From an article I saw in the VetLit Newsletter
We treated a cat for suspected snake bite recently, but a few days into its hospital stay it started showing signs of CHF(Congestive Heart Failure), and a scan confirmed HCM(Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy). Our assumption was that we missed the heart issue on presentation, but then I saw this article about a condition called transient cardiomyopathy, and now I’m wondering… I’ll definitely try to set up a podcast episode on this, but for now, it’s probably something to keep on your radar. Here are the key points:
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It’s a recognised condition where cats will develop cardiac changes that look like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, and subsequently develop congestive heart failure. BUT
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These changes are temporary and resolve within a few months (mean 3.3 months), with resolution of the CHF.
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Patients with transient cardiomyopathy are generally younger than HCM patients.
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Many transient cardiomyopathy patients have a significant preceding event, like a general anaesthesia, in the week preceding the development of heart failure.
Take home: If you have a surprise case of CHF in a young cat, ESPECIALLY if the the cat was desexed the week before, or some other big thing happen to it - it might not be all doom and gloom.
PS - I don’t know whether this was the case with our snake cat - I’ll let you know if kitty miraculously fixes its heart condition, and we’ll write up a case of snake envenomation causing transient cardiomyopathy in a cat!
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