Restrictive Cardiomyopathy - Help Please

[sally53]

My lovely boy Dizzy, not yet 7 years old, was diagnosed 2 months ago, with restrictive cardiomyopathy, The walls of his heart are thin as they have been stretched therefore he cant take in as much oxygen as he should, and my vet has told me the prognosis is terminal; he only has 6 months to a year of his life left, which is pretty unbearable knowledge.
He is taking 1 x Fortekor pal tablets (2.5mg) and 1/4 of a 40g Frusemide tablet, daily. In addition my vet suggested 1 x 75mg Aspirin tablet twice a week, to thin his blood and help lessen the likelihood of a blood clot. He said Aspirin hasnt been PROVEN to do this, but that it wont do Dizzy any harm. He has told me to regularly check his breathing and that 30 breaths a minute is ok, but at 40 or more I should call him straight away. At the moment, he is eating quite well, and going outside every day, albeit not as often as before, and not for as long. He is also sleeping for longer stretches at a time than before. But he does seem comfortable and quite happy in himself.
What is frightening me is that I dont know what to do if he does have a 'heart attack' - will I know he is having one? How long does it last? What, if anything, can I do to help Dizzy while its happening?
Also, if, please dear God, he never has a blood clot, are there any signs apart from the breathing that I need to watch for? I dont know what to expect. At what point is he suffering ?
Please, if your cat has or you had a cat (sorry) with this disease, please share your experience with me.

[Kay]

I have no experience myself, but I know others have, and I suggest you alter your thread title to include Cardiomyopathy in order to get an answer from those with the knowhow

have you checked to see if there is a Yahoo group specific to your boy's problems? - there probably is and these groups can be invaluable, because you are indirectly getting the advice of a number of vets, and some of them may well be specialists in feline heart conditions

[Crewella]

I'm afraid I've no experience either, and you tend to find this forum is busier on weekdays, so you might have to wait until someone comes along.

I understand perfectly that you want to hear from people who've been through this, but in the meantime your vet should be able to answer many of your questions so it might be worth trying to speak to him/her.

Poor Dizzy, it's such a worry when they're ill, give him a fuss from me. xx

[sally53]

Thank you Crewela and Kay. Ive amended my post as suggested and thanks for the tip about the website being busier on weekdays.
Its difficult to talk to my vet about it as I get upset and cant ask the questions I wanted to, so Im hoping for some answers from the lovely people on here.
Thank you again
Sally

[Crewella]

There's lots of info on the net about the symptoms, diagnosis and treatment, but it seems to be hard to find info on how to recognise a heart attack and what to do, and I completely understand your concerns. Until someone who's been through this comes along, this is the best I could find:

http://www.petforums.co.uk/cat-health-a ... -cats.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[sarie]

Oh Sally I'm so sorry to hear about Dizzy

My 5 year old cat Harvey had a major heart scare last September and I learned an awful lot about heart kitties in that time. It turned out in our case, after a few months of fearing the worst, that Harvey's main issue was actually Asthma but he does also have underlying heart concerns and will be seeing a cardiologist for an update on the situation in a few months. He was initially diagnosed with Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.
We were lucky enough to be given a reprieve but when we see the cardiologist again there's a chance we could get bad news and his heart could be in decline so I take the time to treasure every minute with him.

Someone else on here recommended the Yahoo group for feline hearts at the time and I found it to be a wealth of knowledge and full of wonderful and generous cat owners going through similar situations. They understand what it is to have a kitty with heart problems and will be able to help you with any questions and worries you have.

https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/feline-heart/info" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Harvey was taking Fortekor and Furosemide too for a while. He was also taking Plavix for thinning his blood to prevent the risk of clots. I did an awful lot of reading and aspirin doesn't appear to be as effective as Plavix in trials, although no drug can prevent clots 100%, they can only reduce the risk, so it's often personal choice and different vets have different preferences. I chose to pursue Plavix with my vet, although they'd initially recommended aspirin. The issue with Plavix is that you have to give it daily, whereas the Aspirin doesn't have to be given as frequently, so it depends how well Dizzy tolerates his medications. Plavix is also disgustingly bitter so needs to be given hidden in something to prevent him from frothing when taking it. If you have issues with Dizzy taking tablets then I can try to help you with some tips as Harvey is THE worst cat to tablet so I had to learn very quickly with the amount of meds he was on at the time. I found a solution that was stress free for both of us in the end after a bit of trial and error.

