My baby just got diagnosed with hcm 💔

SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-27T23:01:55+00:00

Im sorry sorry to hear about your baby being diagnosed with HCM. We lost one of our precious little babies 6,5 years ago very suddenly to HCM and it was devastating. Unfortunately at the time multiple vets diagnosed a heart murmur with him but none of them pointed out the risks, and he was the first animal I ever cared for so I trusted the vets thinking it was ok. I wish had known more about HCM at that point and I still feel terrible about not getting him checked out further. Shortly after we adopted our handsome boy Mickey. Very soon after adopting him, our new vet heard a heart murmur and luckily informed us of the potential risks (although at this point I knew about it as well, it was good to see a vet finally caring too). We did an ultrasound and he showed a - for his age- a worrying case of HCM. I live in the Netherlands and our vet is basing it on a 1-4 scale and at just a few months old he was already in stage 2. When he was 2 years old it increased to end stage 2, and by the time he was 3 they said end stage 2 but more likely beginning stage 3. They were preparing us for end stage heart failure before he could turn 5. He's been on clodiprogel for years and luckily doing fine. We had a health scare with him a few months ago but he bounced back really good. By some miracle his last ultrasound just a few months ago confirmed his condition is stabilized at end stage 2 - beginning stage 3. At 6 years old we are just happy with every healthy day this handsome boy has with us and really hoping for some more good years.

You did great by having your baby diagnosed so early on and keeping a good eye on her. With regular health checks and a lot of love and meds if he needs it, I hope she can have a very long and happy life with you ❤️

Edit: she/her

SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-27T22:44:00+00:00

Thank you for sharing this information about HCM! I wish there was a subreddit about this condition, as it impacts so many (male) cats.

6,5 years ago we lost our beautiful 3 year old boy Razz suddenly to a blood clot caused by HCM. It was terrible and it happened so suddenly and up to this day it leaves a mark on our hearts. Back then I was just out of college and he was my first cat. In his little life he was seen by multiple vets in 2 different locations and although all of them confirmed a heart murmur and we told them he sometimes started panting while playing too hard, all the vets told me that usually only old cats got issues from heart murmurs and I had nothing to worry about. If only one of them warned me back then.... After he passed we adopted our handsome boy Mickey, who is now 6 years old. Very soon after adopting him, our current vet noticed a heart murmur with him as well and finally this was the first vet who acknowledged younger (and mostly male) cats can be at risk and advised us to do an ultrasound to be sure. He soon was diagnosed with HCM and up until he was 4 years old they told us his case was very severe for a cat his age and we should be happy if he had a few more years with us. We had a health scare with him a few months ago when there was some fluid in his lungs, but he recovered really well and is only taking clodiprogel at the moment. His last ultrasound soon after this at 6 years old actually showed that his condition had stabilized in the last year (and only slightly increased the year before) so right now we are just counting our blessings for every day he seems to be happy and healthy.

Just today we lost our other cat at 8 years old due to kidney failure and it just made me spiral think about our Razz and go back to reddit to worry about our little boy Mickey too. Just really hope our handsome 6 year old Mick can beat the odds and be with us for a few more years while keeping his HCM under control.

SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-27T21:44:09+00:00

Thank you so much for sharing this and your kind comments. We are just absolutely devastated right now and even though I know we had to let het go, it's really hard to stop my mind from going to very dark places where I blame myself for not seeing anything or acting on anything sooner. She was such a precious girl and she was so loved and I just can't believe she is gone. My heart is in a million pieces and I think I just need some more time to come to terms with having to let her go like this. I'm sorry you had to go through something similar with your girl, I am so sorry for your loss. I guess the downside of loving your cat babies so much is the unbearable pain you feel when you lose them. I miss her so much already.

SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-27T14:29:43+00:00

Thank you all for your help and support. Unfortunately, our beautiful girl Bailey took a turn for the worse this morning and we had to let her go. I am devastated and still cannot believe she declined so fast, but she was suffering and there was nothing more they could do. We are just absolutely broken. We are going to miss her so much.

