TICA registered since 2007

Cardiac Defects

The Bengal breed does unfortunately have a number of cardiac defects associated with it. The most common being Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, other cardiomyopathies may also occur but due to a lack of results from postmortem examinations at this this time it is impossible to predict how common this is.

We decided to add this page to our website to promote awareness of HCM and cardiac defects based on our own experience of Bengal we have lost we will add to this page when appropriate.

Purebliss Stratus of Ajooba

Stratus was healthy and well and neutered when he died suddenly in his sleep in our home. Stratus had been living with us as a well loved pet since he arrived and was back indoors and no longer living in his stud pen since July 2009. He was a big boy who loved to play and had a great appetite since he was a kitten. We were devastated to learn he died from HCM on 22nd February when we were issued with a pathology report form the University of Glasgow. This report was sent to Dr Mark Kittleson ACVIM Cardiology, PhD, MS, DVM and he concluded from the pathologists findings that Stratus died of severe HCM. His results have been submitted to Sabine Wamper who has listed Stratus as HCM positive and verified on her HCM list. A number of British veterinary cardiologists agreed the findings were HCM after reading Mark Kittlesons notes on the matter.

Only one kitten sired by Stratus was sold for breeding, Ajooba Rupert of Suntouched, date of birth 3/05/09. Rupert was sold as a short-term stud to another breeder, at the age of 4 months, who had to retire her stud boy due to a alleged cardiac murmur and in her words, “a couple of things wrong with his heart.”. We homed Rupert at pet price and had great trust in this experienced breeder at the time. We informed Stratus’ breeder and Rupert’s owner once we had confirmation verbally from our vet that the findings were consistent with HCM. This has been since confirmed by a very experienced cardiologist. Rupert was 10 months old at the time of notification to his owner, who had already spoken to our vet in February 2010, without our consent and knowledge. He has reportedly been retired and is now neutered due to the sad news of his sire passing away from HCM. The risk that Rupert may himself be affected by HCM is high and the risk to his kittens high too.

Due to this high risk of cardiac issues in Rupert and his siblings we have homed those that were still in our care for nominal fees of £100 to £150 and advised owners to keep their kittens insured. We have also in good faith offered replacements and refunds for these pet cats if they die from HCM or cardiac issues confirmed by a postmortem by a registered veterinary surgeon. We hope the same advice is given to any owners of Rupert’s kittens should there be any.

Stratus with me at the Bengal cat Club Show in 2008 where he won best Silver Assessment Cat in Show a year and a half before his demise from  severe HCM.

Read more about Stratus on our In Memoriam page.

Copyright and web design Ajooba Cats 2010

This is the postmortem report we received in February 2010 for Stratus. Dr Mark Kittleson of UCDavies concluded that the thickening of the left ventricular walls and the weight of the heart indicated severe HCM. This information verifies Stratus’ HCM status and we have not come across any cardiologist who says otherwise.

We were advised by our veterinary practice at the time that the diagnosis was HCM and it is based on this report that we have spayed all girls we kept from this line and extended our health guarantee to replace or refund our pet owners should any of our kittens die prematurely to a heart defect.

Stratus’ loss, although heartbreaking and devastating to us is also a huge loss to our breeding programme, particularly our silver breeding programme. We can hand on heart say this is one of the worst things we have experienced since we started keeping Bengals and wouldn’t want anyone else to go through this., nor as breeders would we want to find such a defect n our kittens, however it is only ethical to be honest and open where congenital diseases are an issue in a breeding programme.

For legal purposes we have removed the address of the veterinary practice that submitted the request for this postmortem, due to a breach in our confidentiality with another Bengal breeder.

Click on postmortem report to enlarge.