Kitten w/ Pectus Excavatum

Hi there! I have a 3.5 week old kitten who has been diagnosed with Pectus Excavatum and is showing clinical signs. I'm trying to decide whether or not to move forward with taking him to a specialist where we will repeat x-rays, do more tests and have a surgical consult. All this will cost around $800, BEFORE surgery. My fear is that I will go through all of this for them to tell me 1) Your kitten needs to be older to have surgery or 2) Surgery cost $4000. I'm getting no where asking questions over the phone, just to bring him in for a consult. We've already spent $400 on useless information and unusable x-rays (the specialist who kindly took a peek at them said they didn't have enough detail).

Symptoms include periods of labored breathing and slow weight gain, although he is actively nursing and gaining weight w/ KMR supplementation. X-rays show heart is healthy, slightly enlarged, but in the right place. Lungs are displaced.

I've read every single thing I can find on PE, I'm really looking for personal experience, treatment costs, outcomes, etc.

Thank you so very much!

K kristennoelle

Here is a thread about flat-chested kitten syndrome that you may find interesting.

In it, our team member catwoman707 explains how to make a "vest" that helps the kitten breathe and move around, while allowing the rib cage to develop properly.

Feel free to ask questions on this thread. I hope this helps.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/290989/flat-chested-kitten-syndrome

sarthur2 said:

@kristennoelle

Here is a thread about flat-chested kitten syndrome that you may find interesting.

In it, our team member @catwoman707 explains how to make a "vest" that helps the kitten breathe and move around, while allowing the rib cage to develop properly.

Feel free to ask questions on this thread. I hope this helps.

http://www.thecatsite.com/t/290989/flat-chested-kitten-syndrome

Click to expand...

Hi @kristennoelle

The kitten has very soft bones/ribcage at this young age and it is pretty simple and quite fast to get them growing in the correct shape.

To make the vest properly for it's full effect, you must clearly understand what it is you are trying to accomplish.

By scruffing the baby in your left hand and turning him over to lay in your palm, so his tummy side is up, take your right hand and using your thumb for one side and first finger or 2 fingers on the other, gently squeeze his ribcage, this causes the center to raise out a bit. This is what flat chested syndrome is, and it's no help when they are super young and are flat on their chests all the time either while nursing, napping, virtually all the time.

Many, if not most vets lack experience with very young kittens, so it is up to you to determine whether the gentle squeezing pressure causes the center to invert/sink inward or if it appears to raise it. 

I personally think that, unless it is a very severe case, the vest will help to encourage normal growth. If, when you do this little test, it causes the center to sink in, then it may not be the right option.

Kittens are growing at an amazingly fast rate, faster then they ever will, so by creating a vest, fitting it properly, with just the right amt of pressure to the sides of his ribs so that the center plate is slightly forced outward, it will quickly start to grow that way. This will also give his lungs the space needed to fill with air, where-as now he has limited capacity and his body is deprived of enough oxygen.

Get started right away, for instance if she were under 10 days old, in maybe 3 days her ribs would be reshaped and coaxed to grow right, the older she gets the harder and stronger her bones become, but she is still very pliable now.

No surgery needed here. As long as the center does not cave in when squeezing the sides, this will work perfectly.

Let me know if you have any questions at all