Traumatic tricuspid insufficiency in a kitten

A four-month-old, male, common European kitten developed pleural effusion and ascites after falling from a fourth-floor flat. Radiographic, bidimensional echocardiography and color-flow Doppler findings were compatible with right-sided atrioventricular valve insufficiency. Necropsy confirmed the diagnosis that tricuspid insufficiency resulted from the rupture of the chordae tendineae of the nonseptal cusp of the valve at the level of the cranial papillary muscle insertion in the right ventricle.