The Savannah Signal Final Issue 2011
www.savannahcatclub.com
The news we received after the radiographs was not positive. It was very apparent in the x-rays that Neala was suffering from a condition called ‗Persistent Right Aortic Arch‘ or PRAA. In layman‘s terms, when a fetus develops, there is a loop that goes from the heart over the esophagus and as the fetus grows, the loop is basically supposed to fall away and become nonexistent by birth. In Neala‘s case, the loop remained and when she tried to eat solid food, it would hit the loop that constricted her esophagus and this would force the food to be almost immediately regurgitated. This also explained why as she ate and then re-ate the food, it would eventually stay down because liquified food had a better chance of sliding down the esophagus and not being restricted by the constriction.
My veterinarian, having went through a surgery to correct PRAA in her own Schnauzer puppy in vet school, immedi- ately warned me it was a very expensive surgery. While the chance of success was optimal in a very young animal, the cost was prohibitive. The quote from our local surgical cen- ters for surgery for Neala ranged from $4000-$5000.
It was very apparent in the x-rays that Neala was
suffering from a condition
called ‗Persistent Right Aortic Arch‘ or PRAA.
There were also other issues surrounding the surgery… If we did not have the surgery, Neala would remain at a high risk for inhalation pneumonia for her entire life and would probably die from pneumonia at some point. She also would have to live on a liquid diet and would never be able to eat solid foods- not even normal wet cat food. The surgery success rates, however, were based off of surgeries performed on canines- no surgeon we spoke with had ever per- formed this surgery on a cat before! The breeds of dogs that were prone to this condition were also very large breeds- from Doberman Pinschers to German Shepherd Dogs. Puppies of these various breeds all weigh significantly more then our tiny Neala, who was less then a pound at the time of her diagnosis. Therefore while the success rate was rather high for puppies undergoing this surgery, we had to question whether a hairless kitten, less then a pound of body mass, would have anywhere near the same chances of success as a puppy of a large breed of dog.
At the time the diagnosis was made, my veterinarian suggested starting a donation drive for Neala to have the corrective surgery to fix her PRAA. I immediately scoffed at the idea- who would donate money to a tiny kitten that was born to a breeder? I did not even give the idea a second thought.
Then my husband suggested we collect donations and again, I did not find the idea feasible. Yet, as we started talking to surgeons and looking into options for Neala, more people asked that we collect dona- tions and within 2-3 days of her diagnosis, I decided to accept donations for Neala‘s corrective surgery.
F2B Wyldthingz
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