Clinical findings and coronary artery disease in dogs and cats with acute and subacute myocardial necrosis: 28 cases

Records of final diagnoses based on necropsies performed on dogs and cats o ver a 4.5-year period at a university teaching hospital were examined for t he diagnosis of acute or subacute myocardial necrosis, Clinical findings si gnaling the occurrence of myocardial necrosis were often not specific, due to simultaneously occurring disease processes. However, of 28 animals ident ified, dyspnea occurred frequently (17/28; 61%) and in some cases in the pr esence of minimal pulmonary pathology (2/3; 66%) or otherwise unexplained p ulmonary edema (4/4; 100%), Elevations in serum aspartate aminotransferase (10/10; 100%) and creatine kinase (5/9; 55%) were also frequent, Disease pr ocesses associated with thrombus formation were present for each case in wh ich a coronary artery thrombus occurred (5/28; 18%).