So what is HCM or hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, it is a heart disease common to many pedigreed and non-pedigreed cats. Essentially it is a disease that causes the wall of the heart to thicken which allows less and less blood into the heart for each pump. This creates a positive feedback loop that makes the degeneration of the heart progress quickly because the thicker the heart wall get means the less volume of blood pumped by each heartbeat. This requires the heart to work faster and harder to pump the same amount of blood as when the walls of the heart were thinner. Making this disease a very fast progressing disease if not treated correctly, which can be quite costly.
What is most important to take from this if you are considering adding a beautiful Bengal kitten or cat to your home is ... PLEASE ONLY PURCHASE A BENGAL IF BOTH PARENTS HAVE BEEN TESTED FOR HCM BY A BOARD CERTIFIED CARDIOLOGIST. I cannot stress this enough and please don't just take the persons word that the HCM heart test was done but require proof via a certificate that the cardiologist prepares and signs. If not then you are taking the chance that at sometime your furbaby may drop dead without warning.
It is thought there is a few 'types' of HCM, this is expressed through the age of development of HCM in the cat. HCM can be found in kittens or adults under two years of age (early onset), another pattern seems to be HCM developing in cats three to four years of age (middle onset), and last development of disease at seven or eight years. Adding to this complex disease is variable expression of genes; just because a cat possesses the mutation that creates severe HCM in some cats does not mean the gene will be fully expressed in all cats. Lets just put variable gene expression into Mendelian genetics. This means if we have white flowers and mate them with red flowers and we get varied degrees of pink for the offspring, the red mutation is being partially expressed (light pink) to almost fully expressed (very dark pink). The varied expression of the HCM gene in Bengal cats allows parents that can still be testing negative while producing HCM positive kittens; responsible breeders will test. Don't take any chances with heart health.
