This condition indicates the normal acceleration and deceleration of the heart rate that coincides with the cat's in and out breaths.
- Abnormal heart rhythm is irregular. Such a rhythm may consist of a normal heartbeat followed by an irregular beat. This occurs when the heart muscle is damaged and the damaged tissue interferes with the delivery of electrical signals in the heart that tell when to contract and relax.
Step 8. Make sure that the vet checks the color of the cat's mucous membranes
A cat's gums should be a healthy pink, just like ours. The vet will check the color of the gums for any blood circulation problems.
If there is heart failure, and poor blood circulation, the gums will tend to be pale, even white. But this sign isn't just specific to heart disease, as the gums can also turn pale from anemia or pain
Step 9. Watch as the vet checks for jugular venous distention
The vet may do something that seems a little odd, namely wet the cat's neck hair with alcohol. This is done to see the shape of the jugular vein that contains blood returning to the heart.
These veins are located in the neck, and if the cat's heart is having trouble pumping, blood will tend to pool in the lower part of the heart and the jugular vein to bulge
Part 4 of 4: Getting Your Cat Checked
Step 1. Understand that additional tests are usually required in establishing the diagnosis
It is likely that additional tests will be needed to confirm the suspicion of heart disease, determine the cause, and estimate the severity of the disease.
The tools commonly used in diagnosing heart murmurs in cats are a special blood test (proBNP), chest radiography, and ultrasound of the heart
Step 2. Allow the vet to perform a ProBNP blood test
This test will measure "cardiac biomarkers" in the blood. Cardiac biomarkers are proteins released by diseased heart muscle cells.
- The results were classified into three categories: low, meaning heart disease was not the cause of clinical symptoms in cats; normal, which means heart disease may not be present at the time; and high, meaning the cat had significant heart muscle damage.
- ProBNP testing can provide clues that the heart is not the source of the disease (at low readings), and it can also help monitor cats with heart disease (high readings should decrease after treatment is given).
Step 3. Let the veterinarian perform a chest radiograph of the cat
The vet will take two pictures of the cat's chest: one from above, and one from the side. Both will be a reference to determine the shape and size of the cat's heart.
- Radiographic results play little role, because one of the most common cat heart diseases, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), causes thickening of the heart muscle inward. Because X-rays only show a picture of the heart from the outside, not the inside, HCM disease cannot be diagnosed by radiography alone.
- However, radiographs are useful for detecting fluid in the lungs, such as pulmonary edema, which can indicate heart failure, and also rule out other diseases such as asthma or lung tumors in cats.
Step 4. Allow the veterinarian to perform an ultrasound examination
This examination is the main standard for identifying and diagnosing heart disease in cats. A heart scan allows the veterinarian to visualize the chambers of the heart, see the contractions of the heart, follow the flow of blood through the heart, and check the health of the heart valves.
- The ultrasound will also detect other problems, such as fluid in the sac around the heart, which may not be detected on X-rays.
- Ultrasound also allows measurement of the size of the different heart chambers. The results can be used to estimate whether the heart is pumping blood effectively or is having difficulty.
Step 5. Understand that your vet will use the ultrasound results to check for a variety of important factors
This includes:
- Ventricular wall thickness: one of the parameters that will be checked by the veterinarian is the ventricular wall thickness of the heart. HCM disease is associated with severe wall thickening, which blocks areas that would otherwise be filled with blood.
- Left ventricular:aortic ratio: using ultrasound images, veterinarians can estimate the width of the left ventricle, the main chamber through which blood is pumped throughout the body. The width of the aorta is also measured and the ratio between the two is then calculated. The results of this calculation can provide an accurate indication of whether the left ventricle of the heart is enlarged or not. This is very important because in some cases of heart failure, the heart muscle becomes fatigued and swollen, resulting in increased blood pressure, and the heart's ventricles are overstretched and dilated.
- Shortening fraction: Another useful calculation of ultrasound scanning is the shortening fraction. This measure is obtained from the width of the ventricle during complete relaxation and complete contraction. Both calculations will provide a percentage value that can be compared with a table of normal values. A shortening fraction value above or below the normal range indicates heart failure.
