Orphan Kitten with Fatal Congenital Problem

Gets Surgery to Save it's Life for Free

A one week old kitten was dumped off at the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility. The kitten was later determined to have a Vascular Ring Anomaly (a congenital defect which does not let it swallow solid food) which is fatal if not surgically corrected. The surgery usually runs from $3,500 to $4,500. Pacific Pet Hospital agreed to do the surgery completely free of charge. Now the kitten is doing great!

Chula Vista, CA

October 5, 2010

A one week old kitten was left at the door steps of the Chula Vista Animal Care Facility when they were closed. An employee by the name of Ashley Nelson agreed to foster the kitten until it could be weaned off the bottle and put up for adoption. Once Ashley started to wean the kitten to solid food, the kitten started regurgitating the food. The Animal Care Facility took x-rays and determined that the kitten had an abnormal embryological development (Vascular Ring Anomaly) of the blood vessels coming from the heart and wrapping around the espohagus. This caused the esophagus to be closed down and not let solid food pass through to the stomach. This causes the kitten not to be able to eat any solid food and eventually starve to death. The cost of the surgery is between $3,500 and $4,500 which was not an option for this orphan. Pacific Pet Hospital of Chula Vista agreed to do it for free.

Vascular Ring Anomaly repair is an intratoracic vascular surgery that is usually only performed by board certified veterinary surgeons. Since the cost of the this was not an option for this orphan, Pacific Pet Hospital in Chula Vista was contacted to see if they would be willing to help. Pacific Pet Hospital has two experienced surgeons, but they are not board certified. They agreed to take on the case for free. On October 5th, Dr. Schexneider and Dr. Upton took the 1.3 lb. 9 week old kitten (which should have been almost double that weight at that age) to surgery. They successfully repaired the defect and now the kitten is doing great. He is expected to have a full recovery.

Dr. Schexneider, Dr. Upton, and Ashley Nelson are available for further comments, questions, or interviews.

Contact:

Ken Upton, DVM
Medical Director and Owner of Pacific Pet Hospital
(858) 483-2043