Max, a silver tabby and white 7 year old neutered Scottish Fold male, is a very happy go-lucky boy who we always joked had "kitty ADHD". At 7, he is still like the kitten he was at 10 weeks--always very busy and hardly walks anywhere. At his routine semi-annual checkup in April, 2003, all was normal. At his routine semi-annual checkup in October, 2003, a grade 2 heart murmur was noted. Our vet got him into the board certified radiologist the same day for an echocardiogram. She noted "very, very slight" mitral valve thickening--almost imperceptible. No other changes to the heart.
We started him on CoQ10 to strengthen his heart and were told to repeat the echo in December, 2003. At that time, his echo showed a "very, very slight" thickening of the left atrium and a diagnosis of HCM was made. The holistic vet put him on a higher dose of CoQ10 (30 mg 2/day), pycnogenol (50 mg 2/day), dan shen pian (an herbal anti-coagulant 2/day) and sent us to a veterinary cardiologist. The cardiologist did an EKG and chest xray and found a very slight ventricular arrhythmia and a tiny bit of fluid in his lungs but his lungs SOUNDED clear. She put him on 6.25 mg of atenolol once daily and we also added fish oil to his regimen.
A follow-up EKG two weeks after starting the atenolol was done and his arrhythmia was gone--his EKG was beautiful. All along, his heart rate and bp have been extremely normal. He just had another echo last week (early May 2004) and his heart condition has not changed--certainly no better but the good news was his heart is stable and there was no additional thickening. He is scheduled to have his xrays, EKG, and BP done by the cardiologist on May 24 just to follow up the echo.
We are hopeful that with this treatment, we can maintain him with no additional heart damage. He is fed Wellness, Pet Guard, and Azmira canned foods and a small amount of Wellness Super 5 Adult mix dry food. He was vaccinated with FVRCP as a kitten but has not received any vaccinations since. He is a strictly indoor cat. While it is recommended he receive an echo on a 6-month basis, we intend to continue them every 3 months so we can be aware if there are any changes for which more aggressive treatment is needed. We feel very fortunate that we have caught this so early and are extremely hopeful we can keep him as stable as he now is.
-- Marjorie