- 1). Place your fingers on the inside of either of your cat's hind legs and move upward until you hit the belly. Your fingers should be near the femoral artery, a major vein which carries a significant amount of blood through your cat's circulatory system.
- 2). Move your fingers back and forth while gently pressing down on your cat's leg until you can feel the pulsing blood, much like you can feel on your own wrist or neck.
- 3). Hold your fingers steady for 15 seconds while counting the number of pulses you feel on your cat's leg. Be sure to keep your cat still during the process, as any movement may cause you to lose your finger's hold on the artery.
- 4). Multiply the number of pulses you felt in 15 seconds by four to get the beats per minute (BPM) of your cat's heart.
- 5). Call your vet if the BPM was outside of the range of about 160-180 at rest, making an exception for kittens, which have a slightly higher resting heart rate of about 200.
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