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What's the prognosis for a cat with early hypertrophic cardiomyopathy?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Cat | Persian | Male | neutered | 8 years and 8 months old | 8.6 lbs

My cat has been diagnosed with early stage hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Our vet said he doesn’t need treatment right now since it’s not very advanced. I am wondering if he will die soon, should I prepare myself for that. Like most things, when I google it I get either terrible or hopeful stories.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Anna M., DVM

Veterinarian

Published on November 8th, 2017

Hello, and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear about Alfie's diagnosis. Unfortunately, no one can predict exactly how Alfie's hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) will progress. Some cats can live for years with known heart disease, while the disease progresses more rapidly in other cats. The progression of HCM is variable, and the best person to provide you with a more detailed prognosis would be a veterinary cardiologist. Often the best we can do is regular monitoring (recheck echocardiograms) to watch for progression of the disease and provide the appropriate treatment accordingly. Even so, there are some things we cannot predict, such as a thromboembolism, that can occur secondary to heart disease. It's difficult to have so many unknowns, and so I encourage you to ask your vet about referral to a veterinary cardiologist for evaluation if you would find more information helpful. I know this is still a pretty open-ended answer, but hopefully it helps guide you to the next step.

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