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Birman genetic problems
Does anyone know anything about arrythmyogenic right ventricular
cardiomyopathy in Birmans? This is a rare genetic heart disease which is always fatal, and my seal-point Birman is presently dying from it at 11 1/2 years. He belongs to the old Birman gene pool in the UK and Europe which in the mid-1990s was found to carry a number of genetic defects because the gene pool was too small. My cat's litter-mate, a blue-point Birman, died ten years ago, aged a year and a half, of a genetic inability to process magnesium, which resulted in feline urinary tract disease and kidney failure. I read a number of articles about the crisis in Birman breeding, and am informed that now the breed is healthy, but I cannot find further information on this. Can anyone help? Liz |
#2
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(Liz) wrote:
I read a number of articles about the crisis in Birman breeding, and am informed that now the breed is healthy, but I cannot find further information on this. Can anyone help? What are you trying to find out? Cardiomyopathy has been a problem in a few genetic lines of Birman cats but on the whole the breed has no particular health problems associated with it. Apparently your cat was one of the unfortunate few from a genetic line that carried certain defects. Here is all I could find about the disease http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/cont...ll/102/15/1863 and this quote from a Waltham symposium: "Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) This form of cardiomyopathy has only recently been recognized in cats, and is characterized by fibrofatty infiltration of the right ventricle, resulting in marked right heart enlargement.9 Affected cats may be asymptomatic, may be syncopal in association with arrhythmias, or may have right-sided heart failure." I take it your cat is showing signs of heart failure since you say he is dying. However, this note does seem to indicate the condition is not necessarily always fatal. Good luck and I hope your cat can be treated in some way to prolong his life. |
#3
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(Liz) wrote:
I read a number of articles about the crisis in Birman breeding, and am informed that now the breed is healthy, but I cannot find further information on this. Can anyone help? What are you trying to find out? Cardiomyopathy has been a problem in a few genetic lines of Birman cats but on the whole the breed has no particular health problems associated with it. Apparently your cat was one of the unfortunate few from a genetic line that carried certain defects. Here is all I could find about the disease http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/cont...ll/102/15/1863 and this quote from a Waltham symposium: "Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) This form of cardiomyopathy has only recently been recognized in cats, and is characterized by fibrofatty infiltration of the right ventricle, resulting in marked right heart enlargement.9 Affected cats may be asymptomatic, may be syncopal in association with arrhythmias, or may have right-sided heart failure." I take it your cat is showing signs of heart failure since you say he is dying. However, this note does seem to indicate the condition is not necessarily always fatal. Good luck and I hope your cat can be treated in some way to prolong his life. |
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