Often cats in heart failure have fluid build-up in the chest and have a
hard time breathing, so they breath rapidly or pant after even a little
exertion. (The *only* sign my cat Omar had was when I clipped his claws
one day and he started panting- I took him to the vet that day.) They
would also have a high heart rate as the heart has to work very hard to
pump blood. Lethargy is also common. If you suspect your cat is in heart
failure you need to get it to the vet NOW. If your vet clinic has
ultrasound (echocardiogram) capability and they suspect heart failure,
skip xrays and go for the ultrasound. This is the best way to determine
exactly what is going on and will give you a lot more detailed
information than an xray. The prognosis for some heart conditions isn't
great (3-6 months is average), but if you get your cat diagnosed and
treated quickly and give appropriate medications and diet, it can have a
good quality of life for however long it has. Omar had idiopathic
dilated cardiomyopathy and lived for several months after diagnosis. He
was very happy and felt good. He was doing very well and had actually
improved with the medications, but then he threw a blood clot (which is
a common risk) and that is what killed him. :-(

Megan

                                   

<< Does anyone know how this presents itself?
--  >>

A cat of mine once fainted while using the scratching post. He recovered, was
watched closely until he died of something other than a heart problem.

It can have a very variable presentation.  You might have a cat that
pants or becomes short of breath after exertion (where it used not to
do that);  if the cat has fluid on the lungs it may develop a
persistent cough.  Sometimes they will have a heart murmur, but not
always.  Cats are really good at masking stuff too.  My boy Leon died
at 3 1/2 of congestive cardiac failure (he had hypertrophic
cardiomyopathy that nobody knew he had) - he had been running and
jumping like a mad thing earlier that same day, then was found
collapsed in the afternoon, with very moist rattly breathing and
hindlimb paralysis (sometimes the poor heart function makes them prone
to clot formation - in his case the clot lodged in the lower part of
the aorta where it narrows, I think).  Someone else I know had a cat
with heart failure where his initial diagnosis was asthma.  Then the
salbutamol and the prednisolone kicked him into full failure and they
worked out what was going on.  Luckily they treated that at the time,
but he only got a few more months.

I'm not a vet, so there are probably more symptoms and signs I haven't
mentioned.  The presentation would also vary depending on whether it's
the left ventricle vs the right, and the underlying cause of the
failure.  I did find this info in the Merck Veterinary Manual online:
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp?cfile=htm/bc/11200.htm

Cheers,
Catherine