cat with narrowed esophagus - throws up all the time

cat with narrowed esophagus - throws up all the time - how to care for him?

Thread view:

Enable EMail Alerts

Start New Thread

Thread rating:

coolchinchilla - 17 Mar 2005 08:11 GMT

Hi. I'm a newbie here, so hello.

My cat is a medium hair domestic cat. I got him from the shelter a
couple years ago. He's about 5 years old now and 15 pounds.

He throws up all the time. Sometimes daily, sometimes multiple
times a day, sometimes nothing for weeks at a time. Of course I
took him to the vet right away. Took x-rays and found out that as
his esophagus passes over/through some bones it gets very narrow,
like 1/4th or less of what it should be. (I'm not sure if I've got
the anatomy right here) This creates a bottle-neck for food to pass
through so it pools and distends the part just before the
bottle-neck. The food ferments and so he throws up. The distended
part gets bigger and bigger. The vet said that he's not harmed much
by throwing up all the time so there wasn't a need to change things
right away. Even so, it can't be that good for him. It makes for a
constant mess for me.

The condition can only get worse for him as he gets older which I
confirmed with another x-ray a year later. (I wasn't convinced at
first.) I can take him to a vet school across the state for surgery
which is expensive for me. Local vets wouldn't have the equipment
needed for such a surgery.

I've tried various home remedies with some success. (1)brushing him
so there is less fur in the GI tract, (2) giving him a
lubricant/laxative to facilitate gut motility and (3) giving him
lots of attention so he's not stressed out. I tried to give him
small servings of food throughout the day, but he would just bolt
his food and make the problem worse. I feed him Royal Canin dry
food and the vet said that wet food might help some, but not much so
I'm staying with the dry food for now.

Has anyone else had a problem like this with their cat?
Has anyone done the surgery?
Did the surgery help the kitty? How much did it cost?
Does anyone have any ideas for other home remedies?

Thanks in advance.
Linda and the zoo.

Reply to this Message

Spider - 17 Mar 2005 18:08 GMT

> Hi. I'm a newbie here, so hello.
>
[quoted text clipped - 36 lines]
> Thanks in advance.
> Linda and the zoo.

Hi Linda,

I don't have a great deal of experience with this in cats. However, having
studied spiders, I know that they have a very narrow opening to their gut
and can't eat solid food. Spiders, in effect, make soup of their victims
and then ingest their meal. Perhaps if you tried moistening and squishing
kitty's food so that it was more liquid, it would help.
I'm a bit worried about the laxative treatment. Your cat is already have
trouble holding on to food; surely a laxative means he's not able to extract
enough nourishment from the food he can hold down. Have you discussed this
treatment with your vet?

Spider
In the long term, if this condition is progressive, surgery is the only
option. Sorry I can't help more.

Reply to this Message

BarB - 18 Mar 2005 04:37 GMT

>Hi. I'm a newbie here, so hello.
>
[quoted text clipped - 33 lines]
>Did the surgery help the kitty? How much did it cost?
>Does anyone have any ideas for other home remedies?

A friend in another rescue group had a kitten returned recently when
the adopter's vet said the kitten should be put down for this
condition. She took it to her own vet who said the kitten could live
a normal life with a few changes: one, no more dry food and two, the
kitten must be held upright like burping a baby until all the food
passed through the esophagus.

This kitten was skin and bones when it came to her and she had
trouble getting it to eat even baby food at first. Now it is eating
on its own and gaining weight rapidly.

BarB

Reply to this Message

BarB - 18 Mar 2005 05:32 GMT

>>Hi. I'm a newbie here, so hello.
>>
[quoted text clipped - 40 lines]
>kitten must be held upright like burping a baby until all the food
>passed through the esophagus.

Following up to my own post. My friend sent me the following info:

Here are the vet's thoughts:
(1) She does not have to be euthanised, but she will always be a
special needs cat.
(2) She can eat on her own, but the food has to be on an elevated
platform; 6" or so; and, she has to be standing while eating.
(3)She will never be able to eat hard food; she can only eat soft,
gruel-like food.
(4) She has to be held vertically for 2 to 5 minutes after eating to
allow the food to flow down the esophagus; sort of like burping a
baby.

This vet has three other patients with mega esophagus and they are
fine. I asked him what he would recommend we do; he said it depends
on how much time Curie's care giver has; if they have time - she does
not have to be put to sleep.

BarB

Reply to this Message

coolchinchilla - 19 Mar 2005 06:33 GMT

Wow... thanks this helps a lot. :-)

Linda and the zoo.

> This vet has three other patients with mega esophagus and they are
> fine. I asked him what he would recommend we do; he said it depends
> on how much time Curie's care giver has; if they have time - she does
> not have to be put to sleep.
>
> BarB

Reply to this Message