Video Presentation: Ricky the Piano-Playing Cat and Raising Money for Heart Disease in Cats

Ricky was one talented cat, knowing how to play the piano and various other “circus tricks;” he became a TV star.

However, at the age of only 2 1/2 he died suddenly of feline hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), sadly a very common cause of death in cats. When that happened, I initiated a fund with the non-profit funder of cat health studies, the Winn Feline Foundation (now EveryCat Health Foundation) to raise money for studying and better treating this heart disease.

We’ve raised about $285,000 for the Ricky Fund, and absolutely have made a difference regarding understanding of HCM, also a gene defect has been identified in Ragdoll and Maine Coon Cats. However, there’s no cure or effective treatment. At least not yet -but we’re getting close. Every dollar counts.

It’s so appropriate that the EveryCat Health Foundation’s Cures4Cats Day, October 17 will benefit and focus on HCM with more free webinars leading up to the event, and more can be learned on the EveryCat Health Foundation website.

If you missed it, I offered this presentation about Ricky, how Ricky trained me to “train” him, and the basics of HCM: