The first thing a pet parent usually notices is rapid breathing, lethargy, and a poor appetite. These symptoms may appear to come on suddenly, often between a few hours to a few days, but in most cases, the cat has actually been suffering quietly for weeks to months and is now in serious trouble.
For a few breeds of cats, genetic testing is available for a specific gene abnormality that causes HCM. Most cats with cardiomyopathy have a heart murmur that can be detected during a wellness physical exam, but a specific diagnosis requires more advanced medical imaging. Finding this problem early, when treatment is most effective, is another important reason to have your pet evaluated twice a year for life.
Cats with heart disease may develop blood clots in their arteries known as FATE feline aortic thromboembolisms. Blood clots most commonly become lodged just past the aorta, the large blood vessel that supplies blood from the heart to the body, blocking normal blood flow to the hind legs.
When this happens, one or both hind legs may become paralyzed, cold, or painful. FATE is a life-threatening disease, and requires quick action and prolonged medical care.
Cats who survive thromboembolisms, however, usually regain full function of their limbs. If your cat is diagnosed with heart disease, we may prescribe medications to help lower the risk of blood clots. Your pet needs immediate emergency care. When your cat urinates outside the litter box, you may be annoyed or furious, especially if your best pair of shoes was the location chosen for the act.
What was once considered to be one urinary syndrome has turned out to be several over years of research, but current terminology gathers these different diseases together under the label of Feline Lower Urinary Tract Diseases, or FLUTD. Many of these diseases cause similar symptoms, for example, a cat with urolithiasis, or bladder stones, shows many of the same symptoms as a cat with a urinary tract infection, which may also present like the symptoms of a blocked tomcat.
Watching for any signs of abnormal urination, like urinating on cool surfaces a tile floor or bathtub, for example , blood in the urine, straining to urinate with little or no urine production, or crying in the litterbox can help you identify the first signs of a FLUTD.
If your cat demonstrates any of these symptoms, call us right away for an urgent appointment. Particularly for male cats, if the urethra is blocked with stones or crystals, the cat is not able to expel any urine, which can become an emergency within only a few hours. The inability to urinate is painful and quickly fatal, so if your cat may be blocked, seek emergency care immediately.
Bringing your cat in for regular urinalysis testing allows us to check for signs of infection, kidney disease, crystals in the urine, and even diabetes. X-rays and ultrasounds can also help detect the presence of stones in the bladder or kidneys. Lower urinary tract disease can be controlled with medications and special diets, though severe cases of FLUTD may also require surgery.
Renal failure refers to the inability of the kidneys to properly perform their functions of cleansing waste from the blood and regulating hydration.
Kidney disease is extremely common in older cats, but is usually due to exposure to toxins or genetic causes in young cats. Even very young kittens can have renal failure if they have inherited kidney defects, so we recommend screening for kidney problems early, before any anesthesia or surgery, and then regularly throughout life.
Severe renal failure is a progressive, fatal disease, but special diets and medications can help cats with kidney disease live longer, fuller lives. The thyroid gland is located at the front of the throat, and has a very important function.
It produces a hormone called thyroxine, or T4. Thyroxine regulates the overall speed of metabolic processes throughout the body. Cells in every part of the body start to work faster when T4 levels in the blood rise; when T4 levels fall, the thyroid gland produces more T4, thereby continuously and closely regulating T4 levels in the body. Many middle-aged cats, however, develop a benign non-cancerous tumor in the thyroid gland. The cells that make up this tumor still produce T4, but their control mechanism is faulty.
The normal feedback system that maintains a balanced T4 level in the body has no effect on these tumor cells, so that they continue to pump out T4 despite signals to stop.
This illness is termed hyperthyroidism. Typically, hyperthyroidism affects cats about ten to twelve years of age—the cat will become more active, but with a nervous energy that masks the true illness they are feeling. Vomiting, weight loss, and increased thirst are common symptoms of this disease, but they often come on so gradually that the problem is not easily noticed. In advanced cases, hyperthyroidism can lead to heart failure, kidney failure, and fatal blood clots. Diabetes mellitus is a genetic disease that can occur in any cat breed.
With some forms of diabetes, a cat will become diabetic regardless of other health problems. Other cats may have a susceptibility to diabetes, but will only become overtly diabetic if they are allowed to become overweight or eat a poor diet. Recently, indoor inactive lifestyles have caused a tremendous increase in the number of diabetic cats.
Cats were not bred to be only window gazers, but the majority of feline pets live exclusively sedentary lives indoors. Keeping your indoor pet active with daily exercise is very important to keeping your cat slim and preventing illnesses related to weight gain.
Diabetes can also be related to a painful condition called pancreatitis. Chronic pancreatitis, which is thought to be genetically inherited, can lead to damage of the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin, and therefore can lead to a diabetic state in the cat. Symptoms of diabetes include weight loss despite a good appetite, excessive thirst, and increased urination.
We will test for the disease at least once a year and more often as your cat ages. As with people, many diabetic cats do not need to receive insulin injections if they lose weight and switch to a high-protein, low-carbohydrate prescription diet. In humans, an allergy to pollen, mold, or dust makes people sneeze and their eyes itch. In cats it makes the skin itchy.
Symptoms typically start between the ages of one and three and can get worse every year. Licking over grooming the affected areas, rubbing the face, and frequent ear infections are the most common signs.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting! Snowshoes are carnivores. If you deviate from this, your Snowshoe will seem like a picky eater. Remember Snowshoes share a recent common ancestor with the largest of felines — lions, tigers,and pumas, etc.
Never will you see a mature puma on Animal Planet drinking milk, chewing grass, or eating an apple in his natural habitat. You also would never observe a young lion cub in nature drinking milk from a cow, or any other animal.
With respect to their nutrition, they are very strict, and you must always keep this in mind. Compared to what their owners should be eating, Snowshoes need to eat a high percentage of meat for fat and protein. The breed is born white, and their darker pointing only begins to develop as they mature. A Snowshoe also has distinctive bright blue eyes. Because the Snowshoe is such a new breed, there is not much detail on major inheritable conditions that they may be subject to.
They are generally regarded as being pretty healthy. They can occasionally be prone to suffering from cross-eyes and kinked tails, which are genetic traits that the Siamese is known for. Neither of these will cause any discomfort or problems for your cat if they are born with these peculiarities, though, they just look different.
Dental disease is one of the most common health problems for cats of any breed, and it is a perfectly preventable issue. Make sure you feed a high-quality diet and, if your cat is tolerant enough, you can even work on adding teeth brushing into their weekly grooming schedule. Getting them used to having their mouth examined from an early age and having them associate it with good things can help.
All cats should be fed a high-quality meat-based diet as they are obligate carnivores. The first ingredient you should see in cat food should always be a meat source. If your cat lives in the same household as a dog, don't make the mistake of thinking it will be okay to feed them the same food. Cat food has a different balance of vitamins and minerals to that of dog food. For example, it will have a much higher quantity of an amino acid called Taurine, which is found in animal-based proteins.
If your cat has a taurine deficiency, it can lead to eye and heart problems that can be life-threatening. You should always do your research when you are thinking about welcoming a new kitten into your home. Seek out a reputable breeder who is raising the kittens alongside their mother in a home environment where they are receiving the right socialization and care.
Because the breed is rare, there are not so many breeders to choose from, and you may need to travel further or go on a waiting list. Don't forget; there are lots of beautiful cats also waiting to be adopted in rescue organizations across the country too. It may be rare to find a Snowshoe, but you may fall in love with another cat along the way. If you want to look into other breeds with similar traits, why not read about:. For more inspiration and information, check out our other cat breed profiles.
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