Kitten with dangerous ‘funnel chest’ saved in nick of time by Kansas shelter
Thanks to a Kansas shelter and the surrounding community, one young cat is on the path to a healthy adulthood after he was diagnosed with a rare condition.
Jasper, a kitten at the Helping Hands Humane Society in Topeka, Kansas, was recently diagnosed with “funnel chest,” a condition that doesn’t leave enough room in his body for his heart and lungs to grow as he ages, the shelter said in an Aug. 5 Facebook post.
After he was diagnosed, X-rays revealed his condition was more severe than originally thought, the shelter said in an Aug. 7 post.
However, his surgery went well and he is currently on the mend.
“Jasper is back at the shelter in the first phase of his recovery from surgery!” the Facebook post said.
“It turns out his pectus excavatum (Latin for “hollow breast”) was more severe than it appeared on his X-rays; surgery went smoothly, and he now has a cast that will need to stay on as he heals. Jasper is on cage rest for this first week, and we have to make sure not to put anything in his kennel that he could jump up onto. It’s hard to convince this boy to slow down!”
Thanks to the surgery, which was done “at the right age,” Jasper will hopefully grow to be a healthy adult. The shelter posted a video of Jasper happily talking and wanting pets inside his recovery kennel. It also thanked the community for helping raise the funds needed to cover his surgery.
For more information, you can visit the Helping Hands Humane Society website.
This story was originally published August 8, 2024 at 2:12 PM with the headline "Kitten with dangerous ‘funnel chest’ saved in nick of time by Kansas shelter."