A Questionnaire Survey on Long-Term Outcomes in Cats Breed-Screened for Feline Cardiomyopathy

• Published in: Animals (Basel) 2022-10, Vol.12 (20), p.2782
• Main Authors: Follby, Anna, Pettersson, Anna, Ljungvall, Ingrid, Ohlsson, Åsa, Häggström, Jens
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animal and Dairy Science; Cardiomyopathy; Cardiovascular disease; Classification; Coronary artery disease; Death; Exports; Genotype & phenotype; Heart; heart disease; Heart diseases; Husdjursvetenskap; Life span; Morbidity; Mortality; Pathobiology; Patobiologi; Questionnaires; Social networks; survival; Veterinarians
• ISSN: 2076-2615; 2076-2615
• DOI: 10.3390/ani12202782

Feline cardiomyopathy (FCM) is an important contributor to feline morbidity and mortality. This explorative follow-up questionnaire study was aimed at investigating the long-term outcome in cats breed-screened for FCM (BS-FCM) in three Nordic countries. Records of cats with ≥1 BS-FCM between 2004−2015 were included. Of the 1113 included cats, 104/1113 (9.3%) had developed FCM at some time-point. Fifty-nine of the 104 (56.7%) FCM cats were diagnosed within the screening program (ScreenFCM), and 33/59 (55.9%) of these were diagnosed at the first BS-FCM. ScreenFCM cats or with an owner-reported FCM diagnosis at a later time-point had a higher risk of cardiac-related death compared to cats that never developed FCM. A shorter lifespan was found in ScreenFCM cats compared to those with normal screen results (p < 0.001). Times to all-cause mortality were shorter (p < 0.001) in cats that developed FCM at any time-point compared to those that did not. Non-cardiac morbidities were similar in all screen classification groups. The large proportion of cats that developed FCM at a later time-point underscores the need for repeated screenings later in life. Cats that developed FCM at any time-point had a shorter lifespan, with a similar proportion and in line with the nature of non-cardiac morbidities, compared to those without FCM.