https://www.vetsurgeon.org/f/clinical-questions/26588/inherited-risk-of-aortic-thromboembolism A client of ours recently had one of their cats, a 6 year old M(N) DSH, euthanased at our out of hours provider due to an aortic thromboembolism. From the report it sounds as though the cat was in a lot of pain despite suitable pain relief having beenen-USTelligent Community 10https://www.vetsurgeon.org/thread/191444?ContentTypeID=1Wed, 17 Jan 2018 18:55:02 GMT146601cc-3922-4be7-9974-7e1d4e45a66b:857de3bc-0f38-4705-a456-2fab5b5e55c7Martin Atkinson<p>[quote user=&quot;Thomas Johnson&quot;]..they were advised that there can be a inherited predisposition to ATE. I understand that there is an inherited risk to HCM in some breeds of cat, but am not sure if this is the case generally.[/quote]There is no inherited breed predisposition to ATE but there is to HCM which is the primary cause. Maine Coon breeders (well the responsible ones) have their cats screened regularly to find the ones with a predisposition to try to avoid passing the genes on. I was fairly confident that NT-proBNP was a reliable easier and cheaper alternative to echo cardiography for screening but before I get accused of turbo posting or incur the wrath of DM, I bow to the experience of Kiernan Borgeat who spoke on this subject at SAMSoc and suggested its not a reliable alternative.</p> <p>If your client&#39;s find the cat does have HCM then it may be judicious to put it onto clopidogrel (cue more arguments from DM)!</p><div style="clear:both;"></div>