Hey everyone,
I've got some potentially depressing news. I took Harley in to the vet today, for a general quarterly checkup (I'm a nervous mum!), and also to discuss possible causes of his loose stools. Anyway, that's not what this thread is about.
During the checkup, I noticed the vet listening intently to Harley's heart. He then crossed the room, grabbed a second stethoscope (an electronic one this time) and had another listen. Afterwards he asked me if I was aware of Harley's murmur (this is a new vet, as Harley's usual vet is quite far out of town and we've had our car die on us). I was really taken aback, as Harley's had quite a few checkups, always involving a listen to his heart with a stethoscope, and no mention of a murmur has ever been made. At that point I made the connection in my mind between this new piece of news, and the ease of which Harley often gets out of breath, and my heart sunk.
It wasn't until AFTER I brought Harley home from the breeder that I found out about HCM, and as soon as I found out about it, I scoured his breeder's website. They test for a couple common ailments, but there is no mention of screening for HCM (thus I assume it's not part of their annual routine). This always worried me, but now that I know Harley has a heart murmur, together with the fairly common occurrences of excessive shortness of breath/laying down early on during play-time, I'm petrified that Harley's got HCM. I'm speaking with the vet now, about the process of getting a referral to a specialist and the costs involved. I want to have Harley echoed as soon as possible, I need to know. His vet also became suspicious of HCM, once I mentioned the shortness of breath.
I've emailed Harley's breeder, letting her know about the heart murmur and that I'm having him tested for HCM. I've also asked for confirmation whether or not she screens any of her breeding cats, and recommending that she starts if she doesn't already.
I can't even tell you how scared I am that this test is going to be positive. In the 5 months I've had Harley, he's become such a big part of my small family, I can't even imagine life without him and his crazy antics any more. If something happens to him, I'm going to be absolutely crushed beyond words
I just had to share this with someone, because not many people in my personal life really understand my attachment to Harley. To many, he's "just a cat", to me he's family. Also, if anyone here has any kind of advice, it would mean more to me than you could know.
x Rae
PS: For anyone that's not familiar with my gorgeous boy, I've attached some photographs:
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