What's Wrong With This Kitten?

The characteristics that brought me to Bear are also symptoms of his illness.  Bear is very small, about a pound and a half below where he should be, very round face, very big eyes, big feet and toes on both front paws that lean inward, inability to hold his head up, and weak joints that will not hold up his little body.  He has never climbed, ran, or done the 'spooky cat' that is all part of the kitten norm.  Repeated visits to my vet's office did nothing but frustrate both me and my vet.  Kittens are very difficult to diagnose, and in my vet's opinion as long as he was eating and eliminating well, we needed to let him progress a bit to see if any more clues would surface.

His very round belly became a concern at the first of December and xrays revealed a belly full of poo, no fluid that would make us suspiscious of feline intestinal peritonitis.  We stayed at 'wait and see' until mid December, when one day Bear came through the house dragging his back legs.  I was worried that my dog had stepped on him, but on xray we learned that both of Bear's back legs were dislocated at the hip and his knees were also dislocated.  Also, several of his lower vertebrae appeared to be malformed.

We were able to schedule an appointment with a neurologist in Chattanooga, and learned that Bear has a congenital disease called mucopolysaccharidosis, probably due to the fact that his mother was a Siamese mix.  Bear's pelvis is malformed and he doesn't have a socket on the left side for his femur to even fit into.  And the neurologist feels that there are additional anomalies of Bear's nervous system that will deteriorate with time.  We were told that Bear will probably have a short life to match his short stature (kittens with MPS rarely grow much more after their four month mark) of about 20 months.

I weighed the options of euthanizing Bear immediately, or waiting it out and letting him enjoy his life for as long as he could.  I chose the second option as the most humane because he is a very happy kitten.  I also chose option 2 so that his vets can learn as much as they can about his condition, since so little has been written.  And this blog is to record his progression through the illness, in hopes that the next person who finds herself the parent of a kitten with this illness will find the first-hand information and support that I cannot find.  When Bear is through with me, I'll let him go knowing that I did the very best I could for him.