Ventricular pre-excitation in an elderly cat

An 18-year-old female neutered Domestic Shorthair cat was referred for investigation of seizure-like episodes. Physical and neurological examination were unremarkable, as were systemic arterial blood pressure, cardiac troponin I, complete blood count and biochemistry profile. Diagnostic tests included transthoracic echocardiography which ruled out any structural cardiomyopathy, and electrocardiography which showed an underlying regular wide QRS-complex rhythm with pronounced shortening of the PR interval. Considering the findings, a diagnosis of suspected ventricular pre-excitation secondary to an accessory pathway was made. Further investigations were declined and, as no periods of tachycardia were seen on the five-minute electrocardiogram, no antiarrhythmic treatment was started.