A clinical report of entangled neonates' umbilical cord with queen's fur in Persian cat.

Abstract

A 3-year-old Persian queen was referred to Teaching Veterinary Hospital while 3 neonates' umbilical cords were entangled with the queen's tail hair. Close inspection of the cat showed that the umbilical cords of 3 kittens had twisted around together and entangled with the moms' hairs in the base of tail region. Also this complex has been warped around the left tarsus of one of the involved kittens and caused swelling and skin darkness in the involved limb. Operation was carried out urgently. After cutting the queen's involved hairs the kittens were released. Then the twisted umbilical cords and the hairs were isolated from the umbilical cord and the involved leg was released from the umbilical cords and the twisted umbilical cords were separated from each other. During one week follow up, dry gangrene occurred in the distal extremity of the injured limb and consequently, amputation was performed on the distal part of tibia. Our clinical findings suggest that long hair coats of queens could be a maternal life threatening factor for neonates' life.