Anaesthesia in Cats with Heart Disease: Two Cases, Two Protocols

Recently our anaesthetist was requested to manage two different cases on two different cats in two different hospitals, only 2 days apart. One of them was a 3-year-old female Ragdoll; the other was a 12-year-old male Exotic Shorthair cat. Both of them needed intra-abdominal surgeries.

Although they differed in age, breed, and sex, they shared one important similarity: both had heart disease — but very different kinds. The Ragdoll cat had a congenital heart disease called atrial septal defect. The Exotic Shorthair cat, on the other hand, had an acquired heart disease called hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Both cats were diagnosed and under treatment by cardiologists and had echocardiograms performed. Now you may ask: can cats with heart disease go under anaesthesia? Is it not very risky? Of course, for patients with heart disease, the risk is higher than for a healthy cat. However, if we have sufficient knowledge of the pathophysiology of the heart disease, we can manage the anaesthesia to minimize the risk.

Due to the difference in the nature of the two diseases, our anaesthetist chose two very different protocols for the two cats. Despite the difference in management, both anaesthetics went very smoothly and both cats recovered very well. Understanding pathophysiology and careful selection of drug protocols definitely played a role in how well both anaesthetics went.