Breathing really is the main thing to look out for when you're monitoring Dizzy. I still have to monitor Harvey now and I take his resting rate once in the morning and once in the evening. Did your vet explain how to do this? I had to ask as it wasn't clear at first and it's easy to get this wrong and panic yourself.
There are other obvious signs to look out for, depending on Dizzy's personality. Harvey used to go upstairs and hide when he was having problems with his breathing and he'd generally be quiet and out of sorts. Sure enough if I tracked him down when he vanished I'd usually find he was having breathing problems. Any signs that Dizzy is out of sorts or not behaving normally are worth monitoring closely and if in doubt at any point, call your vet for advice.
I hope for both your sake and Dizzy's that he never has a clot but usually the signs of a serious clot are very obvious, the main symptom usually being back leg paralysis. At the first signs of a clot you must get him straight to a vet. If Dizzy is ever suffering, I'm sure he'll let you know, but until this point try to take each day as it comes. Often cats with heart problems can thrive with the right treatment and it's hard to tell there's anything wrong other than the occasional spike in breathing rates - they can be very happy and contented and will be pretty much unaware of their condition.

Has Dizzy seen a cardiologist at all? I know it's an awful thing to ask, but is he insured? Cardiologists can be expensive but if you can afford it or he's insured then it's really worth seeing a cardiologist as vets are just like GPs, they're great with initial diagnosis but they're not experts in the latest heart treatments and there are an awful lot of treatments out there for cats with heart problems. Heart treatments in both humans and cats have come on an awfully long way in recent years. A cardiologist will also do extensive tests to understand the exact nature and severity of the condition in order to treat it appropriately.
I was told that Harvey only had 6 months to live with his heart condition but everything online suggested he could've lived many years with the right care - 6 months was worst case scenario. I'm not trying to give you false hope, but please do join the Yahoo group and post up about Dizzy on there as I'm sure you'll be flooded with advice from the wonderful people on there on how to keep Dizzy comfortable and happy for as long as possible.

Please drop me an email if you'd like to ask anything, I understand what you're going through. I know I've been lucky that Harvey and I were given a reprieve and I don't want you to feel that I'm being condescending by giving you advice on this but for 3 months we lived with the understanding he was on borrowed time so I genuinely know how it feels. Dealing with the bombshell that Dizzy is suffering from a terminal condition is hard enough but to then be faced with all the questions and the confusion of how to best care for his condition is overwhelming. It took me weeks to adapt and I still had moments where I'd just hide and pour out my grief before I could pull myself together and try to get on with dealing with things. It's both a blessing and a curse to find out in advance that your time together is limited. Knowing I could lose him any day was absolutely heart breaking to live with, but equally that knowledge meant that I could dedicate as much time to enjoying him as possible and make every day special for him. It also meant I could start preparing myself mentally for what might be to come.
Heart kitties are very prone to stress triggers so it's important that Dizzy is kept as stress free as possible and you enjoy every minute with him and although it's very difficult, try to hide your grief from him. I cried in front of Harvey a few times and he often picked up on it and his breathing would start to increase very quickly so I learned to try to be positive around him for his own sake.
I found it a comfort to dedicate at least 30 minutes a day to just having a bit of quiet time with Harvey, giving him quiet fuss and soaking him up. It helped us both to deal with what was happening and I know he appreciated the extra attention

Please give your Dizzy some gentle fuss from me and if you need anything at all, please email me.