Flat chest with a cat

A kitten can be born with sensitivity to a flat chest. Mostly, this only becomes visible after a couple of days or even after a couple of weeks. The kitten stays behind in growth, is usually tired fast and makes a short of breath impression.

The shape of the chest cavity
The chest of a kitten with a flat chest isn’t oval (see figure normal chest) but more flattened (see second figure). The ribs which are usually bent roundly make a rugged impression and the sternum is located up too much. You cannot always see this, but you can often feel it well.

Kittens experience a lot of trouble in case of a flat chest:
• They breath superficially (the chest cavity is much smaller) and consume a lot of energy because of this.
• There is less space for the lungs in order to develop themselves in the chest cavity.
• You sometimes see them pushing with their stomachs in order to be able to breath
• They don’t eat well, since they are exhausted
• They grow worse than other kittens from the nest

Therapy
If the kittens don’t eat and grow well they have to be given additional food.
A very slight form of a flat chest doesn’t need to be treated and the kitten will not have it anymore when he grows older.

A very slight form can be supported with a special designed little armour. By pressing the smashed shape of the ribs to a more bent shape, the ribs can get in the right position again.

In case of a serious from, the extent in which the sternum is pulled in is that serious that the kittens will die automatically or have such a bad quality of life that we put them to sleep.

The cause
Few research has been done concerning the cause of a flat chest. It seems like it occurs more often in certain family lines than in others and that a hereditary component is present. It isn’t known yet if there are more reasons to develop a flat chest.

The photos above show that the red line of the sternum on the left photo goes down and on the right photo it goes up. It goes up because the sternum is pushed inside (up) again. The position of the heart is normal on the left photo. On the right photo you will see a deviating position of the heart. The heart is pushed aside and ends up in another position in the chest cavity. This takes place because there is no space between the sternum, which goes up, and the backbones. There just is no place left