Blood Clots In Cats Back Legs
Feline Aortic Thromboembolism is a serious and painful condition with serious implications.
Blood clots in cats back legs. Although there can be a number of causes one of the most common and painful in cats is a saddle thrombus. This is often associated with heart disease. In many cases of blood clots in cats the clot eliminates blood flow to the back legs.
There is a high rate of recurrence of blood clot formation. It comes on suddenly and appears to paralyze the cat causing one or both rear legs to become useless and even noticeably cold. Difficulty breathing especially increased respiration.
When it gets stuck its now called an embolism and the result in the case of a saddle thrombus an embolism at the base of the aorta is that it cuts off the main blood supply to the back legs. This might be progressive or abrupt. This is a serious condition in cats in which a thrombus blood clot affects the blood flow to the hind legs of the cat.
A cat with a saddle thrombus will experience decreased blood flow to the back legs. A blood clot that forms in a vein or artery thrombus will prevent blood from flowing properly. Symptoms occur very suddenly as the blood supply is blocked.
Typically the blood clot forms in the heart and then moves down the aorta the largest artery in the body which provides. Its important to start treatment as soon as possible to give your cat the best chance of recovery. However what is far more common is a disease called aortic thromboembolism ATE also known as a saddle thrombus.
In this case the cat will not be able to use the back legs but will drag them around and will be in severe pain. About 3 of feline blood clots have no apparent cause. Symptoms appear suddenly and include severely painful paralysed back legs.
