Ala vestibuloplasty before and after photos. Don't let brachycephalic cats suffer when a minimal risk/morbidity surgery can improve their quality of life significantly!
In brachycephalic cats, it is their stenotic nares that are typically the main problem, and addressing the nares can significantly increase these cats quality of life. This cat's owner said to me just two weeks post-operatively "it has changed her life, she is a different cat. Instead of loping around the house snorting, she is active and happy".
A recent paper by Gleason 2023, looked at cats pre and post ala vestibuloplasty to address stenotic nares. It found that post-operatively, there was less sneezing, snoring, open-mouth breathing, dysnoea during activity and respiratory noise. They found cats were more active with improved pulmonary blood flow and respiratory function. Importantly, it is a procedure with minimal complications and cats can be discharged the same day.
It is a delicate procedure. I use a modified traders for the alar wings and combine this with a mini-advancement flap ventral the nares. I remove a 4mm punch of skin then advance. Similar techniques are described in several papers looking at cats.
Literature:
The paper mentioned above is called "Ala vestibuloplasty improves cardiopulmonary and activity-related parameters in brachycephalic cats'. Gleason et al Vet Surg. 2023
The single pedicle advancement flap is described in "Single pedicle advancement flap for treatment of feline stenotic nares" Berns et al Jfms 2020 (however instead of removing a square of tissue, I find it easier to use a punch biopsy).
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