Flat Chested Kitten Diary of a trial I*Love*You Chester Chance

10th August 2005 - 15 days of age

I weigh Chester in the morning and he is at 164 gr. I am happy and see it as a sign of luck. He put on 7gr. It is not a lot but at least he did not loose weight.

I supplement him over the day, but he refuses the replacement milk. He massively defends himself and he does not swallow. The milk is running out of his mouth. Each trial fails and I see at his tummy that he did not drink a thing.

In the evening I weigh him again and see that Chester lost weight again – I panic. He only weighs 158 gr and lost 6 gr.

Now I gets his 1st power drink: egg yolk, condenced milk and glucose. THAT eventually tasts nice and he drinks 5ml at once.

I start to massage his rib cage. He seems to like it because he does not want to move.

Towards 10pm I start giving him Reiki. I put him on my lap and put my hands on his back. Approx 15 minutes later Chester calms down and did not move anymore. He really enjoys the energy and I feel that his breath gets slower. Chester closes his eyes, his body relaxed nd he falls asleep on my lap. I can give him Reiki for 5 minutes in one go.

Afterwards I put him back to his mummy. He immediately moves to her tummy and starts nursing strongly. There is new hope!

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11th August 2005 – 16 days of age

In the morning I take a look into the nest and saw that Chesters tummy looks bigger. I weigh him and I could not believe what I saw: 174 gr. I repeat the weighing and it still is 174 gr. Chester put on 16gr!!! I am ever so happy. Chester gets Reiki yet again for another 5 minutes and at lunch time his new power drink, which he took at once.

In the evening he weighs 184gr. He visibly puts on weight. In the meantime his 1st bandage support is not that stable anymore. I make a new one, which does not allow him him to lie on his chest anymore. This is very important as I read in all info about FCK. The rib cage needs to change while lying on the sides. The chances are good since he is still very young and his bones are very flexible. I am still very scared because I clearly see him breathing quicker than his siblings. He shows me that he struggles when breathing.

For the time being his chances are 50:50. I do not dare to give any prognosis.

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12th August 2005 – 17 days of age

We have been at the vets today and Chester was x-rayed in order to see how severe his Flat Chested desease is. Chester seems to be rather lucky. The x-rays show clearly that his sternum is not bent towards the inside (no pectus excavatum). As well there is enough space for heart and lungs left. There is more hope that Chester might make it – even though it is only little hope. My vet said:,, Prognosis uncertain.” For the time being I as being an optimist – understand this “uncertain”, that Chester does not need to die.

I thank my vet who informed me that Chester’s chest support needs to be turned around. Like that we have even more stability towards the front and like that the rib cage can change better towards the front as well.

Like that it is not possible for Chester to lie on his rib cage and to flatten it even more – the contrary is the case.

The shoulders as well as the sides are being supported while the rib cage can „spread“ further down.

Chester is being supplemented further on. Twice a day he receives a massage of the rib cage and additionally he gets Reiki in the evenings. Even though his prognosis is still uncertain at the moment – I am in hope, when we see todays’ photos everybody can see that he put on weight and that is very important.

With help of his „armour“ Chester shows real joy of life. It was really difficult for me to hold him while the x-rays were taken. Little Chester gets faster and faster when he walks resp. wabbles J…

On 15th August Chester will have his 1st appointment at the physio therapist. He was so kind and offered his help in order to treat Chester. I cannot thank him enough for this great support.

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Here you can read more about Chester:

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