the INS&OUTS of Cat Digestion

Last year, a new vet joined the veterinary practice where I take my cats

- Nancy Kerr

When I took several kittens in for their first exam at two months, I noticed that he felt around each kitten’s jaw and throat, then worked his way along to the tail. While I watched, the children’s song “Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” kept going through my head. When I had issues with a two-month-old kitten last spring, another breeder mentioned that maybe it could have been caused by Megaesophagus. Turns out that there is also a condition called Megacolon that can affect the other end of a cat. Now that I’m aware of these conditions, I believe the vet was checking for things that all of us need to be aware of. It is important that food, etc. gets into the cat however it is equally import that it also gets out.

What is Megaesophagus?

While the name conjures up images of something that belongs in a Jurassic Park movie, it actually involves the esophagus (the tube that carries food and liquid between the mouth and stomach). When the esophagus is functioning normally, food in the mouth stimulates nerves that send signals to the swallowing center in the brainstem. This, in turn, stimulates the swallow reflex (waves of muscular contractions called peristalsis). Megaesophagus is considered a combination disorder in which the esophagus dilates (gets larger) and loses motility (its ability to move food into the stomach). There are two types of megaesophagus—congenital and acquired. Congenital megaesophagus (present at birth) is actually developmental and causes regurgitation starting at weaning when kittens begin eating solid food. Acquired megaesophagus occurs later in life, in young adults and middle-aged animals.