06/07/2025
🙀 Hypertension (high blood pressure) in Cats 🙀
What is hypertension?
Systemic hypertension is a sustained increase in blood pressure. Hypertension can be situational –caused by stress (such as being in the vet clinic), secondary – caused by other underlying diseases, or primary – cause unknown, also known as “idiopathic”. Situational hypertension resolves when the stressor(s) are removed.
Diagnosing hypertension
Blood pressure is measured in a similar way to humans, with a cuff on the leg or tail, and a blood pressure machine. We take the average of several readings; your cat may need to stay for the day to receive accurate readings, or may need to be brought in several times over the course of a few days.
Untreated hypertension can have detrimental effects, especially on organs with small blood vessels such as the eyes, kidneys, heart and brain. These are known as target organs. Target organ damage can manifest as lethargy, weight loss, inappetence/anorexia, sudden blindness, dilated pupils,weakness, seizures, circling, change in mentation and coughing.
When your cat is diagnosed with systemic hypertension your veterinarian will need to run some diagnostic tests to search for an underlying cause. This could include blood tests (complete blood count, biochemistry, thyroid hormone tests), urine tests, and imaging (x-rays or ultrasound).
Around 80% of cats will have an underlying cause for their hypertension. Many underlying causes are possible; however, the most commonly implicated diseases are chronic kidney disease, hyperthyroidism, and diabetes mellitus.
If you have any questions or concerns about your cat’s health, please don’t hesitate to give us a call!
