Management of acute heart failure in cats.

Abstract

Acute heart failure in cats represents a complex clinical situation in feline practice and this review has been designed to focus on the description of acute heart failure in cats, the diagnostic approach and clinical management of acutely decompensated feline cardiac patients. The authors acknowledge the lack of scientific evidence regarding many treatments used for heart disease in cats, and hence their approach may differ from recommendations given by other cardiologists. Every individual cardiac cat is also different, and it is important that all treatments are carefully tailored to the individual. Therefore this review provides generic advice based on the authors' personal experience but should not provide prescriptive guidelines on when to use particular drugs and doses and readers are encouraged to seek the latest information when managing these challenging cases.