Abstract

Norwegian Forest cats (NFCs) are often listed as a breed predisposed to cardiomyopathy, but the characteristics of cardiomyopathy in this breed have not been described. The aim of this preliminary study was to report the features of NFC cardiomyopathy based on prospective echocardiographic screening of affected family groups; necropsy findings; and open-source breed screening databases. Prospective examination of 53 NFCs revealed no murmur or left ventricular (LV) outflow tract obstruction in any screened cat, though mild LV hypertrophy (defined as diastolic LV wall thickness 5.5mm) was present in 13/53 cats (25%). Gross pathology results and histopathological sections were analysed in eight NFCs, six of which had died of a cardiac cause. Myocyte hypertrophy, myofibre disarray and interstitial fibrosis typical of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were present in 7/8 cats, but endomyocardial fibrosis suggestive of restrictive cardiomyopathy was also present in the same cats. Pedigree data analysis from 871 NFCs was supportive of a familial cardiomyopathy in this breed.

Published in

Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery
2015, Volume: 17, number: 8, pages: 681-691
Publisher: SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD

SLU Authors

• Häggström, Jens

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Cardiac and Cardiovascular Systems
Clinical Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1098612X14553686

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/70197