A Michael Broad Blog
RELATED: HCM in male and female Bengal cats and humans, a comparison The Bengal cat, known for its beauty and athleticism, is among the top ten most popular and well-known cat breeds. However, it may not be widely recognized that when adopting a Bengal kitten, one might expect their new, glamorous family member to …
Burmese and Birman cats have the longest life expectancy of purebred cat according to a recently published study conducted between 2019 and 2021 in the UK. The researchers don’t tell us specifically or in detail why they have the longest life expectancy of the purebred cats and even to the extent where their lifespan …
A comprehensive UK study conducted in 2019-2021 and published in 2024 concluded that the Sphynx cat breed “had the shortest life expectancy at year 0 among the analysed breeds at 6.68 years. Being entire, purebred and with a non-ideal body weight were significantly linked to a decreased lifespan.” The word “entire” means unsterilised. The …
Sometimes male cats cannot be neutered. And it is entirely legitimate to leave them unsterilised and “whole”. This occurs when the cat cannot be put under a general anaesthetic. A veterinarian needs to put a male cat under a general anaesthetic to remove their testes. A cat with early-stage hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or any …
I’ve spotted a peculiar anomaly in the story about HCM in Bengal cats. In case you didn’t realise it, Bengal cats are said to be predisposed to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). Maine Coon cats have the same problem by the way as do some other cat breeds e.g., Ragdoll and British Shorthairs. I will take …
Sadly, there are studies, one of which I am reading right now, which confirm that this very popular cat breed (particularly the blue) suffers from a high prevalence of HCM, often of early onset and with a significant male sex predisposition. In other words, male cats are predisposed to get it at a young …
Cat breeds prone to HCM are: Maine Coon, Ragdolls, British Shorthairs, American Shorthairs, Devon Rexes and Bengals. All these breeds are extensively discussed on this website. Please start by clicking on this page. Update: see comment below. Gail tells us that the relatively rare Ocicat is also predisposed to developing HCM. All, but the …
The reason why I am writing this is because a person (who I will keep anonymous) wrote to me about their cat. He was three years old and he died very suddenly overnight. Late in the evening he was fine but had been dead for a while when he was seen the next morning. …
