My maine was four years old and seemed to be in perfect health. He started to cough up a hair ball and died (he did not choke). My vet said that he had a heart attack and that it was not unheard of. Do maines have heart conditions or did I do something wrong?

-- Anonymous, September 30, 1998

Answers

It could have been hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) (a thickening of the heart muscle) which does exist in some Maine Coon lines. The symptoms and his age would make me suspect this. Did you have a necropsy done? The coughing would be consistent with HCM.

You didn't do anything wrong. Unfortunately, HCM doesn't have noticable symptoms. The only way to know if your cat has HCM is to have a heart ultra-sound done, and if you're not aware that the problem exists in the breed, you wouldn't know to do this.

I'm so sorry for your loss.

-- Anonymous, October 02, 1998

My Maine did the same thing. However, he was only a year old. He had been to the vet for regular check-ups and shots and according to my vet he was healthy. When he first got sick, he also went through the vomiting stage. I took him to the vet the next day. They took regular x-rays and said they couldn't find anything wrong with him. They asked me to leave him there so they could observe him. So I did. When I picked him up later in the day, they told me they didn't notice anything usual. They told me to try to feed him something very bland (boiled chicken) and keep an eye on him. The next day, he was back to his normal, playful self - running around, acting silly, and eating just fine. The next morning, however, he threw up again. I then noticed that he started to cry while he was laying down. I rushed him to the vet and stayed while they examined him. Again, "nothing was wrong with him." I was to leave him there again for the day for observation. I got a call from my vet that day saying that he took a turn for the worst. I told them to do what they had to do to help my kitty. Twenty minutes later, I got another call from the vet. That's when they told me about his heart and everything he was going through. My vet called it Cardiomyopathy. The first noticeable sign was an elevated enzyme (of some sort) in his neck. The normal is between 50-529 (guesstimate). His was 4,100. He was fine one minute, then the next he had a blood clot lodge in his back legs (which paralyzed him), as well as one that lodged in his brain. He then collasped and slipped into a coma. It was such a horrible and heartbreaking thing to happen to my little best friend. My only hope is that he didn't suffer. I miss him terribly. My question is: Did my vet really do everything for him? I know they gave him Lasix when all of this started happening to him. Is Cardiomyopathy curible if caught in time? Thank you for taking the time to read this. Sorry it was so long.

-- Anonymous, October 18, 1998

My four year old Maine Coon also died from HCM. He was a huge sweetie. At my vet's request, I donated his heart to the vet school at a university to help with studies of this disease (Ohio State, I think). Sorry about your loss.

I recently adopted another MC (pet, not show cat), and I will always stick with this breed, even with the occassional health risks.

-- Anonymous, March 05, 1999

A week ago my 4 month old MC was acting normal and then threw up. I was going to clean it up when I noticed he was laying on his side breathing heavily. i took his temperature, which was 98. I immediately rushed him to the emergency vet. They took x-rays and did not find anything. His temperature continued to drop. They treated with IV's and heating pads. Once he got stabilized, they did exploratory surgery, once again not finding anything. He came home and has been fine ever since. I am wondering if he could have this heart condition and if so is there anything I can do as preventative treatment to keep him from having a heart attack???

-- Anonymous, April 12, 1999

My 6 year old male Maine Coon, Presley was just diagnosed with HCM. We have started him on heart medication and hope this will slow down the process. My 7 year old female does not have this yet. We purchased them from different breeders. Does anyone know the life expectancy of a Maine Coone once they develop HCM? He doesn't seem to feel bad, which we've been told is a good sign. We feel fortunate that we have caught it, considering that we could have found him dead one day, but we are going through a tremendous grieving period with the news. My husband and I want to prepare ourselves but we are hoping to have many more year with this sweet angel. Is anyone else experiencing this?

-- Anonymous, April 16, 1999