Save Little Pepper: Urgent Surgery Needed

Little Pepper has a birth defect that is slowly killing him. Surgery can repair this defect if we can raise the funds soon.

A letter from Pepper’s veterinarian:

Pepper has scoliosis, and radiographs reveal a Vascular Ring Anomaly, also referred to as a PRAA (persistent right aortic arch), that causes a stricture around the esophagus and megaesophagus in front of the heart. This prevents food from moving into the stomach, leading to stunted growth, underweight, regurgitation, and possible secondary aspiration pneumonia in very young dogs and cats.

We discussed the treatment, which involves surgery (sometimes on both the left and right sides of the chest) to remove the stricture around the esophagus. The megaesophagus can then resolve as the kitten ages within 8 to 10 weeks post-op.

Until then, we feed a soft/liquid diet and hold Pepper in a vertical position to allow the food to move through the stricture and into the stomach. Also, we keep the kitten on antibiotics to prevent secondary pneumonia from aspiration.

Surgery must be scheduled soon in order to save him.