Heart issues can cause your cat to be extremely lethargic and not feel well.

The most important thing is a physical exam to catch anything early in your cat. Diet is also extremely important as some factors in the diet prevent the development of heart disease. Taurine supplements in cats and some dogs are very important.

Lethargy, panting, enlarged abdomen, and difficulty breathing are some of the most common signs we see.

High blood pressure, especially in older cats, is a very common illness that we see. Often, it will cause your cat to lose their vision.

The first thing we'll do is a physical exam to listen for any heart murmur. Often, cats don't have a murmur, so there are blood tests that we can do, and we can look at certain proteins in the blood that indicate heart disease. An echocardiogram — a heart ultrasound — is often the definitive diagnostic tool.

Most of the treatments for cats include medications to help the heart pump more efficiently and work better.

Early detection is extremely important because cats are very good at hiding their symptoms, so most of the time, we don't know that anything is going on until the disease is quite advanced.