Please Help Save My Kitten

[Tinycat000]

Don't mind my feet, I'm getting ready for bed.
She is over 6 weeks old, and ive been told she's out of the danger zone, but... She seems to only be getting worse. Her chest is severely flattened, poking inward a bit, and she has trouble breathing now. She's been to the vet twice but both times she has been sent home with no help or advice, like they have no idea what to do... I'm afraid that I'll lose her before she has a chance to grow up. Her name is Snowflake as she is insanely brave and sweet, a big personality! She's eating and drinking, but sleeps a lot, and is almost half the size of her siblings. Please let me know what I can do, I desperately love this little cat, and I hate to see her suffer.

 

[Tinycat000]

Snowflake compared to her siblings

 

[Antonio65]

You might find this article a little useful
Flat Chested Kitten (fck)

I'm sorry, the comparison with her siblings is heartbreaking. It reminds me of a kitten I had, he was 1/3 of his sister and unfortunately he didn't make it due to different causes...

 

[Margret]

I've never had to deal with this problem, and I'm very sorry that you do. An internet search produced this rather long article: PawPeds The part that appears to be most potentially useful begins here: PawPeds

After reading the article Antonio65 linked to I'm wondering about surgery. It's very disturbing that the sternum is sticking in. The PawPeds article talks about a vet in The Netherlands who is having good success with these kittens, but unfortunately his website is entirely in Dutch. They point out, however, that most of the Dutch speak English quite well (a fact which I can attest to, having visited there and been quite surprised how easy it was to make myself understood) and suggest that a call from a vet might get an informative response.

It sounds to me as if your vet may never have actually dealt with a kitten with this particular problem. I wonder whether it might be possible for you to find a vet with more experience in this area. It probably depends on where you live.

Margret

 

[Tinycat000]

I've never had to deal with this problem, and I'm very sorry that you do. An internet search produced this rather long article: PawPeds The part that appears to be most potentially useful begins here: PawPeds

What does the vet say about it?

Margret

The vet basically told us that there was nothing that could be done about it, which is frustrating because I know there can be at least something done. Im going to read the articles tomorrow when I wake up, thank you!

 

[Tinycat000]

You might find this article a little useful
Flat Chested Kitten (fck)

I'm sorry, the comparison with her siblings is heartbreaking. It reminds me of a kitten I had, he was 1/3 of his sister and unfortunately he didn't make it due to different causes...

Oh no it seems like her case is severe.. She doesn't even know that there's anything wrong with her either. Shes so brave and loving. I might try thst surgery.. But I've heard it's rather expensive. Anything to save this kind soul though, haha.
I'm really sorry to hear about your kitten, we lost one of her littermates as well to sickness a few weeks prior. He was even smaller than snowflake, the poor baby.

 

[Antonio65]

The vet basically told us that there was nothing that could be done about it, which is frustrating because I know there can be at least something done.

My opinion is that there's always something tnat can be done, always something that no vet hasn't considered it yet.
I'm one of those persons that never give up.
Please, do whatever you can to save your lovely and sweet kitten! I know you will.

 

[Tinycat000]

I've never had to deal with this problem, and I'm very sorry that you do. An internet search produced this rather long article: PawPeds The part that appears to be most potentially useful begins here: PawPeds

After reading the article Antonio65 linked to I'm wondering about surgery. It's very disturbing that the sternum is sticking in. The PawPeds article talks about a vet in The Netherlands who is having good success with these kittens, but unfortunately his website is entirely in Dutch. They point out, however, that most of the Dutch speak English quite well (a fact which I can attest to, having visited there and been quite surprised how easy it was to make myself understood) and suggest that a call from a vet might get an informative response.

It sounds to me as if your vet may never have actually dealt with a kitten with this particular problem. I wonder whether it might be possible for you to find a vet with more experience in this area. It probably depends on where you live.

Margret

The vet we visit is the most expensive and trustworthy vet in the area. Each time we go into the building we're met by a new person, or a few new people, none of which know what to do at all... All they know is that it isn't normal, I even had to explain what FCK is to them. They told us that surgery might be an option, but it's probably well out of our price range to spend on a kitten. Anyone know how much it might cost?

 

[nansiludie]

I don't have any advice to give at all. I'll tag @catwoman707 she might have some experience with this in kitten. Snowflake is such a cute kitten. Please keep us posted on her progress.

 

[Margret]

Thanks, N nansiludie . I didn't know who to tag.

Margret

 

[Margret]

Oh no it seems like her case is severe.. She doesn't even know that there's anything wrong with her either. Shes so brave and loving. I might try thst surgery.. But I've heard it's rather expensive. Anything to save this kind soul though, haha.
I'm really sorry to hear about your kitten, we lost one of her littermates as well to sickness a few weeks prior. He was even smaller than snowflake, the poor baby.

At the very least you can give her extremely cautious physical therapy, the massaging they talk about and moving her onto her side when she tries to sleep on her stomach. And, given her size, my instinct is to say that you should be supplementing her diet with KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer), even though she's obviously eating solids now. You can get it by mail order from Chewy at a reasonable price: kmr

Margret

 

[Tinycat000]

At the very least you can give her extremely cautious physical therapy, the massaging they talk about and moving her onto her side when she tries to sleep on her stomach. And, given her size, my instinct is to say that you should be supplementing her diet with KMR (Kitten Milk Replacer), even though she's obviously eating solids now. You can get it by mail order from Chewy at a reasonable price: kmr

Margret

Thank you! We've already done all of that, even the kmr. D:
We've done that since she was a newborn, and still no progress.

