Attn: Kcoursolle

[Keepingthefaith21]

The other week I posted about my kitty having a heart murmmer. You mentioned your cat was diagnosed with HCM. That is what Miyagi was diagnosed with

Currently he is on Atenolol (1/4 tablet once a day).

I''m feeling upset and a bit lost which I am sure with subside over a bit of time.

Can you offer any advice on living with a cat with HCM? So many people have linked me to articles and sent me e-mails from friends who are vets or vet techs but they are all lacking the personal experiences.

I hope you don''t mind me asking you to share a bit...

 

[kcoursolle]

Date: 7/1/2008 6:12:55 PM
Author:Keepingthefaith21
The other week I posted about my kitty having a heart murmmer. You mentioned your cat was diagnosed with HCM. That is what Miyagi was diagnosed with

Currently he is on Atenolol (1/4 tablet once a day).

I''m feeling upset and a bit lost which I am sure with subside over a bit of time.

Can you offer any advice on living with a cat with HCM? So many people have linked me to articles and sent me e-mails from friends who are vets or vet techs but they are all lacking the personal experiences.

I hope you don''t mind me asking you to share a bit...

Sure, I can talk about it for a bit. I found out not that long ago myself (3 months ago), so I am still not sure what this means for her or how long she will live.

Currently my cat is also on atenolol, 1/4 per day for the first month, and now 1/2 a tablet a day since then. The vet said that the atenolol thins the flow of blood enough so that her heart can function fairly normally. When I asked about her lifespan with HCM the vet said that some cats can live very long lives with HCM especially if found early. However, other cats can get heartfailure and die within a year.

The vet mentioned that in six months from the first check up I should take her in for an ultrasound to see if anything has progressed. At this time I will have a better idea on lifespan depending on whether she has progressed or not.

At first it was very hard to deal with, but now I am at peace with it. I think she is very happy with us and she has no idea there is something wrong with her heart. She is always running around and galloping around the apartment and hopefully she will be doing this for a long time. I think that no matter how long her life is she will be very happy during her life with us and that my husband and I will enjoy her for as long as she lives. We of course hope and wish that she will live a long time, but we will just enjoy her for as long as she lives. I am optimistic that she will live a long time though.

I guess my best advice is to take her in for her scheduled check ups and give her the care your kitty needs...but beyond that to just enjoy your cat and try not to focus on it too much. Eventually you will start to forget about it, I don''t really focus on it too much anymore. I''m sure this will be harder if her condition progresses, but cats can get sick from other things as well...we''ve had cats die unexpectedly at a young age that seemed perfectly healthy.

Feel free to ask me more questions, although this is still fairly new to me as well.

 

[Keepingthefaith21]

Thank you so much for sharing!!

I am really hopeful that when we return for a follow-up echo that I find he is not progressing very quickly and I can hopefully have a handful of years left with him.

At least the little bugger hasn''t lost the cuddle bug inside of him

I hope your little girl does well on her treatment as well!!