Ventricular pre-excitation in an elderly cat.

Ventricular pre-excitation caused seizure-like symptoms; ECG essential for diagnosis.

This case report describes ventricular pre-excitation in an 18-year-old female domestic shorthair cat presenting with seizure-like episodes. Comprehensive physical examination and routine diagnostics including complete blood count, biochemistry profile, and cardiac troponin I were unremarkable. Systemic arterial blood pressure was normal, ruling out hypertensive complications. Transthoracic echocardiography excluded structural cardiomyopathy. Electrocardiography revealed the diagnostic findings: a regular wide QRS-complex rhythm with markedly shortened PR interval, consistent with ventricular pre-excitation secondary to an accessory pathway. This congenital condition allows electrical impulses to bypass the atrioventricular node via an anomalous conduction route. The authors did not identify tachyarrhythmia episodes during five-minute ECG monitoring, therefore antiarrhythmic therapy was withheld. The case highlights the importance of electrocardiographic evaluation in geriatric cats presenting with unexplained neurological symptoms, as cardiac arrhythmias may mimic seizure-like activity and warrant differential diagnosis consideration.

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