Animals, just like humans, can catch different diseases and sometimes lose their lives.
So, can a heart attack cause the death of an animal?
According to scientists, most animals do not have heart attacks.
Of course, animals also experience various heart diseases, but heart attack is generally a very rare condition.
According to Philip Gordts, an assistant professor at the University of California, San Francisco, animals do not die from typical heart attacks caused by blockage of coronary arteries like humans do.
In addition, this disorder occurs when a part of the heart tissue dies due to lack of oxygen, as a result of the blockage of a vessel that carries oxygen to the heart.
According to experts, the death of heart tissue disrupts the electrical impulses of the heart and the heart muscle becomes unable to perform its function.
For example, the risk of heart attack in dogs is very rare.
Chimpanzees also do not have heart attacks, even though they share the heart disease risk factors of humans. Additionally, some animals, such as crocodiles, have different heart structures that reduce the risk of heart attack.
Since the hearts of these animals have a spongy tissue, the heart can continue to be fed by the surrounding blood even if the vessels carrying oxygen to the heart tissue are blocked. In this way, a heart attack becomes impossible.
Again, in experiments conducted on crocodiles, it was observed that their coronary arteries continued to function normally even if they were blocked. This shows that they have a special structure that protects against heart attack.
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