SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) – Blood was pooling inside the heart of 1-year-old Burmese cat Vanilla Bean, causing a chamber to grow larger as part of a defect that would eventually lead to congestive heart failure.
The rare heart defect hurting the Mill Valley cat also occurs in children, so a veterinarian called in a team of doctors who usually treat humans to help him.
The Sacramento Bee reports that a technique to correct the problem in a cat had reportedly been done only once before, by UC Davis Veterinarian Josh Stern — the same vet who operated on Vanilla Bean.
Stern teamed up with cardiologists from the UC Davis Medical Center and successfully put catheters and balloons inside Vanilla Bean’s heart.
The vet expects the cat to make a complete recovery.
