Xiphoid - Elongated Sternum

[siamese4me]

I was wondering if anyone knows of some great online articles one would direct a kitten buyer to look at regarding xiphoids? Some may call it the elongated sternum or elongated piece of breast bone. Most of my google searches bring up this happening with humans but I'd like to find some great online resources of the xiphoid on kittens.

Thanks!

 

[godiva]

Hmmm... are you talking about something that has to do with the "flat-chested kitten syndrome" or any of the related disorders?

http://www.questor-cp.co.uk/think/what.htm

 

[siamese4me]

no, not flat chest syndrome. Xiphoid is an elongation of the breast bone, it's a piece of cartiledge the sticks out at the end of the breast bone. This happens with siamese sometimes. It has absolutely no health ramifications but it's a penalty for showing. I'm looking for some wonderful articles to share with others about this.

 

[godiva]

Ah, I see. I thought I remembered some of those thoracic disorders having an elongated xyphoid as part of the problem.

Try searching under other spellings... I found a lot of sites that mention it if you put in "zyphoid" and "xiphoid" or even "xyphoid." From what I gather from skimming a couple of these articles, it's a problem that can be found in any cat and is not particular to the Siamese, it's just that the Siamese is the only breed where it is explicitly a disqualification in the show ring.

 

[siamese4me]

Thanks! I'm going to do some more searches and hopefully, come up with some great articles.

 

[evinea]

Siamese, are you on the fanciers health yahoo groups? That is where I usually thumb through.

Let me know if you found anything.