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HYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY (HCM)
&
The Persian & Himalayan Controversy
Originally Written August 9, 2013
Revised February 24, 2017
Authored by
Susan Youngman of Victorian Gardens Cattery
HCM Reference Material Provided by
Jeanne O’Donnell
Revised February 24, 2017
Authored by
Susan Youngman of Victorian Gardens Cattery
HCM Reference Material Provided by
Jeanne O’Donnell
Health is a major priority at Victorian Gardens Cattery. We are passionate in our drive to inform our adoptive parents, future parents, the public and other breeders about the horrible disease called Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy or otherwise referred to as HCM.
Per Jeanne O'Donnell, HCM is a disease of genetic origin that involves a mutation in a cardiac gene (cardiac myosin binding protein C) that codes for structural proteins, which in turn has an effect on the muscular development of the heart. This heart disease is an enlarged heart typically involving, but not limited to, the cardiac ventricle with early changes evident in the cardiac septum and/or mitral valve.
Symptoms of HCM include lethargy, deep chest breathing at rest, and/or hind leg paralysis (due to a blood clot) which can occur as early as young adults, just over one year of age. Hyperthyroidism and Hypertension can lead to thickening of the heart’s ventricle and should be ruled out as a cause before determining that the cat has the inherited form of HCM. Some of these cats will have heart murmurs as a young age, but not all of them. Many cats develop symptoms in middle age (six to eight years old) and some will die of other diseases that develop concurrently with an enlarged heart in their later years (i.e. congestive heart failure, renal failure, and pancreatitis). When the disease itself becomes the cause of their demise, it typically manifests itself in the form of congestive heart failure (CHF). Human medicines and a canine medicine (used off label in felines as are many other medications) have offered the addition of months or even years to the life of CHF cats.
Victorian Gardens Cattery is one of only a handful of the few known Persian and Himalayan Catteries in the world providing Cardiac Ultrasounds on a regular basis on all their breeding cats. Our Veterinarian has said that about 40% of the Persian and Himalayan breed is now affected with HCM. That rate is staggering. It means that 4 out of every 10 Persian and Himalayan cats out there right now have HCM.
Unfortunately, Persian and Himalayan breeders either are breeding known HCM cats or are unwilling to scan their breeders in fear that their breeders may be affected with the disease or they are unwilling to pay for the costs of the Cardiac Ultrasound on all their breeding cats. Getting Cardiac Ultrasound Scanning is an expensive process and many do not want to assume the costs of this procedure on all their breeding cats on a regular basis. Some breeders are only interested in the next best show cat and do not care about breeding for health. With the high incident rate of HCM in the Persian and Himalayan breed, these attitudes will only make the incident rate go higher.
The cost to the kitten or cat and the adoptive parent is extremely high both in financial costs as well as emotional costs when the cat or kitten has or dies from the HCM disease. If the HCM gene is genetically inherited by both parents, the cat will more than likely die at a very young age. Even if the gene is only from one parent, the cat can die at any time without any advance warning. As of February 2017, there is no DNA test for HCM available for any type of Persian and Himalayan cat, only for Maine Coons and Ragdolls. The bottom line … you cannot know if a cat is affected with HCM unless a Cardiac HCM Ultrasound is performed on a cat on a regular basis. The results on the Cardiac HCM Ultrasound are valid as of the date of the scan only.
All Victorian Gardens Cattery breeding cats receive their first Cardiac HCM Ultrasounds at around two years of age or in the case of an outcross breeder, when they arrive at the Cattery. Victorian Gardens Cattery sometimes scans their breeders around one year of age just to ensure there are no heart conditions present prior to them starting their breeding career. Results of these tests are listed for each Sire and Dam on their respective web site pages. They are also Cardiac Ultrasounded on a regular basis, usually every year.
