Help foster kitten Firefly breathe better

10/2 UPDATE: Firefly’s splint for her pectus excavatum was removed on Thursday, and they decided to go ahead and do her spay while she was under. The good: she is now four months old and four pounds—back on target. She had a significant reduction in clinical signs and plays like a maniac without having to catch her breath. She’s a chaotic, lively kitten.

The neutral: Her sternum is far from normal (the upper half was left mostly unsplinted because it was in a good position, then it reacted unexpectedly to the rest being splinted and shifted) but it doesn’t seem to be causing her problems, so the surgeons felt it was better to leave it than risk lethal post-surgical complications. Her respiratory rate is higher than average but she is comfortable.

The bad: Firefly’s heart has been consistently enlarged on her radiographs and the vets have referred her out to a cardiologist for an echo. I won’t know what this could mean for her until we see what exactly is going on. The funds you all raised here should still cover the cost. Thank you for giving her this opportunity at life. I hope more than anything it is long and happy.

EDIT: I tried to edit this last night and it crashed, so I must say too much! Thank you all deeply and truly. I will keep everyone updated on her progress and see what the final quote is as we get closer to the finish line, but it’s safe to say her initial (deeply discounted) surgery cost was covered by this! Please tell me what you think the best use of any excess is—we can keep it for any future Firefly expenses, or donate it back to the medical fund of the shelter that brought her into my life. We’ll see!

Meet Firefly: a 12-week-old orange kitty found stray and fostered in south central Pennsylvania. She came into the local shelter at just one month old, and where it was immediately noticed she had an unusual flat chest. With her being so small, she was sent to foster until she was big enough to get an x-ray. Unfortunately, her 8-week radiographs showed a defect that was more severe than expected. Firefly had a significant case of pectus excavatum—a birth defect where the sternum curves inward and can impact the heart and lungs. Firefly’s heart looked good, but her lungs were being compressed. She had to work harder to breathe, couldn’t play like other kittens without becoming uncomfortable, and her growth slowed down. The shelter felt she would need surgical correction to survive to adulthood, but the surgery was specialized and the shelter wasn’t able to cover the cost. As her foster, I assumed legal and financial responsibility for her to try to get her care. I wanted her to live a full life.

Firefly was referred to the University of Pennsylvania, who performed corrective surgery on August 17th, 2023. To do this surgery, the vets have to sew sutures into or around the bone to pull it into the proper place without opening the cat up—they’re working around the heart, lungs, and blood vessels essentially blind. This meant radiographs, sedation, a splint, an ICU stay, and weekly check-ins (with the possibility of more radiographs, sedation, and even additional splinting). UPenn discounted the price for us quite significantly, but there’s still more to come over the next 4-5 weeks for Firefly, and we won’t know quite what that will entail until she gets there. At this point, we’re watching out for infection, respiratory distress, and splint failure.

If you’d like to contribute to her veterinary bills, please feel free. If you can’t/don’t want to—don’t feel bad. Working in the rescue field, my pay is very poor, but I have a responsibility to her and I will get her what she needs to succeed. Until she has a family of her own to fight for her, I will be here.

Firefly has been healing perfectly her first week and I will continue to do everything I can to put her in the best possible position for the next chapter of her life. She is more energetic than ever; while terrifying to contend with a whirlwind kitten during healing, it makes me even more confident that this was necessary!