I took Fifi our 9 months old 'kitten' to the vets to be neutered today. This photo was taken when she was about 7 weeks old. She was a stray in our car park, thin and weak. After a day or two we noticed that she was regurgitating her food, so we took her to the vet, who instantly suggested she may have a condition known as 'mega-oesophagus', but would require a barium X-ray to confirm this. The diagnosis was confirmed.
Mega esophagus is a condition where there is reduced or absent peristalsis (movement, muscular contractions) in the esophagus. The esophagus is the tube that carries food and water from the throat to the stomach. With this condition the kitten/cat has difficulty passing food all the way down to the stomach. The result is that food may be regurgitated back up into the throat. This reduced motility usually results in dilation of the esophagus. It is not uncommon for affected kittens to get throat infections and succumb!
Being a 'special needs' kitten we had to spend more time with her, and initially fed her by holding her upright. We used a syringe containing mashed up wet food. Later we found that she fitted comfortably into a tennis ball tube, and when she got too big for that we used a sock with a hole cut in the side for her head!
The vet initially suggest that she was unlikely to survive, and my wife said we should have her put her down to avoid her suffering!
I proposed that we give her a chance and she has not only survived but she has thrived & grown into the most delightful of young cats and now weighs 2.5 kg.
The vet also recommended we give her only wet food, however she stopped eating wet food and we tried her with some science plan health development kitten pellets which she loves. We place her saucer in a slightly elevated position, and she eats normally this way.
She still regurgitates on occasions but much less frequently that initially. Her muscle tone is normal & she is very playful, clean, healthy kitten/cat.
Naturally we are delighted with her progress.
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