Bought a ragdoll kitten (at 10 weeks old) from a lady who had only had her a week; her older cat was being overly aggressive and she didn't think it was fair to keep her. She said she came from a good breeder with 'all the certificates' etc but I didn't check (I now realise this was stupid, plus she was far too young to be sold, and I've learnt a lot about backyard breeders from reading this forum - so thank you).
Kitten has had issues since arriving a week ago - underweight, diarrhea, stopped eating etc. I took her to the animal hospital on Thursday (after a vet trip the day before), who put her on a course of antibiotics and worming stuff and she has been eating lots more, put on weight and is doing normal poos, thank god. She's also a lot more energetic and having fun playing with another kitten I bought of the same age.
However, when she was sleeping I noticed her breathing was very fast - around 70 breaths per minute - when it should be around 30. The vet did listen to her heart the other day, I'm pretty sure, and didn't mention anything, but after googling and realising it affects 30% of ragdolls I am now panicking she's got HCM and is going to drop dead. I texted the woman I bought her from who admitted she'd found the 'breeder' on gumtree and hadn't seen these 'certificates'.
It's only been a week but I love the little thing dearly. Is there a chance that the rapid breathing could be her recovering from an infection, or something less scary than HCM? Is there anything I can do if it is, and does this mean she'll likely die very early if she already has fast breathing?
Feel so stupid for not doing my research - I usually don't make any decision before knowing anything. For some reason I made an emotional decision with this and am now kicking myself.