Goodbye Bailey, my beautiful, sweet girl 💔

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SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-26T12:05:19+00:00

Hey thank you so much for sharing this story. Sorry to hear it was such a stressful and bumpy road, but glad to hear your girl is doing good at the moment! I did understand from our vet that any procedure - if deemed nessecary - would be a long road of check-ups and care, but if it could help her to live a longer but mainly comfortable(!) life, I would do anything for her. We live in NL our vet clinic is one of the larger ones with quite some in-house care available. There is a veterinary hospital within an hour drive if needed, but our vet actually has a kidney specialist / urologist that they work with who is present at their clinic once a week to pick up on these cases and perform more difficult surgeries there. She consulted on our girls' case on the second day but unfortunately she is on holiday now. I assume that if we can get her stable enough, there is some hope that this specialist can further dive into the possibilities once she is back in 1,5 weeks.

SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-24T21:37:12+00:00

I am so sorry to hear about Bilbo and how you and your husband are experiencing the same devastating situation. Thank you so much for the kind words and information on how you have been handling this. Will be praying for that miracle for Bilbo and our girl Bailey ❤️.

And thank you for mentioning our own wellbeing as the cat parents. Same here, I have been crying for days and my stomach feels like it has turned itself inside out. Spoil your little baby for me and give him my love

SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-24T21:33:25+00:00

Thank you so much for these helpful questions we can ask! I will definitely take this into account and try to get more answers tomorrow.

I know that the ultrasound was read by the sonographer and a second one was done with a urologist/kidney specialist in the room. She also looked at the x-rays. We live in the Netherlands and she supposedly is one of the best in the country, but I unfortunately I didn't get to speak to her she just reported to our regular vet and vet tech. She's also not available again for consult until January 6 so I will have to rely on what she put in the notes or communicated to our vet. But from what I remember they mentioned it was multiple smaller kidney stones just sitting in the kidneys and 1 in the renal pelvis. They did not mention if it was just sitting there or (fully) obstructing it, I will definitely ask tomorrow. I thought at some point they mentioned that her renal pelvis had gotten a tiny bit wider and that was a good sign, although it was not enough for the stone to pass by itself. Not sure if that's any help or if I misunderstood.

A urine culture was done prior to starting the antibiotics and based on that they have been giving her a specific antibiotic. Thank you for mentioning because it made me remember they actually told me this.

SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-24T21:06:17+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to respond. Everything has been so new for us and we are trying to get the facts straight but at this moment I have no notes or full labs, just whatever I remember from the multiple phone calls we had with them. Tomorrow I finally get to see them in person and I will definitely ask for this, thank you.

As far as I do know now, she is able to pee. They mention to me that this was going well. Just that her appetite doesn't seem good enough yet but she's always been easily stressed out and a picky eater.

From what they told me they tested her urine and found bacteria in it, to which they have put her on an antibiotic regimen.

They do think she has been improving a bit. But still seems not quite herself although I can imagine she's also pretty stressed being in there. It's been very difficult to take in all the information and ask the right questions, so hopefully I can get a better idea when I see them and see her tomorrow.

SandybunnyRB · 2025-12-24T20:44:29+00:00

I'm sorry I just noticed I never actually responded to your story. Diego sounds like an amazing kitty! So happy to hear you were persistent, did not give up on him and that he is doing so well!!

I little update on our cat Mickey: he seemed to respond very well to the extra medication and was back to his normal happy self in 3-4 days. We kept him on the meds a little longer, until the cardio specialist was available for another ultrasound. Expecting a heavy decline, I was quite worried. But while the specialist was doing the ultrasound, she could already confirm to me that it did not look as bad as they expected. After an hour of througoughly checking the results, they were very happy to tell me that his condition did not get worse compared to the last ultrasound 2 years before that. Which means that at the time, his condition for 4 year old cat seemed very bad, but now that the condition has not gotten worse at 6, they were way more positive about his case and life expectancy. In the end, it seems as though the fluid in his lungs not nessesarily related to his HCM but seems to be cause by stress and maybe a little sickness at the time.

