Feline hypertension, the medical term for high blood pressure, is usually seen in older cats, and is most typically secondary to an already existing disease such as kidney failure, heart disease, or hyperthyroidism. accurate diagnosis and treatment are important to prevent serious consequences.
Symptoms
High blood pressure is known as the silent killer, because by itself, it has no symptoms. High blood pressure causes wear and tear on the heart and kidneys. It can cause small blood vessels to leak and rupture. If this happens in the eye, it can lead to blindness. If it happens in the brain, it can lead to a stroke.
Diagnosis
Obtaining an accurate blood pressure measurement on cats can be challenging. most cats are stressed when they check out the vet, and stress elevates blood pressure. There’s even a name for this in human medicine: “white coat syndrome.” This is a phenomenon in which patients exhibit elevated blood pressure in a clinical setting, but not in other settings, and it applies to cats as well.
Blood pressure in cats is measured the same way it is measured in humans: with an inflatable cuff and an ultrasonic listening device called a Doppler. In order to minimize stress during this non-invasive test, it helps if it is done in a quiet room, away from barking dogs and other noises. Usually, having the cat’s guardian present can help calm the cat. The vet will take several readings, to rule out the above mentioned white coat effect as much as possible.
If blood pressure is consistently high after taking several measurements, additional tests will be necessary, including, at a minimum, a complete bloodcount, blood chemistry, and urinalysis.
Risk Factors
Cats who have one or more of the following conditions are at risk for elevated blood pressure:
Hyperthyroidism
Chronic renal failure and other kidney disease
Diabetes
Treatment
The decision whether to treat hypertension should be based on reliable, repeatable blood pressure readings, and will be influenced by any concurrent disease. Vets must take the cat’s temperament and anxiety level into consideration when interpreting blood pressure test results. normal cats typically have transient elevated blood pressure due to the stress of being at the vet’s and the exam itself. The treatment decision will also depend on an individual cat’s risk factors.
Treatment will first target the underlying disease. Medications that can exacerbate hypertension, such as steroids, will need to be eliminated or reduced. excessive sodium in the diet should be avoided, but a low salt diet is not necessarily indicated. maintaining normal potassium levels is important, and a low salt diet can lead to loss of potassium without any useful effects on blood pressure.
If treatment is indicated, the type of drug used will depend on the overall diagnosis. The goal of treatment is to reduce blood pressure into a range that minimizes organ damage. once blood pressure is controlled, it should be rechecked every three months.
Cats in a hypertensive crisis (severe neurological symptoms or sudden onset blindness) will need emergency treatment and will usually require hospitalization and careful monitoring. The prognosis for these cats is variable. Some cats with sudden onset blindness will recover some of their lost vision if treatment is initiated soon enough.
The American association of Feline practitioners recommends blood pressure monitoring as part of a regular bi-annual senior cat exam in their senior care Guidelines.
Photo Flickr creative Commons
Ingrid King
Table of Contents
Symptoms
Diagnosis
Risk Factors
Treatment
You might also like:
Morris animal foundation study helps Cats With Blood Clots
proBNT Blood test Can discover Heart disease early
Feline Blood bank saves Lives
« Mews and Nips: three Year Census project wants to count all of Washington D.C.’s Cats
Hauspanter TriPod cat Lounge by Primetime Petz »
44 comments on High Blood pressure in Cats
Angela Gosselin says:
July 27, 2018 at 2:10 pm
Ingrid, I am so grateful for reading your article! I have noticed our Phoebe’s eye sight isn’t as sharp as it used to be. 11 years of sharing our lives together I notice changes in her activities such as mistepping or misjudged jumps. Specially at night or its darker in the room she’s in. Her physical, blood work & urine all came back fine. She got her teeth cleaned and a few teeth pulled. I’m going to make an appt to have her BP taken. I looked through her records and don’t see anything about BP. I can’t believe I never thought to ask or if I assumed they do it as part of her physical. thank you for the information and to your wonderful readers for commenting thier personal stories. It had been an eye opener
Reply
Ingrid says:
July 27, 2018 at 4:36 pm
I’m thankful the information is valuable to you, Angela. I hope everything turns out to be normal with Phoebe’s BP, and what you’re seeing are just normal agingnullnull