Update on FCK(flat chested kitten)

Hi!

Just wanted you to know that our "little bear" is doing well we are supplementing him and he loves the bottle, he reconizes us right away as soon as he hears us, he will come running out of the room where he stays, he is pretty brave as walking on the hardwood floors is difficult for him as he usually looks like a turtle who has difficult going,,,but I think he is getting stronger,,, he is smaller and abit delayed in what his bigger sister can do( I really hope I have their sex (gender)right!). The other healthier kitten is a terrorizer, very funny kitten!!!

Once "little bear" gets your attention he will crawl up into your lap, (you have to be sitting on the floor for him to do this) and he loves being held and comforted to sleep. He is definately a lap cat. He ovoisly knows his limits and alot of play and excertion tires him easily. I have to start figuring out how to make a poster telling his story and why he is a special kitten with special needs who needs a special home with TLC. We hope that when he is 4 mos we will be able to give him to the right kind of family.

We call him little bear b/c he looks just like a little black cub bear. We certainly love our cat family.

He may surprise you. My FCK kittens were almost indistinguishable from "normal" by 8 weeks. Now the only difference is a little indentation in their spines between their shoulders. Other than that you would never know how odd they looked as tiny babies.

Cats with FC's can lead normal lives. He sounds gorgeous.

I am a CFA siamese breeder. In the last litter of kittens I had, one of my kittens had Flat Chested Kitten Syndrome.The kitten grew up and at 12 weeks he was almost normal. That is when he went to his new home. I am still in contact with his new owner and he grew up to be perfectly normal.

Hi everyone I was feeling so relieved and now the little guy is constipated from the formula I guess. His mommy cat and foster mom/aunty are trying real hard to soothe him licking him. The thing is he strains and cries so hard...it really bothers me alot. It looks like the pooh is stuck almost and his little butt looks sore too, red and irratated. I called the emergency vet office and just waiting for them to call back...I read some forums here on kitty constipation and well the pooh looks normal but stuck,,,,I tryed wiping him with a moist swab and he cries cause it hurts I guess. I was gentle too,,,I wish there was more I could do,,,I don't have mineral oil.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!
pepperjack

Originally Posted by pepperjack

Hi everyone I was feeling so relieved and now the little guy is constipated from the formula I guess. His mommy cat and foster mom/aunty are trying real hard to soothe him licking him. The thing is he strains and cries so hard...it really bothers me alot. It looks like the pooh is stuck almost and his little butt looks sore too, red and irratated. I called the emergency vet office and just waiting for them to call back...I read some forums here on kitty constipation and well the pooh looks normal but stuck,,,,I tryed wiping him with a moist swab and he cries cause it hurts I guess. I was gentle too,,,I wish there was more I could do,,,I don't have mineral oil.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!
pepperjack

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Poor thing....I don't know what to recommend...but hopefully the vet office will call back and give you an idea.

Katie

Do you have any vegetable oil? You could try some of that in his food.

And maybe you could put his bottom under some running warm water - That could help while you try to pull the poop out.

I know how you feel!! I have a little constipated girl myself!

Hi again sorry to be a pain,,,the vet called and assured me the pooh will pass and yes finally (he recommended mineral oil also) ...poor little guy was laying on his back and he was straining hard. Anyways after he settled. Me and my husband cleaned him up after.

The other suggestion from the dr. was I could try to introduce him to solids,,,he told me that if he is interested that is good and he doesn't need to be on the bottle that he could probably drink on his own,,,but do I give him water or do I give him KMR? This part is confusing! I just visited the cats and the little pooh bear knows that I feed him in the morning and well if he just didn't pull at my strings he came to me wanting up and when I tryed leaving he ran to follow me all the way through the basement to the stairs,,,he has a good mama cat she quickly retrieved him,,,I feel so bad but I am afraid to feed him I sure don't want to constipate him once more,,,so what do I do????I do have olive oil and vegetable oil,,,also someone from a nearby farm told me that they could give me real cows milk that kittens like that,,,is that good to give or can I give our "milk 2 %? Really I am open to suggestions here again!
Thank you from the bottom of my

P.S. I raised three babies of my own (human of course) and I just thought in the beginning of this how hard can it be to raise kittens....OMG!!! I think it is worse?!

Pepperjack

also someone from a nearby farm told me that they could give me real cows milk that kittens like that,,,is that good to give or can I give our "milk 2 %? Really I am open to suggestions here again!

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Don't give cow's milk...it will cause diarrhea.

Sounds like you are trying to 'wean' him....so I would read this page:

http://www.kitten-rescue.com/weaning.html

Dont worry. The mommy cat will teach him to drink water. Give him a bowl of water. Also try to feed him some Royal Canin Baby Cat 34. It is a dry food designed specially for small kittens. If he does not want to eat it dry mix it with a little water. If you are still having problems getting him to eat feed him some high quality wet food. Nutro or Iams would be good. Try to let his mother take care of him. Her natural instincts will tell her how to take care of him.

