Flat chests in Bengal cats

The changes are seen in young kittens when the bones are still soft. Symptoms can appear very quickly but in some cases are transient. In severe cases, kittens die at 3-5 weeks of age. Mildly affected kittens may survive and often have no noticeable deformities as adults.

The flat-chest project

The aim of the project is to find the genetic background of flat-chestedness in Bengal cats and thus enable a breeding program that reduces the number of flat-chested kittens born. The project is funded by SKK/Agrias Forskningsfond and through a donation from the Bengal Cat Association.

The focus will be on collecting samples from families where healthy parents have had a litter of sick kittens. We want to collect blood samples from healthy parents, their sick kittens, and from healthy siblings.

The cats' genomes are studied using whole genome sequencing. The genome is compared between affected and healthy cats to identify the disease-causing change. The more samples we receive from both diseased and healthy cats, the greater the chance of finding the change.

For ongoing information, you can join our Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/flatchestbengal.  

See more on this topic? Länk till poster med resultat från projektet som presenterats vid den vetenskapliga kongressen EVSSAR i Venedig 2018.

Participate in research?

Survey

In the fall of 2016, we sent an electronic survey to breeders to increase knowledge about the nature and extent of the disease. The survey was developed in collaboration between the Bengal Cat Association and the project group.

Send kittens for autopsy

We are happy to receive and examine kittens that have died or been euthanized due to thoracic malformation. We also accept kittens that have died of other causes at the same age, in order to obtain comparative material. The kittens will be autopsied and/or imaged to get a more complete description of existing changes. If you want to send in a kitten for examination, contact veterinarian Bodil Ström Holst (contact details, see below). If you do not get in touch immediately - keep the kitten in the freezer.

Contribute with blood samples

We are happy to receive blood samples from Bengal cats. Please state the cat's name in the pedigree, and how it is related to cats affected by flat-chestedness (mother, father, littermates etc). If you have a cat that has been bred but never had offspring with flat chests, we are interested in blood from this cat as well.

The referral form you fill in and send with the blood sample can be found here (PDF in Swedish)

Instructions for the veterinarian on which sample to take, where to send it and on reimbursement for the sample collection can be found here (PDF in Swedish)