Risks of Flat Chest

I'm curious about this whole flat chest thing.

I'm interested in hearing people's experiences, such as whether it's a life long issue, whether it produces other issues, whether they grow out of it, is it wise to purchase a flat chested kitten and do they die from it at some point?

Appreciate all thoughts :-)

Sian

I'm by no means super knowledgable but I have a friend who adopted a kitten with FCK. They told her that most of the time if kittens lived past 3 weeks then they are very very likely to live. Of course this is if the heart and lungs haven't been compromised

Also an adult with FCK as long as the compression hasn't affected the heart and lungs should live a good long life. Some FCKs grow out of the condition and the ribcage goes to a normal shape in time.

If certain measures are taken at a young age such as physio, massage and splinting etc then the kitten has a very good chance. As long as there are no obvious issues at 13 weeks then it should mean that the fck isn't severe enough to be causing problems with heart and lung development etc.

Louise

Hi Sian,
If you go to the thread "How many,if any,have only one MC,go to the bottom of page 2 you will see a bit about my experience with a MC with a flat chest...

Jackie

Hi Jackie,

Thanks for the info :-) I have read that Pectus Excavatum is different to FCKS?

S

My girl has got the inverted sternum so along with her flat chestedness she is a true
Pectus Excavatum, her organs are displaced & as she was growing early on had terrible breathing problems & her chest filled with fluids hence tapping her to get fluid off,as shes matured although everything is displaced, her ribcage has expanded & it allows things to function with more ease & except for being small & a rapid heartbeat she lives just about a normal life but overall she still is an extremely flat chested cat,some are not so bad,some come completely right,with Pansy it was touch & go as to if she would reach adulthood because with some you just can't tell how bad things will be as they mature.I didn't want to take her on but would never be worried about taking on a flat chested kitten again wether as bad as she has turned out or one that fingers crossed could become right.
She has been a very good teaching subject at work,the number of young vets that have wanted to knock her out to xray her because they can feel a growth,even though I always told them she was flat chested & they could feel her ribcage was not round they could still not get their heads round the fact that they were feeling a displaced part of her anatomy. A friend has a boy that had only a slight flat chest that had just about come right by the time he had it at thirteen weeks,now you would be totally unaware & he is a huge cat.
Are you thinking of adding a FCKS to your family....?

I am thinking of a friend for Moshi, someone she can play with whilst I'm at work. I've got a chat with my vet tomorrow to seem what he thinks and I'll get some more info on the kitten, but I wanted to see what the forum's thoughts were too :-)

Moshi is a very lively kitty and I want to make sure her play pal can keep up with her :-) Plus I wonder what happens with insurance policies?

I think the kitty will be fine. It's 13 weeks old and seems to have a normal weight for that age. Their vet seems to *think* he might have a flat chest, but isn't convinced. I just want to be as well informed as I can be before I make a decision :-)

We had a kitten in this litter, Aramis, that we thought was flat chested. He was the one that was born really tiny - turned out he wasn't flat chested but he just felt different because he was so much smaller.

If the vet isn't sure whether he's flat chested or not then I would have thought it isn't too bad a case at all - some flat chested kittens are so obvious and have a lot of related problems too.

Not too sure what would happen with insurance so it may be worth phoning the insurance company and seeing what they say.

Was this one of the breeders I recommended?

xx

I agree with the others that if the kitten has reached 13 weeks AND has a perfectly normal heart, and is active and bright then he should be perfectly fine.

Trouble is with cats and all animals you can never be 100% sure what will happen later in their lives. I had a lovely but tiny girl who had the most awful reaction to Tricat when she had her first booster but she seemed to recover and I had her until her she was five, when I rehomed her to a lovely couple, she died six months later, their vet said she had been ill for some time, but apart from the odd sneeze when I put new cat litter in the tray she was always perky, a beautiful friend who I still miss.

My guess is that yes, she probably did have some permanent damage after her reaction to Tricat when she was young, but it was always hidden... I never had her re-inocculated after the first severe reaction... and she had never been ill since. She also passed the health check before she was neutered but I still feel awful for selling her. (She was only rehomed cos she kept attacking one of my other cats!)

Pansy has always coped really well with being part of the gang,she may not be able to keep up all of the time but once she has had a quick breather she will pile right back in & as small as she is she will have a go at putting the big boys in their place.
It will be interesting to see what the insurance companies say,I didn't even bother asking as we thought she wouldn't be here too long & working at a vets I am in the right place for help & to be honest I wouldn't have put the little darling through a lot of tests , procedures etc,we have a "cat bank" because after the first year we don't insure any of ours just put a certain amount away in case but she has been pretty good, she did have to have a dental a couple of years ago & lost quite a few teeth including her front ones,hence tongue now hangs out & last year she had a bad infection where she did collapse & we thought we had lost her but she bounced back,she will be eight in April so is living proof that even with fairly big problems they can still be around a fair while....
Keep us posted about what you decide,I have to agree with Louise that if the vet isn't sure there can't be a lot wrong with babe....x

Thanks peeps :-)

I'm going to cat with my vet tomorrow and see what he thinks, especially as he'll be the one to see kitty!

I'll have a chat with PetPlan and see what they say too. Will keep you updated :-)