Pets are a lot more than just domestic animals. They are great companions; they are playful and a constant source of joy and happiness. A lot of pet owners have intimate bonds with their pets.

Therefore, it can be a frightening situation to have your cat diagnosed with a heart illness or complication. Regardless, feline heart diseases are diagnosed very frequently, which begs the question. Just how much are you aware of the several types of heart diseases found in cats? Here are a few of the common ones:

Cardiomyopathies

This is arguably the heart disease that is most frequently diagnosed in cats. It is a condition that normally affects the heart muscles. This, in turn, leads to a heart weakness. Cardiomyopathies can be categorized into further categories:

  1. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. This is common in a lot of cats. It is a condition whereby the muscle of a heart grows to be thicker than usual. It means that the heart will not be able to perform normal functions efficiently.
  2. Dilated cardiomyopathy. Initially, it was frequently diagnosed because of a deficiency in taurine in the cats’ diet. Modern cat diets now comprise adequate levels of taurine. This has led to a decline in the frequency of diagnosis of dilated cardiomyopathy.
  3. Restrictive Cardiomyopathy. Admittedly, scientists know little about this illness, though it is known to cause toughness in the heart ventricles. This leads to inefficient heart functioning.
  4. Right ventricular cardiomyopathy. This is a type of which disturbs the right-side of the right of the cat’s heart.

Feline hyperthyroidism

The most adverse effect of hyperthyroidism is the elevated levels of the thyroid hormone in the blood. The effect this increased level of the hormone has on the body is a lot of times more toxic and can more often than not leads to a heart disease.

Thromboembolism

An embolism occurs when a bubble of air enters the bloodstream. A thromboembolism occurs when blood clots in one heart’s chamber, then during the healing process, it breaks off to enter the bloodstream. These blood clots may eventually end up accumulating within a blood vessel. If this happens, the end result is going to be clogging of a blood vessel. This means that blood will not be able to flow or its flow through the vessel may be restricted.

Congenital heart conditions

Cats are also prone to congenital heart conditions. In fact, there are several known feline congenital defects such as:

  1. (VSD)Ventricular septal defects. These are basically holes that happen between the right and left ventricles of cats. This condition makes the heart’s pumping work to be more difficult. It leads to the wearing down the heart of the cat.
  2. Atrial septal defects. This is a similar condition to the ventricular septal. The only difference is that it occurs in the two atrial walls.
Less frequently diagnosed feline heart illnesses
  1. Patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). This illness occurs while there is a rare vessel that connects to the pulmonary artery and the aorta causing a bypass of blood the heart.
  2. Aortic stenosis. This is a condition whereby the aorta becomes narrower. Normally aortas are large since they take blood away from the heart at a high pressure.

Visit an animal hospital in Peekskill, NY if your cat displays any of these symptoms. Health complications can risk the lives of your feline friend so it’s pertinent that you act fast.