Feline Knees & Teeth Syndrome

The Feline Knees & Teeth Syndrome is a newly recognized pattern of developmental dental and orthopedic pathologies. Findings include combinations of persistent deciduous teeth and non-traumatic patellar fractures, as well as other developmental bony lesions. These patellar fractures (often bilateral) are typically recognized in young cats and 75% of these cats have persistent deciduous cheek teeth. Some affected cats have concurrent fractures of the tibia, femur, pelvis, and humerus¹. The first case was recognized and reported in 2004². Since then, 58 additional affected cats have been identified in North America, and additional cats have been identified in the United Kingdom^1,3. This syndrome is presumed to be a variation of osteogenesis imperfecta⁴. While surgical correction would seem reasonable, surgical failure was reported 86% of patients in a 2011 retrospective report⁵.  

This syndrome is being investigated to better understand the genetic basis for this disease.  Criteria for inclusion in the study would be the presence of persistent deciduous teeth and at least one non-traumatic patellar fracture, or the presence of bilateral non-traumatic fractures. DNA will be stored at the University of Pennsylvania in the Section of Medical Genetics by Dr Margret Casal for future genome wide association study by Dr. Leslie Lyons, UC Davis in California, as soon as a sufficient number of samples have been obtained.  If you are a veterinarian with a patient who meets this criteria, or a cat owner whose pet meets this criteria, please contact, please contact: bailey@ecats.vet

Steven J Bailey, DVM, DABVP (Feline)

Exclusively Cats Veterinary Hospital

6650 Highland Road

Waterford, MI 48327  

Margret Casal, Dr med vet, PhD, DECAR               

Section of Medical Genetics/Room 4018                                                                  

University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine
3850 Spruce Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104

Leslie A. Lyons, PhD

Department of Population Health & Reproduction,

University of California School of Veterinary Medicine

1114 Tupper Hall, Shields Avenue,

Davis, CA 95616.

1. Langley-Hobbs SJ, Ball S, McKee WM. Transverse stress fractures of the proximal tibia in 10 cats with non-union patellar fractures. Vet Rec 2009;164:425-430.
2. Brooks TS, Bailey SJ. Knees & Teeth Case Series Presentation. In. Veterinary Information Network: 2004 - 2012.
3. Langley-Hobbs SJ. Survey of 52 fractures of the patella in 34 cats. Vet Rec 2009;164:80-86.
4. Little S. The cat : clinical medicine and management. St. Louis: Elsevier Saunders; 2012;xxv, 1398 p.
5. Salas N, Popovitch C. Surgical versus conservative management of patella fractures in cats: a retrospective study. Can Vet J 2011;52:1319-1322.