Cats Heart and Circulatory System Articles

Your cat heart and circulatory system is made up of arteries, capillaries, and veins. These crucial parts of the cats system help to control the amount of blood that circulates through the system. To keep your cat’s heart and circulatory system healthy, exercise and a healthy diet are the best defenses against common heart and circulatory system conditions such as heartworms, heart attacks, and aoritic stenosis. There are a number of effective treatments for cat heart conditions that can be administered by your veterinarian. In some cases, medication may be enough to treat a mild heart condition while surgery may be required in other more serious cases. Continue reading to learn more about the cat heart and circulatory system.

• What is a Normal Kitten Heart Rate?

  The kitten heart beats faster than a mature cat's heart. Detecting an unusually high or low heart rate can help identifying possible heart conditions or health issues.

• Understanding Feline Infectious Anemia

  There are a number of infectious organisms that cause feline anemia or the lack of red blood cells; however, the parasitic disease itself has been renamed "feline hemotropic mycoplasmosis", which literally means a cat blood infection of mycoplasma organisms

• Understanding Feline Cardiomyopathy

  Feline cardiomyopathy also known as feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (hcm) is a disease that affects the heart muscle. The walls of the heart...

• Treatment Options for Heart Murmur in Cats

  Detecting a heart murmur in your cat is the first step to determining if any underlying heart diseases or other problems are putting your cat at risk for something more serious.

• Treatment Considerations for Feline Cardiomyopathy

  Feline cardiomyopathy is a cat heart disease, often fatal, in which the heart walls change shape by stretching or thickening, making it difficult for the heart to work properly.

• Treating Feline Congestive Heart Failure with Furosemide

  Furosemide is a drug used to treat feline congestive heart failure. Furosemide acts as a diuretic and greatly improves a cat's quality of life when used properly.

• Treating Arterial Thromboembolism (ATE) in Cats

  Treating Arterial Thromboembolism (ATE) is difficult if the disease is not caught early. Most cats act normal and then suddenly yowl in pain and become paralyzed in the rear legs.

• Symptoms of Hepatic Lipidosis in Cats

  Hepatic lipidosis is a fatal disease if not caught and treated. The symptoms are typically easy to see, especially if you know what to look for.

• Pulmonary Edema in Cats

  Pulmonary edema is a condition that occurs in cats when there is an excessive buildup of fluid in the air sacs of the lungs, known as alveoli. Under normal conditions, a minute amount of fluid is retained within these air sacs and continuously drained by the lymph nodes.

• Preventing Heartworm in Cats

  An infestation of a single heartworm in cats can be very serious. Symptoms of cat heart problems caused by heartworms may be indistinguishable from acute respiratory disease.

• Managing Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy With Inderal

  Feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (FHC) is a potentially fatal disease, but it can be managed with Inderal. The condition is one of the most common heart...

• Managing Feline Congestive Heart Failure with Vetmedin

  Vetmedin is a popular medication that is used to treat cats that have congestive heart failure. When this condition is managed properly, a cat's quality of life can be much improved.

• Managing Congestive Heart Failure in Cats with Lasix

  Lasix, or furomeside, is a medication used to treat congestive heart failure in cats. It acts as a diuretic and can also be used to treat diseases of the kidneys...

• How Vets Interpret a Cat Blood Test

  A feline blood test looks at several factors. Depending on which illness your pet is being tested for, not all of these values will be important, but understanding what each means can help you learn more about your cat's health.

• Heartworm Disease in Cats

  It might be a good idea to consider retesting for heartworms. It would not be unusual for a cat to have a single heartworm and the symptoms you have seen would be consistent with death of a heartworm.

• Heart Murmur in Cats

  Many of the cats that do have heart murmurs do not experience any problems relating to the murmur. However, there can be serious problems when a murmur is present, so the best approach is to get an ultrasound exam of the heart when it is possible to do so.

• Heart Arrhythmia in Cats

  Heart arrhythmia in cats occurs when the heart beat is too fast, too slow or simply irregular. The condition can be mild and often isn't life threatening, though sometimes it's the symptom of another, more serious condition.

• Heart - Cardiomyopathy

  Our cat runs around the house, she pants and her tongue hangs out. She was showing difficulty breathing and in the past was diagnosed as having a heart murmur. We were told she had an inflamed heart and would need an ultrasound.

• Feline Mitral Valve Disease

  Mitral valve disease is one of the most common types of heart disease to affect cats. The mitral valve is located between the left ventricle and the left atrium.

• Feline Low Blood Pressure Symptoms

  Hypotension or low blood pressure in felines can be a consequence of blood loss or trauma but may also be a condition with unknown causes. The normal values of feline blood pressure are between 80/90 and 160/170.

• Feline Low Blood Pressure

  Low blood pressure, or hypotension, in cats may occur for various reasons including trauma, kidney problems or no reason at all. A cat’s normal blood pressure is between 80 to 90 systolic and 160 to 170 diastolic.

• Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

  Feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is a dangerous condition that refers to the thickening of the lower chambers, or ventricles, in a cat’s heart. The average life expectancy for a cat that suffers from this disease is under eight hundred days...