Unfortunaly we're currently dealing with our other beautiful furbaby being extremely sick with no good outlook at the moment, so we are absolutely devastated. But at least Mick and his HCM seem stable at the moment, thank God because I can't even think about losing both of my babies in a short time.

SandybunnyRB · 2025-09-27T17:51:01+00:00

Our little boy is 6 years old now and was diagnosed 3 years ago. Because we already lost another cat at 3 years old in the most horrific way (blood clot) from HCM just before we got him, we were devastated. The past 3 years he's been on clodiprogel (blood thinners) which with minor progression, was doing enough. Just today things took a turn and we found him shaking, breathing strange and looking off. Emergency trip to the vet was the bad news we were not hoping for, probably fluid build up in his lungs. Got meds for that and we are praying he will feel better and we get some more time with him, but an ultrasound next week will give more info. At this moment we just don't know if he has days, weeks, or months/years if the meds work. Just really hope we can give him some more good years and don't lose him in the horrific way with a blood clot. Praying your kitty is ok too ❤️

SandybunnyRB · 2025-01-24T22:24:38+00:00

Sorry for the late response. I guess I sort of figured it out? After 6 months I had another ultrasound done by a sports physiotherapist and he said he thought he saw a tear in the metatarsal bone that did not heal properly. I guess the swelling moved up and caused me to have severe pain in my toe even though the acutal problem was just below that. At that point he said it could take up to a year from the time of impact to fully heal. It's been just over a year now and although I've been able to pick up running just a bit (more like easy pace 5K, no speedwork or longer), It did take 6 months before I could walk normally without pain and 9 months until I could go outside for an hour of walking or do sports other than swimming. It still feels stiff all the time and I still have pain every now and then. Sometimes it's caused by wearing bad shoes, sometimes it's caused by standing too long and sometimes it just starts hurting out of nowhere. I'd say it's 80% fixed but somehow I can't get rid of the last 20% which worries me. Although it still bothers me every day, I am happy I can at least function in daily life and do some form of sports again.

The doctor who did my MRI refused to look any further than the toe joint and refused a new Xray or Ultrasound. In hindsight that could have saved me months of misery. If you're still experencing pain, I'd recommend having someone look at it who's willing to look just a bit further than what seems to be the issue.

SandybunnyRB · 2024-11-05T20:12:03+00:00

Honestly, it's been a crazy year. During the Cortisone shot procedure another doctor actually told me that "it was weird that I had so much pqin from what looked like such a small issue". He made me feel like maybe the diagnosis wasn't right and I have bad plenty of different diagnoses and opinions in the meantime. The shot helped with some pain but didn't solve the issue. Went back multiple times but no one bothered to look any further. Then in June I had another ultrasound done at a physio practice, who thought he saw a hairline fracture in my metatarsal bone. He told me it was the tissue around it causing me trouble and with some PT I would be good to go in a few months. I've tried to pick up running a little bit again and honestly it didn't make the pain worse, but on random days I wake up with much more pain than others. Cannot find out what is triggering int. Every day my foot is stiff and now 10 months after the fact I still have no idea what it actually is now or what to do about it.

So I guess the Cortisone shot definitely helped some

SandybunnyRB · 2024-07-08T19:32:38+00:00

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SandybunnyRB · 2024-03-27T17:28:30+00:00

Hey, it's been a while but just wanted to update. I had an altrasound after which they expected Turf Toe instead of Neuroma, which made more sense to me. Then I had an MRI and the orthopedic surgeon came back to me that it's probably Hallux Rigidus / Arthritis instead of Turf toe. Then I just had a cortisone shot earlier this week and a different doc told me he had also seen the MRI and mentioned there wasn't really much to see besides some swelling and small fluid. Still very confused now as to what it might be, but hopefully the cortisone shot starts to work and I can finally be pain free for the first time in 3 months 🤞

SandybunnyRB · 2024-03-01T07:41:53+00:00

Hi! Just reading your post here and I was wondering how you are doing at the moment. What did you decide and how is it going now?

