INVESTIGATION OF THE ASSOCIATION BETWEEN WHOLE-BLOOD AND TISSUE TAURINE LEVELS AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THORACIC DEFORMITIES IN NEONATAL BURMESE KITTENS

Flat chests, characterised by a dorsoventral flattening of the rib cag e, affect 3 to 4 per cent of all Burmese kittens born in the United Ki ngdom, Similar deformities have been reported in kittens born to tauri ne-depleted queens, In an investigation of whether there might be a re lationship between whole blood taurine levels and the appearance of fl at chests it was found that Burmese kittens had significantly (P<0.05) higher whole blood taurine levels than Burmese queens. In addition, f lat-chested Burmese kittens had higher mean (sd) levels (789 [189] mu mol/litre) than unaffected Burmese kittens (702 [166] mu mol/litre) an d non-Burmese kittens (597 [93] mu mol/litre), although these differen ces were not statistically significant. Higher levels of taurine were found in the skeletal muscle and lower levels in the heart muscle of t he flat-chested Burmese kittens than in normal non-Burmese kittens.