Victorian Gardens Cattery is a HCM Ultrasound Scanned Cattery. All breeding cats to date have been found to be negative for HCM. This means that all our breedings cats have been scanned negative for HCM at the time they were scanned. We have never had any breeder that we have had tested, scan positive. We feel blessed by this and hope that we can continue to have test results come back negative. Our girl’s line, under Petunia Lilymae, (not including Stepp’nStone Diamond) are related. We have four generations of girls that have been scanned and all have scanned negative. Petunia, our oldest retired breeder, was scanned after she retired at close to 6 years old and again at over 8 years of age. Our Veterinarian complemented us on Petunia’s sound and strong heart for her age. We are now adding our 4th generation of girls to our breeding program in 2014. Most of these girls will be bred to outcross Sires. Stepp'nStone Diamond was rescanned when she was 3 years old and scanned negative. All our breeding boys have been scanned and found to be negative. L'il Toy Drummer was rescanned at the age of six years old and found to have a normal heart. Willie Wonka has been scanned at least three times and found negative. Little Miracle was rescanned at three years old and was negative. All scan information in available of the Dams and Sires pages.
Any cats with ultrasounds that indicate signs of HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) will be retired from our breeding programs. Thankfully to date, we have not had any of our breeders at Victorian Gardens Cattery show signs of HCM during a HCM scan. It is every breeder’s responsibility to find the HCM breeders and quell them from their breeding programs. If left untreated, this highly heritable cardiac disease, which causes an enlarged heart, will lead to CHF (congestive Heart Failure) or sudden cardiac death. It will also lead to the demise of this precious breed as more and more Persians and Himalayan's succumb to this disease, including breeding cats.
Per Jeanne O'Donnell, HCM is a disease of genetic origin that involves a mutation in a cardiac gene (cardiac myosin binding protein C) that codes for structural proteins, which in turn has an effect on the muscular development of the heart. This heart disease is an enlarged heart typically involving, but not limited to, the cardiac ventricle with early changes evident in the cardiac septum and/or mitral valve.
Symptoms of HCM include lethargy, deep chest breathing at rest, and/or hind leg paralysis (due to a blood clot) which can occur as early as young adults, just over one year of age. Hyperthyroidism and Hypertension can lead to thickening of the heart’s ventricle and should be ruled out as a cause before determining that the cat has the inherited form of HCM. Some of these cats will have heart murmurs as a young age, but not all of them. Many cats develop symptoms in middle age (six to eight years old) and some will die of other diseases that develop concurrently with an enlarged heart in their later years (i.e. congestive heart failure, renal failure, and pancreatitis). When the disease itself becomes the cause of their demise, it typically manifests itself in the form of congestive heart failure (CHF). Human medicines and a canine medicine (used off label in felines as are many other medications) have offered the addition of months or even years to the life of CHF cats.
Victorian Gardens Cattery is one of only a handful of the few known Persian and Himalayan Catteries in the world providing Cardiac Ultrasounds on a regular basis on all their breeding cats. Our Veterinarian has said that about 40% of the Persian and Himalayan breed is now affected with HCM. That rate is staggering. It means that 4 out of every 10 Persian and Himalayan cats out there right now have HCM.
Unfortunately, Persian and Himalayan breeders either are breeding known HCM cats or are unwilling to scan their breeders in fear that their breeders may be affected with the disease or they are unwilling to pay for the costs of the Cardiac Ultrasound on all their breeding cats. Getting Cardiac Ultrasound Scanning is an expensive process and many do not want to assume the costs of this procedure on all their breeding cats on a regular basis. Some breeders are only interested in the next best show cat and do not care about breeding for health. With the high incident rate of HCM in the Persian and Himalayan breed, these attitudes will only make the incident rate go higher.
The cost to the kitten or cat and the adoptive parent is extremely high both in financial costs as well as emotional costs when the cat or kitten has or dies from the HCM disease. If the HCM gene is genetically inherited by both parents, the cat will more than likely die at a very young age. Even if the gene is only from one parent, the cat can die at any time without any advance warning. As of February 2017, there is no DNA test for HCM available for any type of Persian and Himalayan cat, only for Maine Coons and Ragdolls. The bottom line … you cannot know if a cat is affected with HCM unless a Cardiac HCM Ultrasound is performed on a cat on a regular basis. The results on the Cardiac HCM Ultrasound are valid as of the date of the scan only.
