In this thread I wrote about our wonderful new adopted six month old Maine Coon kitten.
Unfortunately the story has a very sad ending. I took her to the vet to be neutered last month since we did not want to breed her. While there the vet said she couldn’t perform the surgery because the cat had a serious heart murmur! The vet said the murmur was so bad she should not have been sold in the first place.
I contacted the breeder. She was stunned. Her own vet said the cat was perfectly happy. Indeed the cat has no symptoms right now – she runs around like any other kitty.
This week the breeder and I took her to a heart specialist to get looked at further. The verdict? Three separate heart defects that will give her only a 50% of surviving past two!
I am heartbroken. The breeder is furious with her vet since he didn’t diagnose the problem in the first place.
We have decided to return the kitty to the breeder. She’s planning to breed one of her other cats and we’ll take a kitten from that litter. I feel bad about returning her but I think the breeder will be able to cope with this situation better than I can. This just sucks. We’ve lost two cats of old age in three years. I can’t sit there and watch my little cat’s every move, wondering if she’s showing symptoms and may die soon.
First, LavenderBlue, I’m so sorry to hear about your kitty. That’s terrible news.
Re: Maine Coon cats being safe: be careful when you look for a new kitty, as one of the few things MCs are prone to is feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, which can be manageable but can also be severe and life-threatening. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to read up on the MC/FHC connection to get familiar with the risks before you look for a breeder.
Again, I’m really sorry about your kitten. We had kind of a similar case (in our case, our kitten was a Singapura and his heart problem was different, but still manifested in a murmur). We had already fallen in love with him so we kept him and he’s still doing fine, but it’s one of those things where every case is different and there’s no right answer.
My kitty had a heart murmur once, but it went away when I switched vets. I remember the year or so I spent worrying about it…but happily for my kitty, she just really hated my old vet (long story) and got all stressed out and apparently cats can develop murmurs under stressful conditions.
Sorry about your kitty…but are you sure you want another one from the same line certified by the same vet? Good luck with the future fuzzball.
We were hoping this murmur was nothing but the diagnostic ultrasound was very definitive. The specialist said nothing could really be done for her. I feel so bad because the kitten is such a wonderful little girl. She’s gorgeous and very friendly. But at least I know the breeder will look after her.
I want to keep her but I just can’t put myself through an emotional roller coaster like that. It was hard enough watching my last cat die and he was about seventeen and in great pain.
I also feel very bad for the breeder. She’s a great person. The poor woman was practically in tears after the specialist broke the news to us. She actually came with me to the vet to see the specialist and then paid the vet bill. She nursed this kitty from a bottle after the mommy cat developed mastitis and was unable to feed her and her littermates.
The breeder is using different cats to breed a new litter. She also recently switched vets.
