My two oldest cats, 16, brother and sister, have pretty advanced cases of cardiomyopathy. The female developed CHF[sup]1[/sup] a couple of weeks ago and was in the hospital for a few days. Her ultrasound showed HCM[sup]2[/sup]. I got the male tested this week and his proBnP was 1500 (normal 100), so my vet said that advanced HCM was likely (he didn’t feel an ultrasound was necessary). Although the male is asymptomatic at this point (other than tachycardia), my vet put him on Atenolol[sup]3[/sup] and Benazepril[sup]4[/sup].
I’m fine with putting the male on medications, but according to info on the Idexx site, some vets don’t feel prophylactic treatment does anything to lengthen CM cats lives.
So what’s been your experience? Have you seen any benefits to treating asymptomatic HCM cats?
[sup]1[/sup]Congestive heart failure
[sup]2[/sup]Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (thickening of the heart wall)
[sup]3[/sup]Beta blocker (lowers the heart rate)
[sup]4[/sup]ACE inhibitor (lowers blood pressure)
Well, to respond to my own question, it looks like the answer is no, at least for ACE inhibitors. At least I can stop beating myself up for thinking I haven’t done enough to prevent their condition.
And of course, here’s the obligatory kitty pic (Esmeralda on the left, Ee-oo on the right – it’s from a few years ago, before they lost so much weight).
My sister is a vet (not your vet), but she says that if your cat is exhibiting tachycardia he’s not asymptomatic - he’s showing an early symptom of the heart disease. The fast heart rate may lead to a worsening of the condition, and the Atenolol are attempting to slow it down. She wouldn’t normally put a cat on Benazepril until he’s in congestive heart failure, but your vet may have other reasons for prescribing this, not knowing the whole case.
Basically there’s ongoing debate about treatment but she doeesn’t think he’s getting an unreasonable level of care at this point.
{{{hugs}}} - hope you have a few more years with your babies.
Thanks for the reply! The male is also suffering from CRF, so the Benazepril is an attempt to deal with both issues. My female had another bout of CHF this weekend, so her Lasix dosage has been increased. I don’t think I she’s going to last too much longer. I just lost one of my other cats at the beginning of this month (Lymphoma), so I’m starting to feel overwhelmed at this point.
I don’t know anything about medicine for cats, but if a human had hypertrophic cardiomyopathy then an ACE-I would be normal. The ACE-I helps prevent further cardiac remodeling. So, if it would be normal for a human, I don’t see why it wouldn’t be normal for a cat.
But again, I know hardly anything about cats.
