How does a cat’s heart work?
The heart of a cat has the same function as a human, with its main job being to provide blood and important nutrients to different parts of the body. The heart must pump blood 24/7 in order to keep your cat’s body tissues healthy and nourished. When your cat’s heart begins to lose its ability to pump the proper amount of blood, the cats body usually has other mechanisms to make up for it. However, as the problem gets more severe, it becomes known as congestive heart failure.
Medicine for Cats with Congestive Heart Failure
If you are looking for medicine to improve your cat’s hear condition, we recommend NHV Hearty Heart because it was formulated by veterinarians and works by boosting blood flow to your cat’s heart. You can check it out here on Amazon.
Congestive Heart Failure in Cats
As your cat’s hear loses its function, fluid begins to pile up near the lungs. This results in a congestion of lung tissue, which is why it is called congestive heart failure. When this happens, the heart is unable to pump blood to other parts of the body and your cat will experience many painful symptoms.
Symptoms of Congestive Heart Failure in Cats
Symptoms of congestive heart failure include:
Skipping meals
Falling over, weakness in legs
Blueness on tongue
Respiratory issues
Increasing heart rate
How to diagnose congestive heart failure in cats?
If you suspect your cat may have congestive heart failure, visit the vet as soon as possible. Your vet will perform a variety of tests, which may include urine tests, blood tests, and in some cases an ultrasound.
Treating congestive heart failure
The treatment of heart failure depends on the severity and progression of the disease. If caught early, your vet may recommend a diet for your cat that reduces its salt intake. They may also prescribe medicine to improve the flow of blood in your cat. In extreme cases, your cat may need to be hospitalized to increase the oxygen in its blood. Sometimes heart surgery may be performed. If your cat has to undergo surgery, I recommend checking out this article to see how long does a cat need to fast before surgery.
In order to improve your cats heart, you should make sure your cat stays active but make sure it is regulated and doesn’t over exercise. You should also prevent your cat from being in stressful situations. I recommend finding a toy that your cat really enjoys.
Congestive heart failure in cats when to euthanize
Deciding when to end a pet’s life involves the owner and their veterinarian weighing a number of factors: the animal’s current quality of life, what type of disease he or she may be suffering from and how it is likely to progress. Cats with congestive heart failure can live anywhere from a week to three years, depending on severity of the disease and treatment. The right time to euthanize a cat with congestive hear failure is completely dependent on the severity of the diagnosis, as well as the severity of symptoms. Most cats with congestive heart failure have to be euthanized within one year of their diagnosis.
When to put cat down with heart failure
Deciding when to put your cat down with heart failure is a very difficult decision. You should consider you cat’s quality of life and assess the pain that it is going through. Although this is a very hard decision, congestive heart failure is a terrible disease for your cat. Death is caused by your cat drowning from its lungs being filled with blood. Therefore, it is important to euthanize your cat if it is close to death, so it doesn’t suffer. If your cat has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure, you should euthanize your cat when it begins experiencing these serious symptoms:
Chronic breathing problems
Constant dizziness
Unable to move
Chronic whining
While it might seem like an impossible decision, if your cat is experiencing these symptoms and has already been diagnosed with heart failure, you should absolutely put him/her down. A cat that is living with advanced heart failure is living a painful and miserable life. Although you will certainly miss your cat, you should put him/her down to take it out of its misery. One of the key signs that you should put your cat with heart failure down is when they completely stop eating food. This is a sign that your cat can no longer survive under its own will. While there are some avenues you could take, such as putting an IV into your cat in order to inject fluids, this is very expensive and your cat will be living a very painful and miserable life.
You should consult your vet before making the decision to euthanize your cat.