The best thing to do is give him a little bit of canned pumpkin - just a bite, maybe a quarter of a teaspoon. This should help the constipation. Then let him nurse but monitor his weight. Only go back to supplementing if he does not consistently gain weight. Constipation is common with formula fed kittens.

Cow milk is very, very bad and reduced fat cow milk is even worse. It has totally the wrong balance of protein, fat, and other nutrients compared with what kittens need.

Ok I have been feeding the kittens soft food in the can just a table spoon between the two of them, and give KMR not much,,,,since yesterday the kittens specially the FCk one ,,,now has diarehea. I don't get it,,,,he cries cause I assume he is having cramps and he runs to the potty like several times they are litter trained(5weeks old today). I suspected it is the food I am feeding them,,,it is just some plain ol no name soft food. HMMM,,,so do I just take them off the soft food and find something else better or should I even be feeding them at all. The diarahea is a normal color...the energy level is well ok,,,active for a bit until....the potty issue happens and sometimes we don't always make it to the litter pan. The mama cat is always concerned and can tell something is wrong when poor little baby cries,,,sometimes baby will jump out of the litter box and lay down and lift up his leg for mama to take care of the rest...clean him I soppose.

I just don't know these kittens are alot of work and concern...

Thanks for your input as always,,

Pepperjack

Loose stool is usually normal but diarreah is a problem because of dehydration. Its been a few days since you posted so I'm hoping hes doing better.

I thought I'd share my FCK experience. My little girl (a Savannah) was born with FCK and she was so tiny we didn't think she would survive. I just fell in love with her so the breeder let me have her. Her outlook on life was not good, she struggled to breath and was half the size of her litter mates for a couple months. She also seemed to be behind in development but that would be expected.

Then she seemed to get past a month, then 2 months, then we knew she would be fine! Now she is 6.5 months old and looks like a normal healthy cat, you would never know she was born deformed.

Recently something came up though that scared the wits out of me. She had a seizure, then 2 days later she had another. The first time the vet said it could be anything (like eating a bug). But the second time I ran the bloodwork and everything came back negative except for liver function and muscle trauma which would have been from teh seizure and not the cause of it.

So eliminated viral diseases and toxo only left genetic or birth trauma/oxygen deprivation. Knowing her kittenhood I'm sure this is related to the FCK. I've not heard this from any others but things can happen when a deformity is involved. Luckily its been 2 weeks and we haven't had another seizure but I'm keeping my eye on her and will be recording any episodes.

Your little Bear sounds absolutely precious.
I have had 2 flat chest kitties.
One of them died from an unrelated illness but the other one, Lindsey, is still just fine. He is almost 2 years old now and his flat chest is all but resolved. He looks normal to me. I had to kind of chuckly when you were describing how Bear gets around. That is how I likened Lindsey's movements. Like a little turtle. Then as he got older and bigger he could get his back legs up and would "paddle" with his front legs and try to run with his back legs. A lot of the time he would do a kind of sideways somersault. Then he was up and trying again. By the time he was 3-4 months old you couldn't even tell he had a problem.
Much good luck to you.
My thoughts and prayers are with you and Bear.
Maybe you could post a picture of him?? I would love to see him.

You may have to buy a premium brand kitten food for them. Sometimes the no-name brands cause problems with digestion as you have seen. You'll want Royal Canin, Iams, Chicken Soup etc.

Also, if his is still nursing on Mumcat, there would be no need to feed KMR at this stage. The combination of the two different milks can sometimes cause problems.

Switching foods or taking him off KMR or mom's milk and putting him on solids will cause diarrhea quite quickly.

I forgot I was going to post a link to some pictures of her now. She is the silver Savannah in these photos:
http://public.fotki.com/hurricanejed...ng_up_kitties/
You would never know she was FCK...

I wish that I could post a picture but it seems so complicated I am not even sure I can from the rules I read...hmmm if any body knows a easy instructions on this I would appreciate the assistance.
Anyways the kittens are doing really well,,,little bear is definately bigger very close in size to his younger sister. I am not so sure I have homes for them now...thought I had but well people change their minds.

Bear is very active and his FCK has improved dramatically it is still there but not to the degree it was...the two of them are terrorizing the house at this hour they have the run of it...we have to be careful you never know when you might have a kitten underfoot...

Thanks for all your feedback it has been very appreciated.

Pepperjack

I have a cat who has had 2 seizures. All tests came back negative. She is about 1 and a half, and the most active crazy kitten we have ever had. We never knew what caused the seizures, and she could have more. Shes totally fine, and the vet says the seizures wont really hurt here. I also had a foster we rescued from a parking lot last winter in an ice storm who had seizures. I had never even seen one, and this year I saw several!