An Egyptian Mau plan splits into 3 tests you do once and 3 that come back every year. Once: a PK deficiency DNA swab, a first complete blood count with reticulocytes, and a baseline urine specific gravity. Every year from age 1: an echocardiogram, a blood count, and a urine check, with blood pressure added from age 7. The narrow gene pool shows up for an owner as 1 number on a lab report and 1 habit at the water bowl, not as a reason to test everything at once.
The plan on one timeline
| Test | First at | Repeat | Cost (USD) | What it answers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PK DNA swab | any age, once | never | 70 to 150 | carrier or affected |
| CBC with reticulocytes | 12 months | every 12 months | 60 to 120 | anemia trend, regeneration |
| Echocardiogram | 12 months | every 12 months | 250 to 500 | wall thickness, LA/Ao |
| Urine, first morning | 12 months | every 12 months | 45 to 90 | USG, crystals, protein |
| Blood pressure | 7 years | every 12 months | 30 to 60 | hypertension before blindness |
Two of these are cheap enough to stop debating: the swab and the urine. The echo needs booking 3 to 6 weeks ahead, so it sets the date for everything else in the year.
PK deficiency: 1 swab, then a lifetime of context
Pyruvate kinase deficiency is an inherited defect in a red-cell enzyme, passed as an autosomal recessive trait, so a cat needs 2 copies to be affected and 1 copy to be a silent carrier. The DNA test is a cheek swab or an EDTA blood tube, 70 to 150 dollars, done once; the result does not change with age. An affected cat runs a shortened red-cell lifespan; some look normal for years and then decompensate around 2 to 5 years, often after surgery, dental work, or fever. That is why the yearly CBC with reticulocytes beats any single result: a packed cell volume sliding from 32 to 26 percent across 12 months, with reticulocytes climbing, is the pattern that gets a cat worked up before a crisis. Ask the vet to palpate spleen size and write it down. No drug reverses the enzyme defect; management is supportive and case by case, and anything prescribed comes from a steroid, a chelating agent, or a transfusion plan, by veterinary prescription only. Put the PK status on every anesthesia form for life.
Heart: 12 months, then every 12
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is screened with an echo, not a stethoscope. A murmur is worth grading out of 6, but grade 1 to 2 in a young cat is often benign, and some affected cats have no murmur at all. Ask for 3 written values: maximal diastolic wall thickness in mm, LA/Ao, and any SAM. Under 5 mm is normal, 5 to 5.9 mm earns a recheck in 6 months, and 6 mm or more meets the usual definition. If the murmur is grade 3 or louder, add 2-view chest X-rays at 120 to 240 dollars the same week; heart size and pulmonary edema change the plan faster than another appointment 6 weeks out. The schedule mirrors the Maine Coon heart protocol for the same reason: young cats scan clean and convert later.
Urine: the cheapest page of the plan
A first-morning sample gives a urine specific gravity (USG); 1.035 to 1.060 is well concentrated, and 1.030 or lower on a repeat means the kidney is losing the ability to concentrate and earns bloodwork with SDMA. Stress-related cystitis is the other reason this test stays annual: it is a diagnosis of exclusion in a cat that strains, visits the box 5 or more times an hour, and passes small amounts with no crystals and no bacteria. The home side is arithmetic: 1 box per cat plus 1, so 2 cats means 3 boxes, each at least 1.5 times the cat's body length; fresh water twice a day; wet food at 1 to 2 meals a day. A male cat that strains and produces nothing is an obstruction until proven otherwise, a 0 to 2 hour emergency.
Narrow gene pool: 3 things an owner can check
Low genetic diversity is a population statement, not a diagnosis. What can be checked: an inbreeding coefficient from a DNA panel at 120 to 200 dollars, a pedigree of 8 to 10 generations, and whether the same 2 or 3 names repeat on both sides within 3 generations. A repeat within 2 generations is close breeding, and it raises the odds that 2 copies of a recessive variant meet. Ask for the FeLV and FIV results from 8 to 12 weeks, the PK status of both parents, and the age of the dam at the litter. None of this predicts one cat's health, and no honest breeder quotes a percentage.
4 signals you can see this week
- Gum color: pale pink is normal, white or yellow is a same-day call.
- Box behavior: 5 or more trips in an hour with little urine.
- Sleeping respiratory rate: 30 breaths per minute is the ceiling, counted over 30 seconds.
- Weight: a 5 percent drop in 3 months against the weight trend chart, or 10 percent in 6.
The hour-level call table
| Signal | Threshold | Call within | Why the clock matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straining, no urine, male | any attempt with no result | 0 to 2 hours | obstruction can kill in 24 to 48 hours |
| Pale or white gums, weakness | any | 0 to 2 hours | hemolytic crisis needs bloodwork now |
| Open-mouth breathing at rest | any | 0 to 1 hour | pulmonary edema |
| Sleeping respiratory rate | above 40, once | 1 hour | heart failure window |
| Sleeping respiratory rate | 30 or more, 3 in a row | 24 hours | echo within 7 days |
| Hind legs weak, pads cold | any | 0 to 2 hours | clot in the aorta |
| Not eating | 24 hours | 24 hours | fatty liver risk after 48 to 72 hours |
| Weight drop | 5 percent in 3 months | 72 hours | bloodwork before muscle loss |
Costs, and the 2 tests never to skip
A full first year runs 425 to 860 dollars with the echo, then 250 to 500 dollars a year. The swab is never repeated, whatever a second lab says; if 2 labs disagree, ask for the variant name in writing before paying again. The urine test is the one owners drop because the cat looks fine, and it is the one that catches concentration loss and cystitis early. Insurance on a breed with a known recessive variant treats it as pre-existing once diagnosed, so the policy is worth more before the first blood panel.
5 steps for the next 30 days
- Order the PK swab and file the result at every clinic the cat visits.
- Book the 12 month echo and blood count as 1 visit, 310 to 620 dollars.
- Collect a first-morning urine with non-absorbent beads in a clean box.
- Add 1 box and 1 water bowl, then count box trips for 3 days.
- Start the 30 second sleep count twice a week and photograph gum color in daylight.
Nothing here diagnoses a cat. The swab names a red-cell risk, the echo measures a wall, the urine shows concentration. What the plan buys is timing: a hemolytic crisis caught at a 26 percent PCV is a different week than the same finding at an emergency room.
Terms mentioned in this article
Frequently asked
Does a PK test need to be repeated later in life?
No. The PK deficiency test reads the genotype, which does not change, so 1 cheek swab or EDTA blood sample is enough for life. What does repeat is the yearly complete blood count with reticulocytes, because an affected cat can look normal for years and then decompensate.
Why test urine every year in a cat that seems healthy?
Because a first-morning specific gravity of 1.030 or lower on a repeat sample shows the kidney losing concentration before creatinine moves, and because stress-related cystitis is a diagnosis of exclusion that depends on ruling out crystals and bacteria with a fresh sample.
How many litter boxes does a 2 cat household need?
Three. The rule is 1 box per cat plus 1, and each box should be at least 1.5 times the cat's body length. With stress-related cystitis in the breed picture, box number and box cleaning frequency are part of the medical plan, not housekeeping.