I have a six-month old Maine Coon kitten who was spayed five weeks ago. During the spay my vet discovered that she had only one horn to the uterus. Ever since the surgery she has suffered from constipation. Upon x-ray and manual exam, my vet found a annular ring just above the rectum which he removed upon during an explatory surgery today (January 21, 2000). However, during the explatory he also discovered that she has only kidney. Both the left horn and left kidney were missing. My vet also informed me today that as the surgery was ending and they were waking her up, her heart rate shot up (which he said was very rare). Upon an EKG and ultrasound, he found that her left heart wall was very thick -- extremely rare for a six-month old kitten. My vet asked me to contact all of you Maine Coon experts out there to see if any of you have seen all four congenital defects in one kitten: 1) missing left horn to the uterus and 2) missing left kidney, and 3) annular ring in the lower colon, and 4) hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. I hate to think it was from improper breeding. I am hoping I just got the one-in-a-million kitten that happened to have all these problems. Please send me any advice or suggestions. I need to know if it was from poor breeding practice so that I may warn others of the potential problems, or if it is just coincidence. Thanks.

-- Anonymous, January 21, 2000

Answers

Do not have an answer but did want to let you know that if worse comes to worse you may have legal recourse under the Uniform Commercial Code which governs contracts between sellers and buyers with respect to, among other things, "latent defects". Will be glad to discuss if you like. No Charge!

-- Anonymous, April 26, 2000