My 1 year old cat was just diagnosed with HCM and I feel like my world is ending. Please share your experiences. I don’t understand whats happening 💔
I’m writing this because I’m honestly terrified, overwhelmed, and I feel like my whole world flipped upside down. My cat Sassy is only about 1 year and 3 months old. She’s a female domestic shorthair, indoor-only, spayed, microchipped, vaccinated, and she has a sister named Sunny from the same litter. I adopted them when they were around 2 months old, and they have been my babies since then. Sassy has always been healthy and playful, just a little overweight, and I was already trying to control that.
A few days ago, Sassy and Sunny were playing like they always do. They were running around, chasing each other, and play fighting. Suddenly, Sassy came and sat on the couch open-mouth panting. I had never seen her pant before in her life, so I panicked. After that, she started acting very strange. She was running around while still panting, got into the sink even though she normally does not climb or jump onto high places, scratched me when I tried to hold her, sat near/on her litter box while panting, and made weird sounds. Then she started excessively licking/grooming herself, especially her back, shoulders, paws, and body in general. She also started hiding inside kitchen cabinets and under blankets, which she normally never does.
The confusing part is that the panting stopped and her breathing went back to normal. She was eating, walking normally, jumping normally, alert, and sometimes coming out to talk/meow to me like usual. But then she would suddenly start over-grooming again, run away from me, hide in the kitchen cabinet, sit far away from me, and act scared or paranoid. She even slept in the cabinet with her eyes closed and was snoring, and when she was asleep she stopped grooming. There was no vomiting, no facial swelling, no collapse, no crying, no obvious trouble breathing after the panting stopped, no loss of balance, no coughing that I noticed, and no wheezing that I noticed.
I took her to the emergency vet because I was so scared. They did an echocardiogram and diagnosed her with HCM. The report showed thickening of the heart walls, mild left atrial enlargement, and a small volume of pericardial effusion/fluid around the heart. The report also said there was no pleural effusion, no B-lines, and no evidence of cardiac tamponade. Her LA/Ao was 1.76. The vet said her left atrium was just a little enlarged and that overall her heart did not look too bad, but because of the fluid around the heart, they considered her symptomatic and the report mentioned secondary congestive heart failure. That word completely broke me.
At the same time, the emergency vet also said the panting episode itself may have been from intense play, stress, overexertion, and panic after getting winded while playing with her sister, not necessarily directly caused by the heart condition itself. They even said that even if that episode had nothing to do with the HCM and just happened to lead us to discovering it, the fluid around the heart would still technically count as a symptom.
They started her on furosemide, amlodipine, and clopidogrel/Plavix. The vet said the furosemide is the most important one to start right away because it helps pull the fluid out. They want to recheck her early next week to see if the fluid has resolved and how she is doing on the medications. They also said we cannot know her life expectancy from one echo and that we need follow-up echocardiograms to see if the disease stays stable or progresses.
What makes me so confused is that she is acting mostly normal now. She eats, walks, breathes normally, talks to me, and still wants to play. I’m trying not to let her play too hard because now I’m terrified she’ll overexert herself again. I don’t even know when I’m supposed to stop her from playing, how much play is okay, or what signs mean I should make her rest. One vet called it symptomatic because of the fluid, but another vet said she did not understand why congestive heart failure was written when Sassy does not have a heart murmur and clinically looks stable. So now I’m spiraling and trying to understand if this is mild, early, borderline, Stage B2, early CHF, or something else.
I also keep wondering about Felycin-CA1/sirolimus/rapamycin because I’ve read that it’s for subclinical HCM, and I don’t know if Sassy could still be a candidate since she is young, stable, breathing normally, and only had a small amount of fluid. I’m not trying to replace a vet’s opinion. I just feel desperate to understand every option that could help her live longer or slow progression.
She was also diagnosed with feline hyperesthesia syndrome after all of this started. They gave her gabapentin, but honestly it has not helped much so far. I also feel confused because the over-grooming/hyperesthesia-type symptoms started right after the panting episode, and she had never acted like that before. Is it weird for feline hyperesthesia symptoms to suddenly start after a stressful medical episode like that? Could the panting, stress, pain, or panic have triggered it, or could it be something else?
I’m also struggling so much with the medications. If anyone has tips for giving heart meds to cats easily, please tell me. Can pills be crushed into food and still work the same, or does that affect how they absorb? One of her pills gets crushed easily when I split it in half, so I’ve been putting it in her food, but I’m scared it sticks to the plate and she’s not getting the full dose. I’m scared of doing anything wrong because these medications feel so important.
The only veterinary cardiologist I have in my state told me they can see her in about two months, and I don’t know what to do until then. I live alone, school starts in 18 days, and I’m terrified about how I’m going to manage all of this by myself while watching her constantly, giving meds, monitoring her breathing, trying to keep her calm, and still going to school.
I’m honestly so depressed and scared. She is only 1 year old and she is my baby. I keep watching her breathe and panicking over every tiny movement. I can’t sleep, I can’t relax, and I feel like I’m going to die from the stress. I want to do everything right: medications, food, weight control, stress reduction, activity limits, follow-ups, cardiologist, anything. If anyone has a young cat with HCM, mild left atrial enlargement, small pericardial effusion, or a cat who was diagnosed after one panting episode but still acted normal afterward, please tell me your experience. Did your cat stay stable? Did the fluid go away with medication? Did they live a good life? How did you manage playtime and meds? How do you stop panicking every time they play or breathe a little differently?
Will she be able to live a long life? 💔