Cat fitted with heart pacemaker at same time as his owner was warned he may need one too

Snooks the cat has been fitted with a tiny heart pacemaker in a unique operation. Family pet Snooks would collapse eight times a day as his heart stopped beating.



Now, however, he has one of his nine lives back after a team at the University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine fitted him with a £3,000 pacemaker. It is the first such device implanted into a cat at the school, said heart specialist Valentina Palermo.

She said: “He had a history of heart blockages over three weeks and collapsed multiple times each day. Giving him a pacemaker was his only chance. We have placed pacemakers many times in dogs but Snooks was the first cat to have a pacemaker at our hospital.”



By coincidence Snooks’ owner, Ian Anderson, 70, from Kilwinning, Ayrshire, underwent treatment at the same time as Snooks. “My heart went into overdrive and Snooks’ heart slowed to a stop,” said Ian. “Snooks got a pacemaker and I was treated with drugs at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock. Doctors warned me I may have to get a pacemaker, too. Neither of us is getting any younger but thankfully there’s treatment for Snooks and me.”