The pooled blood can form a clot inside the heart, which can then break off spontaneously and travel down toward the legs, carried along by the flow of blood. Saddle thrombi are seen almost exclusively in cats and are usually an indicator of serious underlying heart disease one chamber of the heart enlarges due to disease and blood tends to pool there. The most common type of blood clot that we see is what is known as a saddle thrombus, so named because it sits at a fork in the road of some major arteries like a saddle sits atop a horse. If blood decides to solidify and stop flowing, bad things happen. It can be thought of as a blockage that lodges in the blood supply known as the coronary arteries, which feed the heart muscle.Įven though my patients are spared the misery of heart attacks, blood clots are still a huge problem that is largely unrecognized by most pet owners. A heart attack (which is a thankfully rare condition in dogs and cats) is a ‘stroke’ of the heart. The term ‘stroke’ specifically refers to a bleed or clot in the brain, but these problems can crop up anywhere that blood flows: the lungs, the kidneys, calf muscles, etc. Strokes come in two major types, blood clots and bleeds. They are a leading cause of death and disability for humans. Strokes in people account for a huge amount of medical misery and expense.
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