• Feline Heartworm Treatment with Interceptor

  Feline heartworm is caused when an infected mosquito carries the parasite's larvae and bites a cat. The mosquito's bite will enable the larvae to travel from the insect to the cat.

• Feline Congestive Heart Failure Symptoms

  Feline congestive heart failure develops due to the reduced ability of the heart to pump sufficient blood to the body. Although the causes of congestive heart failure are varied, many pets are genetically predisposed to heart diseases.

• Feline Congestive Heart Failure

  Feline congestive heart failure is a condition that’s caused by an abnormal structure of the heart, which makes it unable to pump blood throughout a cat’s body.

• Feline CHF: Understanding Cat Heart Failure

  Cat heart failure occurs when a cat's heart is unable to pump adequate blood to its body. A failing heart may lead to extreme fatigue, excess fluid retention in various body...

• Feline Cardiomyopathy Explained

  The term "cardiomyopathy" refers to a disease of the heart. Feline cardiomyopathy occurs when the walls of the cat's heart muscle either get way too thick due to uncontrolled...

• Dilated Cardiomyopathy in Cats

  Dilated cardiomyopathy in cats is a disease in which the chambers of the heart enlarge, or dilate, as a result of a thinning of the muscle walls of the heart. This weakens the heart and leads to less powerful contractions, which can ultimately cause congestive heart failure.

• Diagnosing Feline Cardiomyopathy

  Feline cardiomyopathy is a disease that affects a cat's heart. The heart muscle in cats with cardiomyopathy can either stretch too much, or the walls of the organ become too thick.

• Cat Heart Problems

  Cat heart problems do not cause symptoms early on, allowing heart disease to develop unnoticed by owners. In fact, cats may seem to be in good health, though they expire suddenly from a silent heart condition.

• Cat Heart Murmur Symptoms

  A cat heart murmur is an irregularity of the heart rhythm, caused by abnormal blood flow. If the heart is examined, there will be an unusual noise coming from it.

• Cat Heart Murmur Diagnosis

  Cat heart murmurs aren't always a life-threatening condition and in some cases a murmur is nothing more than an incidental occurrence with no medical significance. Heart murmurs are caused by uneven blood flow through the heart which emits a distinct noise that veterinarians can detect with a simple examination of the heartbeat and rhythm of the cat's heart.

• Cat Heart Murmur

  Cat heart murmur is an abnormal sound that's detected during clinical diagnosis of the pet. The murmur develops when there's a change in the blood flow through the valves of the heart.

• Cat Heart Disease Symptoms

  Cat heart disease is mostly genetically inherited. Heart disease occurs in varying stages based on the severity.

• Cat Heart Disease Diagnosis

  Cat heart disease is a common affliction among feline pets. This condition can occur at any age to any feline breed.

• Cat Heart Disease

  The heart of the cat is a vital organ, in charge of pumping blood, nutrients and oxygen to the rest of the cat’s body. Cats can acquire heart disease, especially at an older age.

• Cat Heart Attack Symptoms

  Heart attack symptoms in cats differ from those seen in humans since they don’t experience myocardial infarctions as a result of an unhealthy lifestyle and a diet high in fat. Knowing the symptoms of a cat heart attack can help a pet owner seek medical care before it's too late.

• Cat Blood Types Explained

  During a medical emergency, it may be necessary to give your cat blood in a transfusion. If this is the case, it is important to be aware of your cat’s blood type, as well as the general breakdown of feline blood types and their cross-compatibility.

• Cardiovascular Disorders of Cats

  Heart failure, usually from cardiomyopathy in cats, is one cause of changes in the fluid pressures. As the heart function decreases blood accumulates in the lungs because it isn't being pumped out of them. This raises the blood pressure in the pulmonary capillaries which normally drain the fluid from the visceral pleura.

• Cardiomyopathy

  Cardiomyopathy is an alteration in the function of the heart muscle. It can occur for several reasons in cats and it can take several forms.

• Blood Disorders in Cats

  Blood disorders are those which affect the quality of the blood in your cat. There are various different disorders which can affect the consistency of the blood and the ability of the blood to flow normally.

• Atrial Fibrillation in Cats

  Atrial fibrillation is a very serious condition that is usually permanent and often fatal. It is more common in dogs than in cats. Although it may be a rare condition, it is still something to keep an eye out for.

• An Overview of Common Cat Heart Diseases

  Cat heart disease, or cardiomyopathy, encompasses a range of different disorders that can affect your cat's heart muscle. Some cats never display any symptoms of heart disease; others suffer feline heart failure and death.

• 12 Common Symptoms of Feline Heartworm Disease

  Feline heartworm disease is caused by parasites found in cats, that cause them severe lung and heart injury and inflammation. Cats with strong immune systems that build resistance to heartworms are able to combat heartworm infection without medical intervention.

• 10 Causes of Feline Heart Murmur

  Feline heart murmurs are unusual sounds the blood makes when leaving or moving through the heart. A cat heart murmur is rated from Grade 1 through Grade 6, with Grade 6 being the most severe.

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