Thinking Outside The Box: Texas A&M Veterinarians Help Tiny Kitten Defy Rare Disorder 

An unconventional feeding approach centered around a simple cardboard box now helps a once-stray kitten manage a rare and complex esophageal disorder. 

Every cat owner knows that boxes are irresistible to felines, but when Merritt and Dale Weeks rescued a tiny kitten, they never imagined a cardboard box would one day help save his life.

Benedict William, or “Benny,” a gray tabby kitten, was less than 4 weeks old when the couple first spotted and grabbed him from behind their home.

Although Benny quickly adjusted to life indoors, what followed was a months-long struggle marked by respiratory symptoms, feeding issues, and repeated setbacks that soon turned his case into a medical mystery. 

As Benny’s condition worsened and he eventually stopped eating altogether, Dale and Merritt sought advanced care at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (VMBS)’ Small Animal Teaching Hospital (SATH). 

There, Benny’s case quickly became a hospitalwide effort, as multiple service areas worked together to diagnose and medically manage his symptoms.  

In Good Paws  

Dale and Merritt are active in the trap-and-release community, so searching for stray cats was nothing new. But Benny, part of a litter born to one of the stray cats in their neighborhood, was a tiny surprise. 

“I saw the blades of grass moving in our backyard one day, thinking it was a snake,” Merritt said. “And then I realized it was a little tail sticking straight up. It was Benny, and he was so tiny.” 

At less than 4 weeks old, Benny crossed a drainage ditch and climbed into their yard. The couple initially left him with his mother, but when he returned two weeks later and walked straight up to them, they brought him inside. 

“He would run and jump and play with anything and everything,” Dale said. “But he kept having sinus issues.” 

After multiple veterinary visits, a nasal cleaning, antibiotics, and antiviral medication, Benny’s symptoms kept returning. Eventually, he began regurgitating every time he ate. 

“We tried putting him in the shower, we tried humidifiers, we tried all the treatments and medications,” Merritt said. “Nothing ever seemed to knock it out.” 

After a family trip to Arkansas, Benny’s condition took a sharp turn for the worse. 

“When we got him back home, he wouldn’t eat. He’d just sit in front of the fireplace and stare,” Dale said. “We looked at each other and said, ‘Yeah, he’s definitely declining, and we need immediate care.’” 

Unable to get an appointment with their primary veterinarian, Dale and Merritt brought Benny to Texas A&M where he spent the weekend with the Emergency and Critical Care Services. 

A ‘Purr’-plexing Case 

When Benny first arrived, he looked like many kittens with upper respiratory disease.  

“They did some tests and then got him to eat,” Merritt said. “Dr. Yu-An Wu, a veterinary intern in the Emergency Service, had some concerns that maybe we’re not dealing with a nasal thing, and he started talking about the esophagus.” 

However, when Benny seemed to improve the following day, Dale and Merritt took him home; they also quickly realized “bringing him home was not the right decision,” Merritt said. 

“When we brought Benny back, Dr. Wu said, ‘I hope you’re open to understanding that there’s something greater going on,'” she said. “He sat with us and very patiently walked through what he was seeing.” 

Benny was then transferred to the Internal Medicine Service, where Dr. Shayna Doyle, a third-year veterinary resident, and Dr. Emily Gould, an assistant professor at the VMBS, performed a CT scan, which confirmed Wu’s suspicion that Benny’s esophagus was abnormal. 

“Normally, the esophagus carries food to the stomach and narrows into a sphincter that acts as a barrier, preventing stomach contents from flowing back up,” Doyle said. “In Benny, that sphincter was severely underdeveloped. 

“On imaging, his esophagus and stomach appeared as one continuous tube with no normal narrowing between them, which is extremely unusual,” she said. “We also confirmed the abnormality with an endoscopy, where we found the sphincter remained wide open instead of functioning as a valve.”

The findings pointed to an exceptionally rare condition. Even Gould, an internist with a special interest in gastrointestinal diseases, had never seen a similar case. 

To better understand the abnormality, the team used a diagnostic imaging procedure called an esophagram to evaluate how the esophagus moves food and performed an endoscopy to get a direct view of the esophageal lining.

“We found that when he eats something, it travels down and immediately comes right back,” Gould said. “This caused all of the acidic secretions from his GI tract to scald the back of the nose.” 

That explained the respiratory symptoms, but confirming the problem with his esophagus was only the beginning — because Benny’s condition involved a rare congenital deformity, the team found no comparable cases in the veterinary literature.  

“We did so much research because we couldn’t find anything exactly like him,” Doyle said. “Surgery could potentially help him, but we really wanted to medically manage him long enough for him to grow.” 

That uncertainty required close, ongoing collaboration across departments.  

“Internal Medicine, Radiology, our ICU, Surgery, Anesthesia, and ER all played a part in his case,” Doyle said. “There was quite a lot of thought and dialogue between teams that went into coming up with the best plan for him. We would make one small change and then see what happens over the next 24 hours.” 

Building The ‘Benny Box’  

Ultimately, Benny’s care team found inspiration in Bailey chairs, specialized upright chairs used to help dogs with megaesophagus eat, and created a simplified cardboard version adapted for Benny, now known as the “Benny Box.” 

“When the esophagus doesn’t propel food forward through muscle contractions the way it should, we have to rely on gravity and position him upright like a person,” Gould said. 

Over his 12-day hospitalization, his care plan was adjusted continuously, from medications and feeding schedules to food texture and positioning.  

“We made constant micro-adjustments every single day,” Doyle said. “Our nurses played a huge role in that process. They always do, but in his case, especially, they were watching for details we couldn’t and helping us make those adjustments.” 

The team also cycled through different medications aimed at stimulating movement in different parts of the GI tract, switched food textures, and tried more feedings. 

Finally, back at home, one final adjustment made all the difference.  

“Dr. Doyle answered the phone any time of the day or night and would call us whenever we needed her,” Dale said. “She told us we needed to switch to two feedings and that he needed to get 180 grams. So we put him in a box, gave him 90 grams, and, just to be safe, kept him in the box for 45 minutes. He hasn’t regurgitated once since then. And that’s been three or four months.”

Now, Dale feeds Benny in a custom wooden “Benny Box” he built at home, fitted with a door and cushioned for support. 

“He loves his box,” Dale said. “After he finishes eating, he’ll sit there, give himself a bath, and then he will curl up and sleep.” 

Back To Being Benny 

Benny continues to be monitored, as surgery may still be necessary in the future, but for now, he is simply enjoying life as a cat. 

“He just does normal cat things,” Dale said. “He’s full of life, he makes friends wherever he goes, he plays hard, and he sleeps hard.” 

“We want him to have many, many years because he’s just so much fun,” Merritt said. “What we have now is a normal cat that eats upright in a box.”

As Dale and Merritt continue to take Benny for checkups to monitor his progress, they look toward the next steps in his care.

“We believe 100% that had we not brought Benedict into the SATH, he would not be alive today,” Merritt said. “We are completely grateful for the entire care team — from Dr. Wu in the Emergency Service to Dr. Doyle and Dr. Gould in Internal Medicine and, now, Surgery. Everyone wants what is best for Benedict and works with us to figure that out.”