Pectus Excavatum
Last week we noticed one of our sweet little Bengal kitten’s chests felt different from the other kittens. I consulted with a breeder friend about it. She said it’s possible Flat Chest Syndrome in kittens. Of course, I had to Google it to learn more. Unfortunately, the prognosis isn’t great for this condition without treatment. Kittens affected with this can also have a more difficult time breathing and eating because of the mis-shapened chest putting pressure on the lungs and stomach. Feeling super alarmed and worried for this sweet little girl (I ended up naming her Petra) I scheduled an appointment with our Vet. I was worried about Petra developing a failure to thrive since she is also smaller than the other kittens. I grabbed Coco (our male Bengal and father of the kittens) and we went out to PetSmart to buy some supplemental food for his daughter. Coco enjoys going shopping with us and it’s fun to have his company! We found a supplemental high calorie gel to try. We also bought Petra some purred chicken and tuna fish to try.
Once we got home, I tried out the tuna fish with Petra first. She did good with it. I would put a dab of it on my finger and the gently open her mouth and swipe it in. Then I’d put her with Mickey (her mom) to nurse it down. After a few days of this she is doing well and keeping up with her siblings! I’m so happy that she’s been hanging in there!
Over the weekend Coco developed goopy eyes. Unfortunately, he spread it to Mickey. Just one eye was affected for Mickey, but it looked really bad. We spent the weekend giving eye drops to Coco and Mickey hoping to help what was bothering them. Coco’s eyes did start to get better, but by today Mickey’s one eye still looked terrible. Side note: Always clip your cat’s nails before giving eye drops! You live and you learn! Yikes!
This afternoon we took Mickey and all her kittens into the Vet. I brought them all because the kittens are too young to be apart from their mom for that long. When we got to the clinic, they weighed Petra and the biggest kitten in the litter. Little Petra weighed 13 ounces Her brother weighed 1lb 3 ounces. The doctor looked her over and then took her to do an X-Ray. While we waited for that to devolop her looked at Mickey’s eyes. No sign of a scratch or injury so likely just Conjunctivitis (pink eye). That means more eye drops! Ugh! It’s worth it though to get her better!
Once the X-Ray films were ready our Vet looked them over. He diagnosed little Petra with having Pectus Excavatum (also know as funnel chest). That means not only is her chest flat, but it also sinks in. The only way to correct that is through surgery. Basically they sew a device onto the chest to help pull it out. Because Petra is still young and devolving she has a high chance of sucess with this procedure. Our vet feels that she will likely be able to live a happy normal life once the procedure is done! Because he doesn’t have much experience in this area he is referring us to a specialist. It will be a bit of a drive for us, but I appreciate his honesty and wiliness to have some else with more experience help us out if he’s not completely comfortable. I always just want what is in the best interest of our animals!
Now we are waiting to hear from the specialist to get scheduled. Until then I will be continuing to give little Petra extra feedings and care!
Stay tuned as Petra’s saga continues….
