Animals in Research

Sophie the Cat

Group: Dogs & Cats
Species: Cat
Research Areas: Cardiovascular disease, Heart research

Cats like Sophie help researchers study the molecular causes for heart failure. Almost 6 million people in the US have heart failure and half of these people die within 5 years of their diagnosis. Cells from the heart muscle of cats survive for up to 10 days in culture. This allows researchers to do a lot of studies with a small number animals.