The study, recently published in the journal Frontiers in Veterinary Science, follows up on a previous discovery that showed cats injured in urban wildfires had a high incidence of heart problems.
"Prior to these two papers, we didn't realize that cats impacted by urban wildfires were prone to forming clots, which can lead to sudden death," said lead co-author Ronald Li, associate professor of small animal emergency and critical care at UC Davis. "This study will change the standard of care for rescued cats from these wildfires and hopefully save more lives."
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Overactive platelets
Cats treated for their injuries from the 2018 Camp Fire in Paradise, California, were some of the models for this study. Researchers examined their platelets, the cells that circulate in blood and help stop bleeding or form blood clots. They found that cats with wildfire injuries had increased overactive platelets compared to healthy cats or cats with heart disease, in this case subclinical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, or HCM. HCM is the most common cardiac disease in cats and causes a thickening of the heart muscle.