All Victorian Gardens Cattery breeding cats receive their first Cardiac HCM Ultrasounds at around two years of age or in the case of an outcross breeder, when they arrive at the Cattery. Victorian Gardens Cattery sometimes scans their breeders around one year of age just to ensure there are no heart conditions present prior to them starting their breeding career. Results of these tests are listed for each Sire and Dam on their respective web site pages. They are also Cardiac Ultrasounded on a regular basis, usually every year.
Victorian Gardens Cattery is a HCM Ultrasound Scanned Cattery. All breeding cats to date have been found to be negative for HCM. This means that all our breedings cats have been scanned negative for HCM at the time they were scanned. We have never had any breeder that we have had tested, scan positive. We feel blessed by this and hope that we can continue to have test results come back negative. Our girl’s line, under Petunia Lilymae, (not including Stepp’nStone Diamond) are related. We have four generations of girls that have been scanned and all have scanned negative. Petunia, our oldest retired breeder, was scanned after she retired at close to 6 years old and again at over 8 years of age. Our Veterinarian complemented us on Petunia’s sound and strong heart for her age. We are now adding our 4th generation of girls to our breeding program in 2014. Most of these girls will be bred to outcross Sires. Stepp'nStone Diamond was rescanned when she was 3 years old and scanned negative. All our breeding boys have been scanned and found to be negative. L'il Toy Drummer was rescanned at the age of six years old and found to have a normal heart. Willie Wonka has been scanned at least three times and found negative. Little Miracle was rescanned at three years old and was negative. All scan information in available of the Dams and Sires pages.
Any cats with ultrasounds that indicate signs of HCM (Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy) will be retired from our breeding programs. Thankfully to date, we have not had any of our breeders at Victorian Gardens Cattery show signs of HCM during a HCM scan. It is every breeder’s responsibility to find the HCM breeders and quell them from their breeding programs. If left untreated, this highly heritable cardiac disease, which causes an enlarged heart, will lead to CHF (congestive Heart Failure) or sudden cardiac death. It will also lead to the demise of this precious breed as more and more Persians and Himalayan's succumb to this disease, including breeding cats.
6 YEAR PERSIAN AND HIMALAYAN
HCM HEALTH GUARANTEE
As of October 12, 2013, Victorian Gardens Cattery is very pleased to be the first known Persian and Himalayan Cattery in the world to offer a 6 Year HCM Health Guarantee on all its new kitten and cat contracts. For those who have had a loss of their companion to this horrible disease, you will be the first to appreciate how truly reassuring this guarantee is. To validate this guarantee, the buyer of the kitten must provide their first cardiac ultrasound results after the age of two years old and before the age of two and half years old. Specific details on the 6 Year HCM Health Guarantee will be included on all new kitten and cat contracts. Please contact us directly for further details and buyer requirements of this guarantee. This six year guarantee is only for HCM. Our standard two year Genetic Health Guarantee is still in effect.
HCM HEALTH GUARANTEE
As of October 12, 2013, Victorian Gardens Cattery is very pleased to be the first known Persian and Himalayan Cattery in the world to offer a 6 Year HCM Health Guarantee on all its new kitten and cat contracts. For those who have had a loss of their companion to this horrible disease, you will be the first to appreciate how truly reassuring this guarantee is. To validate this guarantee, the buyer of the kitten must provide their first cardiac ultrasound results after the age of two years old and before the age of two and half years old. Specific details on the 6 Year HCM Health Guarantee will be included on all new kitten and cat contracts. Please contact us directly for further details and buyer requirements of this guarantee. This six year guarantee is only for HCM. Our standard two year Genetic Health Guarantee is still in effect.
