Atenolol

Hi all.

Yesterday Alex had an echo and he's been dx'd with HCM. I pretty much knew that. I had a heart kitty before my now kitties and he was on Cardizem for six years so I'm not real familiar with the new meds.

My vet started him on 1/4 of a 2.5 mg enalapril even before he went to the cardiologist yesterday and he seemed to be doing okay. The cardiologist added 1/4 25 mg atenolol bid to the mix, Alex has had 2 doses and he's a different cat...and not in a good way. I was thinking that he had taken a rapid turn for the worst when all of a sudden it occurred to me that it could be a side effect of this pill. It slows the heart beat down right? He hardly has any energy at all. he has moved from one spot to another to just lie down or go to LB.

And much to my shock, I left an open can of fancy feast on the counter(he is hungry and eating) and he didn't even attempt to jump up and get it and THAT tells me that something weird is going on cause he was doing that last night and he has not NOT done that in well ever. He always makes a mess doing that!!!.

Does anyone have a cat on this med and have you seen any weird side effects? I was told there could be, like slowing his heart down too much, but after two teeny little doses? (his blood pressure was normal yesterday)

Thanks in advance!

Caryl

 

B.K. is on Norvasc and Atenolol ......we started the Norvasc first, then did a recheck in a week and added the Atenolol. I saw no weird side effects or lethargy but B.K. is an old kitty....stray that showed up. Hope has RCM and is on Enalapril but also Sotalol and has been doing fantastic for 3 years. Might want to touch base with the cardiologist again for a recheck.

 

He just went yesterday. It's time for his second dose today and based on what i'm seeing I don't want to give it so I'll call his vet.

Thanks so much

 

Hi Cara

As you figured, you should hold off on the drug until you speak to the cardiologist. It's uncommon, but some cats have a very dramatic reaction to atenolol and feel quite sluggish. Are you able to feel his pulse and take his heart rate at home? If he's fat you probably can't feel his heart beat in his chest, but you should still be able to feel his femoral pulse (you can google femoral pulse cat to get some sites with pictures). Count the pulses within 10 seconds and multiply by six to get the heart rate.

If the cardiologist really wants to start atenolol, you can get it compounded. A few clients get it compounded by VPA into chewies that are 6.25mg, and give 1/2 a chewy. If Alex wasn't symptomatic for the HOCM (no "exercise intolerance"), the cardioloigst may just abandon the idea of giving atenolol.

I wonder why your vet started enalapril -- ? What were Alex's symptoms?

 

Hi Jess,
Thanks for answering
I called my vet last week at 2AM and he met me at clinic for emergency.Alex was panting (panting like a dog). The only time he ever did that before was at vet's office. he has had a murmur for a while. it was very hot in my apartment and i can't turn a/c on until the building does and Alex is constantly jumping on the counter. We figured he was HCM. he is hyper-t and has no kidney problems yet(antijinx)..he made a decision based on all of that and the cardio doc thought it was a good one.

Alex is very thin not overweight at all...but I can tell that his heart rate has slowed down just by feeling his chest. I will try to get a heart rate on him though from his leg.

I know now that he was having a reaction to atenelol though because he started the enalapril several days earlier and was fine. after dose 1 of atenelol he was okay as well...still acting like himself and jumping on counters for food. after dose 2 this morning he just became a zombie but still had an appetite...however the real clue was that i left a can of opened FF on counter by mistake and he made no attempt to try to get it and that is totally unlike Alex. He always tries to fool me like that. He jumped on the counter 15 minutes ago for the first time today and is starting to act a little more normal.almost 12 hours after his atenelol.

My vet(not cardio vet)said it sounds like either it's too much or too much to start and we should cut back to once a day and see how he does on that. His heartbeat is always much faster when he is at a vet's office. cardio doc asked me yesterday if his heart always pounds the way it did yesterday and i told her 'not even close'....

sound about right?

Caryl

 

Caryl, B.k. takes 1/2 of a 6.25mg pill s.i.d. So Alex is getting 12.50 mg in a day and B.K.is only getting 3.125 mg a day. They are compounded for the vet so they are in pill form, easy to cut. Alex is. getting a large starting amount.

 

Thanks so much...I figured it must have been a high dose. Alex was back to himself last night when it started to wear off. i spoke to my vet and in the meantime, in lieu of any compound being available, i did my best to halve the quarters that i had(well a couple of them...they are tiny little pills) and i only gave Alex 1/8 of a pill this morning and we'll see what happens from there).

ETA: Oh yeah, is there any 'general' starting dose for enalapril? I mean a dose that most kitties start at? I'm getting very confused by this because cardio doc wanted me to raise that dose right away from 1/4 to 1/2 right away and my vet felt that he wanted me to stick with 1/ a little linger to make sure Alex was tolerating everything before raising doses.

 

Hope is on 1/2 of a 2.5mg of Enalapril s.i.d.

 

no bad reactions ever ? Alex is on 1/4 now and suggested dose is ultimately 1/2

 

No reactions with Hope and she is checked by cardiologist every 2 months....echo and ekg, etc.

 

Thanks so much :0)
I'm seeing that Alex is a little bit loopy even on the small dose of Atenelol today...nothing like yesterday, but a little bit.