This is Clive...

When Clive's foster mom found out about his condition, her choices were

1. have him euthanized so he wouldn't suffer
2. take him home, add him to the family, and try to fix him

Well, for Clive's foster mom, having him euthanized wasn't even an option to consider...

Little Clive has a condition called Persistent Right Aortic Arch, which is a congenital vascular abnormality which causes vomiting and anorexia in young animals. The diagram at the left gives you an idea of what's wrong with Clive. Congenital means he was born with it and as he grows the condition will worsen causing more pressure on his esophagus which makes swallowing difficult, and if a kitten keeps vomiting food he won't thrive and will eventually die at a young age. This condition is more often found in puppies...in fact it is so rare in cats that most of the information you can find about it is about dogs, and aortic arch abnormalities also occur in human babies.

The good news is that Clive can be saved with surgery!

So far Clive has been doing pretty well with the special care and canned food his foster mom is giving him. You can see in the photo at the right how Clive has his food elevated so the gravity will help his food go down. But Clive needs to have this surgery as quickly as possible because as he grows the "arch" will continue to put more pressure on his esophagus and make it harder for him to swallow. Because this condition is so rare in cats, Clive's surgeon is consulting with the veterinary school in Raleigh so we are waiting for that before proceeding to schedule Clive's surgery. We should know what the vet school has to say within the next couple of days.

I'll be posting more information on the cost of Clive's surgery and the contributions we've already received from Clive's friends and benefactors, so stay tuned...



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