No cat is immune to heart disease – not even cats who belong to famous pet writers. Audrey Pavia has done so much for animals; she’s a former editor at Dog Fancy and the AKC Gazette. She’s received numerous awards for her many pet books, including “Horses for Dummies” and “The Labrador Retriever Handbook,” and hundreds of magazine stories on rabbits, reptiles, horses, dogs and cats.

Here’s Holly’s Story by Audrey Pavia

“Back on January 26, we lost our 2 1/2 year cat, Holly, to undiagnosed feline hypertropic cardiomyopathy. 

Holly was 6 months old when she came into our lives. A beautiful calico kitten, we found her on Halloween night 2004 when attending a Halloween party 60 miles from our home. Holly was a stray who wanted to be part of the trick or treating activities. No matter how many times I picked her up and put her down the street to get her away from the rowdy kids, she kept coming back for attention. Rather than leave her on the street that night, we opted to take her home. 

Holly turned out to be one of the most athletic cats I've ever known. Nicknamed Elastigirl (from the stretchable character in "The Invisibles"), Holly could perform athletic feats that left our other cats in awe. As she grew, her sweet personality blossomed, and she spent much of her time cuddling with us, giving us kisses and talking to us in her cute little voice.

Although Holly was only on this earth a short time, her memory will live with us forever. We are grateful to Steve Dale and the Winn Feline Foundation for creating the Ricky Fund to study hypertropic cardiomyopathy. Though there is a genetic predisposition, all cats are susceptible to hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. You can help, www.winnfelinehealth.org.”