 

[Tinycat000]

As well as snowflake, her mother is also having... Issues. It's not as worrying as the FCK, but I figure it doesnt hurt to ask while I'm here. You guys are being really helpful and kind, it's giving me lots of hope for our cats <3
The momma cat, Bella, has had health issues since she was younger. We've had to put her on antibiotics several times, have water pumped under her skin, and now shes gone through some changes. I know that cats change after pregnancy but ive never had a mother cat change so drastically. Even after shes almost completely stopped nursing, shes still demanding and stealing food whenever possible, but the thing is shes losing A LOT of weight. Even after eating 2-3 times as much as she used to. Her ears are hot quite often, but shes always gotten sick and feverish easily. Shes been to the vet a lot but they never know what exactly is wrong with her. We can battle her sicknesses no problem, but now shes started to meow.. CONSTANTLY. We're all losing sleep over it, and we've tried everything to make her stop. Even if she gets everything she wants, she starts up the meowing again five seconds later. She hasnt ever done this, before her pregnancy she was pretty shy. Now she's a nuisance... They're inside cats because our neighborhood has loads of stray dogs. What can we do? I love bella but we can't function with the constant meowing. Do you think maybe Bella's illness is the reason why snowflake is troubled?

 

[talkingpeanut]

Your mama cat could be in heat again. Do you have intact males inside too?

 

[Tinycat000]

Your mama cat could be in heat again. Do you have intact males inside too?

No we don't, and she doesn't seem to be in heat again, all she's doing is meowing. This has gone on for weeks now.

 

[talkingpeanut]

I hate to say it, but she may need to go to the vet again. It does sound like something is making her uncomfortable. Has she been dewormed?

And how did she get pregnant if she’s indoor? Could she have been exposed to something?

 

[Tinycat000]

I hate to say it, but she may need to go to the vet again. It does sound like something is making her uncomfortable. Has she been dewormed?

And how did she get pregnant if she’s indoor? Could she have been exposed to something?

Aw jeeze, I thought that might be it. At this point she's so skinny her ribs show a little bit. She has been dewormed and has never really shown signs of worms. Shes strictly an inside cat, but we dogsit. Could a dog have brought something in, even if she hasnt been in direct contact with them? She got pregnant by our other cat, Midnight, but he has since been fixed and has been for months.

 

[Sarthur2]

First, mama needs to be spayed right away.

Second, what are you feeding her? How much and how often? Is she still nursing? She sounds like she needs far more food than she is getting.

How are her poops? Normal, formed, soft, hard, diarrhea?

Your little guy is a flat-chested kitten. There is hope! Do not give up!

Get him on a kitten-sized dose of prednisone and clavamox right away. This will help him to breathe better in the short term.

He'll need a vest to wear to help his rib cage expand outward, and to keep it off the floor. You'll need to make it and adjust it for size as he grows. He'll need to wear it all the time, starting asap.

Please read this link and then ask questions:

Flat Chested Kitten Syndrome??

I'll be watching this thread carefully T Tinycat000 !

 

[Tinycat000]

First, mama needs to be spayed right away.

Second, what are you feeding her? How much and how often? Is she still nursing? She sounds like she needs far more food than she is getting.

How are her poops? Normal, formed, soft, hard, diarrhea?

Your little guy is a flat-chested kitten. There is hope! Do not give up!

Get him on a kitten-sized dose of prednisone and clavamox right away. This will help him to breathe better in the short term.

He'll need a vest to wear to help his rib cage expand outward, and to keep it off the floor. You'll need to make it and adjust it for size as he grows. He'll need to wear it all the time, starting asap.

Please read this link and then ask questions:

Flat Chested Kitten Syndrome??

I'll be watching this thread carefully T Tinycat000 !

We're planning on getting her spayed, but it's unfortunately not high on our priority list since we don't have much money to work with at all. ): Would spaying her do anything besides keep her from having more kittens? Because right now that's impossible, haha.
We feed our cats some kind of brown natural cat food with no color dyes (sorry I can't remember the name of it right now), and the kittens a mix of that and purina kitten food. The big cats get a large handful each twice a day, in the morning and at night, and the kittens get two large handfuls which they share on a plate, also twice a day at this point. Between feeding time I give them a few treats (temptations), and occasionally as a treat I mix wet food into their normal food. They've been on this diet their entire lives, and Midnight is kind of fat from it. A lot of the time they don't finish their entire meal, and come back to eat the rest later. Nowadays bella runs an eats everyones leftovers, and doesn't let anything get left behind, even though she's the skinniest cat ive ever had, and she isn't nursing anymore.. Lately ive also had to mix wet food into snowflakes food to get her to eat her entire portion, she's kind of slacking off now and it's very worrying. Her breathing and her chest seem horrible and painful, I'll definitely look into what you suggested but i dont know where to turn because my vet seems to have no experience. I looked at that link and I'm wondering about the "pectus excavatum", the thing which is more severe than FCK. Is it possible she could have this? Her chest is a lot more flattened than the other kittens/examples I've seen and the ribs curve inwards. Would a video of her breathing be useful in identifing this? It honestly looks/feels like they reach all the was up to her spine, and her stomach kind of droops over them unnaturally.. I guess a wrap wouldn't work for her? I really hope she's going to be okay.

 

[Sarthur2]

If you cannot help the kitten then you need to have it put to sleep. She will not just "be okay." She is suffering. I suggested prednisone for her lungs and a vest to elevate her chest.

You need to spay your adult females. It is not a laughing matter. It is unhealthy for them to have litter after litter, and since you cannot afford proper care, you need to stop the breeding.

Your kittens and the skinny mama cat need access to unlimited dry food and wet food 4 times a day.

For whatever reason the skinny mama cat needs way more food. She sounds like she is starving.

Do you need help finding a low cost spay clinic?