Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy (HCM)

The purpose of this post is to raise awareness of this disease so that less people will go through what we went through.

Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is the most common disease in Ragdoll cats. 
Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy is genetic disease and currently there is no cure for this disease. If their parents have it then, there is a high chance the kitten will develop it as well.

If you have Ragdoll cat, I strongly advise to have your cat tested for Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy. 

Unfortunately, our cat Sky had this disease and he passed away at the age of just 3 years and 11 months.
Sky was our first ever cat that we bought and we were not very knowledgeable about purchasing kittens. 

We bought him at a pet shop called "Pets Paradise" in Melbourne, I strongly recommend you to never purchase any pets from any type of pet shops because you do not know the medical history of the pet’s parents and how the breeders raised them.

We did notice some unusual things with Sky, like he was smaller and thinner than normal ragdoll cats. 
Ever since he was kitten, he was never a big eater. 

When Sky grew up, he usually weighed about 4.5kgs and he also wasn't active. 
Despite all the regular health checks and numerous trips to the vet when we felt there was something wrong with Sky, he did not get diagnosed with HCM until the day he passed away.

When we knew that there was something wrong with Sky, we took him to our usual local vet. 
The vet examined Sky and could not work out what was wrong with him. 
We asked the vet if Sky’s stomach is bloated, and he reassured us that it was just body fat and is normal. He injected Sky with steroids to help increase his appetite and scheduled a follow up appointment in two day time. 
Sadly Sky passed away two days later at the 24 hour emergency animal hospital, several hours before our local vet opened for business. 

They found a lot of fluids in Sky’s stomach and the cause of death was Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

In hindsight, I deeply regret not getting second opinions on the day we took him to our local vet.

I recommend all pet owners to find a good vet clinic and stick to the same veterinary physician that you can trust.

http://www.ufaw.org.uk/HYPERTROPHICCARDIOMYOPATHYRAGDOLL.php

http://www.ragdoll-cats.com/Cardio.htm

Left: Sky.  Right: Sora. Sky was with Sora since he was 6months old and Sora was 2months old. Sora misses Sky so much :( We miss him all the time.

This picture is Sky, he loved it when he sleeps on his back. He normally is sleeping on his back when he is happy.