Cardiomyopathy

Please kindly take a look at this video of my 8 month old kitten.


She has been exhibiting rapid breathing for the past few days and initial vet consultation did not rule out anything abnormal. I am suspecting cardiomyopathy and she is scheduled to be back tomorrow for a thorough examination plus chest X Ray. She doesn't appear to be in pain and is not panting, wheezing. Her breathing is not labored either, but it's fast and inconsistent.

Anyone here have and experience, do you mind sharing and let me know if it is as serious as it sounds? Thank you.

My cat has HCM, but he's not symptomatic so I can't tell you what the breathing would look like.

It'd be pretty hard to say it was cardiomyopathy just based on rapid breathing. It could just as easily (or even more likely) be a respiratory infection or something like asthma or allergies.

A cat with heart-related breathing problems would likely be lethargic and have other symptoms like loss of appetite or gagging.

A chest X-ray is a good idea; it ought to help pinpoint the problem. It will offer a view of the lungs and heart. If the heart is enlarged or looks abnormal, the vet may then recommend progressing to an EKG. But that may not be necessary, if the X-ray leads to a conclusive diagnosis.

Did the Vet take her heart rate. My Coco had breathed like that before with out wheezing from her Asthma. You can have a Echo of the heart done beside xrays. It was expensive when Coco had them but worth it. It may not be heart problems with your cat. There are alot of things that can make them breath fast.

Unfortunately, cardiomyopathy comes in many flavors. And each can have different symptoms and different treatments. Some are very easy to treat thru medication and others are life threatening. So to answer your question, is it serious? It all depends.

I lost 2 cats to cardiomyopathy. Both were in the prime years to have more serious varieties of the disease. Neither had labored breathing.

emmylou wrote:

It'd be pretty hard to say it was cardiomyopathy just based on rapid breathing. It could just as easily (or even more likely) be a respiratory infection or something like asthma or allergies.

Click to expand...

Absolutely. However, if a thorough physical exam, blood work, and a chest X-ray can rule out these possibilities, please ask your vet to order a cardiac ultrasound. Info that explains why you'll need to do that:

http://www.petplace.com/cats/echocar...und/page1.aspx

http://www.portlandvetspecialists.co...tdisease4.html