Burmese and heart problems

Hello,

I posted this to the health+behav group, and someone suggested that I post
it here as well.

My cat Morag, who is a Burmese, was diagnosed with severe HCM by my regular
vet about a month ago after having undergone an ultrasound. On Thursday she
saw a cardiologist at the veterinary hospital here, and after an ultrasound
was performed using a machine with a higher resolution than the one
previously used, the cardiologist said that she has a very unusual heart
condition that doesn't fit into any textbook. She actually only has mild
HCM, but the problem is that her heart is abnormal. Her left atrium is
huge, and her left ventricle is just abnormal. The wall bulges inward in
several places and also the ventricle contains crap, stuff that strings from
one side of the chamber to the other.

The cardio says that she has seen perhaps a handful of cats in her career
with a presentation similar to Morag - the most interesting point she made
was that out of that handful of cats, the cat with the heart that most
closely resembles Morag's was also a Burmese. So I'm wondering if anyone
has heard of this before in Burmese cats (or in any cat).

Sarah said:

Hello,

I posted this to the health+behav group, and someone suggested that I post
it here as well.

My cat Morag, who is a Burmese, was diagnosed with severe HCM by my regular
vet about a month ago after having undergone an ultrasound. On Thursday she
saw a cardiologist at the veterinary hospital here, and after an ultrasound
was performed using a machine with a higher resolution than the one
previously used, the cardiologist said that she has a very unusual heart
condition that doesn't fit into any textbook. She actually only has mild
HCM, but the problem is that her heart is abnormal. Her left atrium is
huge, and her left ventricle is just abnormal. The wall bulges inward in
several places and also the ventricle contains crap, stuff that strings from
one side of the chamber to the other.

The cardio says that she has seen perhaps a handful of cats in her career
with a presentation similar to Morag - the most interesting point she made
was that out of that handful of cats, the cat with the heart that most
closely resembles Morag's was also a Burmese. So I'm wondering if anyone
has heard of this before in Burmese cats (or in any cat).



I was the person who directed you here. I have to add that the person
who is a breeder that I mentioned lives in New Zealand, and is in a
different time zone so her response might take a while. So give it a bit
of time. If necessary post a message with Ping: Lois Reay or Ping: Bev
as the subject to get in touch with them.

Regards, rrb

Hi,
I am the Burmese breeder referred to - I have bred Burmese for 17 years, I
have never heard of a Burmese here in NZ with HCM (not to say that there
hasn't been any.)

Do you know the pedigree of Morag? (nice name) it would be interesting to
see if your cat and the other mentioned Burmese where in anyway related.

Best wishes.

Lois

"Sarah" wrote in message
.rogers.com...
Hello,

I posted this to the health+behav group, and someone suggested that I post
it here as well.

My cat Morag, who is a Burmese, was diagnosed with severe HCM by my
regular
vet about a month ago after having undergone an ultrasound. On Thursday
she
saw a cardiologist at the veterinary hospital here, and after an
ultrasound
was performed using a machine with a higher resolution than the one
previously used, the cardiologist said that she has a very unusual heart
condition that doesn't fit into any textbook. She actually only has mild
HCM, but the problem is that her heart is abnormal. Her left atrium is
huge, and her left ventricle is just abnormal. The wall bulges inward in
several places and also the ventricle contains crap, stuff that strings
from
one side of the chamber to the other.

The cardio says that she has seen perhaps a handful of cats in her career
with a presentation similar to Morag - the most interesting point she made
was that out of that handful of cats, the cat with the heart that most
closely resembles Morag's was also a Burmese. So I'm wondering if anyone
has heard of this before in Burmese cats (or in any cat).

Hi, thanks for responding.

She doesn't have HCM (well, she has mild HCM, but that's not the reason
she's in heart failure). She has an abnormal heart - vastly enlarged left
atrium and a left ventricle with a wall that bulges inward and "stuff"
inside - they don't know exactly what it is.

Unfortunately, I don't know her pedigree.

I do know that Burmese cats are thought to be predisposed to dilated
cardiomyopathy but it's not that either. According to the cardiologist, her
heart isn't in any textbook - first words after doing the ultrasound were
"your cat has an unusual heart".

I'm just curious to see if anyone else has heard of a heart with a similar
presentation, Burmese or not.

"Lois Reay" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I am the Burmese breeder referred to - I have bred Burmese for 17 years, I
have never heard of a Burmese here in NZ with HCM (not to say that there
hasn't been any.)

Do you know the pedigree of Morag? (nice name) it would be interesting to
see if your cat and the other mentioned Burmese where in anyway related.

Best wishes.

Lois

Just to follow up, someone emailed me and suggested that it might be a
condition called endocardial fibroelastosis, which is a congenital
defect/familial disease in the Burmese. Technically it's a form of
restrictive cardiomyopathy. It certainly sounds like that could be it from
the description of the disorder. Unfortunately effective treatment is
unknown and prognosis is unknown but thought to be poor, but we knew that
anyway - she's already in heart failure.

If anyone has more information about this, it would be much appreciated to
pass along to my vet for future reference.

"Sarah" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
Hi, thanks for responding.

She doesn't have HCM (well, she has mild HCM, but that's not the reason
she's in heart failure). She has an abnormal heart - vastly enlarged left
atrium and a left ventricle with a wall that bulges inward and "stuff"
inside - they don't know exactly what it is.

Unfortunately, I don't know her pedigree.

I do know that Burmese cats are thought to be predisposed to dilated
cardiomyopathy but it's not that either. According to the cardiologist,
her
heart isn't in any textbook - first words after doing the ultrasound were
"your cat has an unusual heart".

I'm just curious to see if anyone else has heard of a heart with a similar
presentation, Burmese or not.

"Lois Reay" wrote in message
...
Hi,
I am the Burmese breeder referred to - I have bred Burmese for 17 years,
I
have never heard of a Burmese here in NZ with HCM (not to say that there
hasn't been any.)

Do you know the pedigree of Morag? (nice name) it would be interesting
to
see if your cat and the other mentioned Burmese where in anyway related.

Best wishes.

Lois

I dug deep into my memory and remembered that many, many moons ago I bred a
Tonkinese that had a heart defect - I can't really remember too much about
it except her heart was swollen, I had sold her but kept in touch with the
new owner (who knew that something was not quite right with her) and the
vet, she was coming along very nicely but at about five months she collapsed
and died suddenly - I replaced her free of charge to the owners.
I guess this is not much help to you.
But wish you all the best of luck with her.

Lois

"Sarah" wrote in message
e.rogers.com...
Hi, thanks for responding.

She doesn't have HCM (well, she has mild HCM, but that's not the reason
she's in heart failure). She has an abnormal heart - vastly enlarged left
atrium and a left ventricle with a wall that bulges inward and "stuff"
inside - they don't know exactly what it is.

Unfortunately, I don't know her pedigree.

I do know that Burmese cats are thought to be predisposed to dilated
cardiomyopathy but it's not that either. According to the cardiologist,
her
heart isn't in any textbook - first words after doing the ultrasound were
"your cat has an unusual heart".

I'm just curious to see if anyone else has heard of a heart with a similar
presentation, Burmese or not.