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Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a condition in which the muscular walls of a cat’s heart thicken, decreasing the efficiency of the pumping. Inefficient blood pumping can lead to a backup of blood to the other chambers of the heart and to the lungs, which may contribute to the development of congestive heart failure or the formation of blood clots in the heart.

Heartworm disease is a potentially deadly, but preventable, infection that develops when a dog is bitten by a mosquito carrying the heartworm larvae (juvenile worms) of a parasite. When an infected mosquito bites a dog, larvae are deposited on the dog and penetrate the skin through the bite wound. The larvae then migrate to the blood vessels that serve the dog’s heart and lungs. It takes about 6 months for the larvae to mature into adult heartworms, which can grow to lengths of up to 12 inches and live for more than 5 years. The presence of the adult worms stresses the dog’s heart and causes inflammation of the blood vessels and lungs. Severe complications are also possible when the worms multiply or when they die.

The heart is a hollow muscular organ that is responsible for pumping blood throughout the body. Like any other muscle in the body, the heart relaxes and contracts. When the heart relaxes, blood fills its hollow chambers. As the heart contracts, the blood is expelled into the blood vessels connected to the heart. The blood flow in-and-out of these chambers is controlled by valves.  The contraction and relaxation of the heart muscle is controlled by electrical impulses generated by the heart’s own intrinsic pacemaker. Heart disease refers to any abnormality of the heart that affects its anatomic structure, ability to contract and relax, or electrical impulses that control its rate or rhythm of heartbeats. While both dogs and cats can get heart disease, dogs are more prone to developing structural abnormalities of their heart valves whereas cats are more prone to developing abnormalities of the heart muscle itself. Both species can have abnormalities of their heart rate and rhythm.  Abnormalities of structure, contraction, and electrical activity can eventually lead to heart failure, which is the failure of the heart to pump enough blood for the body’s vital organs to function properly.