You ask, “What is it like to live with an HCM cat?” … well one of our Adoptive Parents was gracious enough to write her story of living with a HCM cat called Petunia from Whipstaff Cattery. Just as an aside, the Cattery is no longer in business, but Petunia’s parents are still out there at another Cattery breeding. Here is Victoria’s HCM story:
“There was my neighbor, standing at my front door, with her best friend who had just lost her daughter tragically. The friend had her daughter’s six month old kitten in her arms. The kitten had been given to her daughter as a gift from a "Persian breeder" to make her feel better. "Will you take her?" she asked me, with tears in her eyes. How could I say no? The kitten had the biggest sad orange eyes I had ever seen. She handed me the kitten with an envelope with some papers in it. The papers contained her pedigree with her parent’s pictures. Her daddy had more capital letters in front of his name than I had ever seen before and she was a spitting image of him. I said “yes” and so the journey with the cat with HCM began.
The next day I took her to the vet for a checkup. I was told that she had a "Persian heart." She said, you might want to take this cat back, but if you do, all they will do is just breed her. I asked, “With a bad heart?” She nodded yes. I said I took her to take care of her. She was mine and no way was she going back. I said, “We can make her well” or so I thought. It was recommended that I take her to a veterinary cardiologist for an exam and ultrasound. Off we went. He confirmed what my vet had suspected. He was very blunt about it. Meds for the rest of her life, ultrasounds every year, no anesthesia ever, and no stressing her. He said that cats with HCM, usually live around five years. And then he added that the way she would die was by having a heart attack. “It would be quick”, he said. Did I hear him right? I was angry with directness. Not my pretty baby. How could this be? Then came reality. How could I take her to the groomer? How could I take her to the vet? How could I even take her in the car? This was all stress...wasn't it? Then we spoke about her medications and regulating them. Wasn't this stress? Then there was her being spayed. How do we anesthetize her?
After that, I was always looking for the signs that were on the sheet of paper that he had given me to watch for. I was always worrying. Was she snoring or breathing funny? Was she walking correctly or was there something wrong with her hind legs? Then one night it sounded like she was choking or trying to cough up a hairball. I turned on the light and she was trying to get to me. She was scared. Off to the emergency room we went. This resulted in more meds, more vet trips, more watching and more worrying. Now I was truly scared.
It was the morning of my fourth wedding anniversary and my husband had been deployed for 16 months. Could life be worse? No Petunia. Where could she be? She was always there when the alarm went off. I felt panic and a sick feeling. I found her lying in her favorite spot, in my closet on my shoes, lifeless. I felt the deepest anguish I had ever felt. This was my child and she was gone.
Now there is nothing but guilt. Did I do enough? Could I have helped her? Did she call for me and I didn't hear her? I keep trying to think of the good times. But it is very hard to do when your heart is broken.” Signed, Victoria”
Living with a cat or kitten that has HCM is terrifying and stressful, just like Victoria stated. If you are looking to adopt a kitten, please take the time to research HCM in Persians and Himalayans. Take the time to find a Persian and Himalayan Cattery that is performing Cardiac Ultrasounds on all their breeders on a regular basis. It does no good to scan once and be done. The scan is only good as of that date and time. HCM can crop up at any time. With 40% of the Persian and Himalayan cats now possessing the HCM gene, it is in your best interest to not be impulsive in your decision. Remember adopting a Persian and Himalayan kitten or cat is a life time commitment of love and good quality care, including quality Veterinarian Care.