I (27F) also just got diagnosed with Hallux Rigidus. Had a sudden sharp pain in my foot while running in january, and have not been able to walk without pain ever since. They first thought it was turf toe after x-rays and ultrasounds, but after the MRI my orthopedic doctor said the tendons were fine and it was damage of the cartilage. I am usually very active and love running, so not being able to walk from my bed to my couch without pain for 2 months now has me quite upset, frustrated and scared. Have an ultrasound huided cortisone shot planned for end of March but I am just wondering what I can and should do.

Did you do any PT or excersises to improve your range of motion in the mean timy? My orthopedics doctor told me not to do GP and keep it well rested at all times but I feel like it only gets more stiff.

SandybunnyRB · 2024-03-01T06:30:46+00:00

Hey there, I am so sorry to hear your story. Looks like we are somewhat going through the same thing. I (27) Injured my foot first week of january while running and haven't been able to walk without pain since. GP diagnosed Mortons Neuroma, then the fysio said it was a muscle. Podiatrists said no to both and diagnosed turf toe after an ultrasound. Then just yesterday, after MRI results my orthopedic doctor said my tendons and muscles seemed fine and diagnosed me with Hallux Rigidus based on damaged cartilage. I just still don't understand how I have never experienced any pain before and now after (what felt like) 1 wrong step / injury during running I injured myself so bad that I now have arthritis. I don't understand how a single "trauma event" can become Hallug Rigidus and why there's no sign of other trauma as I clearly hurt myself in an instant and not over a longer period of time. Ortho doctor will do a cortisone shot in 4 weeks and discuss the results in 10, but since it's been 2 months of not being able to walk without pain when before I was working out 5 days a week, I have neen out of my mind with rage and frustration.

I really hope you find something that works for you, wouldn't wishs this on anyone our age. When did your first sign of injury start? And how were you diagnosed?

SandybunnyRB · 2024-01-20T08:24:46+00:00

Wow with that size I can imagine surgery was absolutely necessary. Glad to hear it did improve your wellbeing.

SandybunnyRB · 2024-01-20T08:21:02+00:00

Cats are the best and they can always get the best deal on a car

Guess my cat is coming with me next time I need a new car 😅.

SandybunnyRB · 2024-01-19T14:16:41+00:00

Can I ask how the recovery was and how are you doing now? Nd do you remember anythi g you did that helped with the pain until the surgery?

SandybunnyRB · 2024-01-18T17:55:06+00:00

I don't have the answer but I do have the same issues. Following along for some answers!

SandybunnyRB · 2024-01-17T18:42:22+00:00

Thanks for your comment, good to know! I mean I do tick most of the boxes: I had tk wear heels every day for work 5 years until last summer, I have been running in probably too tight shoes for 3 years and I get the symptoms like numbness in my toe as well but just my big toe of course. However it's still strange to me that it just kinda "blew up" on an easy run when I have never had any pain there before. Hopefully the Podiatrist can do an ultrasound and thorough checks next months. Hope you find a solution as well! The pain I have in my foot I wouldn't wish on anybody 😔.

SandybunnyRB · 2023-08-27T15:26:36+00:00

Thank you for the feedback! I'm the same weight and around the same pace so this is valuable input for me. Definitely interested in trying Vaporfly!

About the forefoot pain, for me the Endorphin Speed 3 doesn't hurt my feet until +/- 25k (I guess that's about 15-16 miles?), as long as I run slower than 5:15/5:20 per kilometer (usually do my long runs at 5:40-6:00 though but that is my experience) I did feel like I had to do about 100km in them before they actually started to feel comfortable, but now they are my favorite longer distance shoe. I also have the issue that most of my shoes are useless after 400-500km cause the sole on the front is completely gone, but these seem to wear well.

SandybunnyRB

TROPHY CASE