Researchers currently need to find the genetic marker for HCM in the Persian and Himalayan breeds, so Breeders can have a DNA test for HCM that will allow them to know if their breeders are carrying the HCM gene. The research is currently being conducted at North Carolina State University Veterinary School. In May 2013, an account for HCM Persian Research was set up through at the Winn Feline Foundation to help provide funding for this important research. In April 2016, the fund had reached their goal and the Winn Feline Donation gave a matching grant to Dr. Muers of NC State for this research. We hope that a DNA test will be available in the near future. We can now see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Winn Feline Foundation Progress Report
On Persian HCM Research
June 9, 2017
The Winn Feline Foundation has provided me with a progress report on how Dr. Meurs research is going into the markers for HCM Disease in the Persian and Himalayan breed. Sadly, they have not been able to find the markers. Please see the following from Winn Feline Foundation:
"W16-034: EVALUATION OF DNA VARIANTS ASSOCIATED WITH HYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY IN THE PERSIAN CAT
After completing sequencing from the DNA of 7 affected Persians, Dr. Meur’s research group identified 274,202 DNA variants that could be associated with the development of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the Persian. They sorted these variants based on genetic importance and the importance of the gene in the heart. They also evaluated the most promising variants in the laboratory by looking at them in additional affected Persians, unaffected Persians and unaffected non- Persians.
Unfortunately they have not identified a single variant that explains the presence of this disease in all affected Persians. The research group has found many that might explain the disease in some but not all Persians. This suggests that the breed very likely has at least two separate mutations that both can lead to the development of this disease. Although this does make this a more complicated problem, it is not insurmountable. They are now relooking at all of the data and trying to identify variants that are solid enough to believe they develop the disease in at least some cats. At this time they have not requested any additional funding but will continue to manipulate the data. As always, Dr. Meur’s greatly appreciates the support and dedication of the Winn Feline Foundation and the donors. They are very optimistic that somewhere within the data that they have exists a few Persian Cat HCM variants. They just need to be able to put the puzzle together."
On Persian HCM Research
June 9, 2017
The Winn Feline Foundation has provided me with a progress report on how Dr. Meurs research is going into the markers for HCM Disease in the Persian and Himalayan breed. Sadly, they have not been able to find the markers. Please see the following from Winn Feline Foundation:
"W16-034: EVALUATION OF DNA VARIANTS ASSOCIATED WITH HYPERTROPHIC CARDIOMYOPATHY IN THE PERSIAN CAT
After completing sequencing from the DNA of 7 affected Persians, Dr. Meur’s research group identified 274,202 DNA variants that could be associated with the development of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in the Persian. They sorted these variants based on genetic importance and the importance of the gene in the heart. They also evaluated the most promising variants in the laboratory by looking at them in additional affected Persians, unaffected Persians and unaffected non- Persians.
Unfortunately they have not identified a single variant that explains the presence of this disease in all affected Persians. The research group has found many that might explain the disease in some but not all Persians. This suggests that the breed very likely has at least two separate mutations that both can lead to the development of this disease. Although this does make this a more complicated problem, it is not insurmountable. They are now relooking at all of the data and trying to identify variants that are solid enough to believe they develop the disease in at least some cats. At this time they have not requested any additional funding but will continue to manipulate the data. As always, Dr. Meur’s greatly appreciates the support and dedication of the Winn Feline Foundation and the donors. They are very optimistic that somewhere within the data that they have exists a few Persian Cat HCM variants. They just need to be able to put the puzzle together."
Here are links to more websites were you can learn more about HCM. You can also click on the Hairless Hearts link below to find a Cardiologist or clinic for Cardiac HCM Ultrasounds for your kitten or cat.
Winn Feline Health
http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/cardiovascular/c_ct_cardiomyopathy_hypertrophic#.UgVT3D9GbUd
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/hcm.aspx
http://www.pandecats.com/x/HCM-and-the-persian-cat2015.shtml
https://web.archive.org/web/20140723170353/http:/mysite.verizon.net/jachinitz/hcm/genetics.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3073564/
http://www.petmd.com/cat/conditions/cardiovascular/c_ct_cardiomyopathy_hypertrophic#.UgVT3D9GbUd
http://www.vetmed.wsu.edu/ClientED/hcm.aspx
http://www.pandecats.com/x/HCM-and-the-persian-cat2015.shtml
https://web.archive.org/web/20140723170353/http:/mysite.verizon.net/jachinitz/hcm/genetics.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3073564/
We, at Victorian Gardens Cattery, thank you for your support.