When cats suffer from digestive symptoms such as diarrhea or vomiting, most owners automatically assume the problem is being caused by an intestinal infection, parasites, or ingestion of a foreign object. While these causes are certainly to blame for many cases of digestive distress, there is another possibility to keep in mind. Your cat may have a congenital digestive abnormality.
Congenital abnormalities are those which are caused by genetics. They are present from birth; though, in some cases, they may not cause symptoms until a cat reaches a certain age. Here's a look at three congenital digestive system abnormalities that can occur in cats.
Hiatal Hernias
A hiatal hernia occurs when a portion of the stomach protrudes through the diaphragm, which is a muscle that allows your cat to breath. Though some hiatal hernias are brought on by trauma, most are congenital defects and begin causing symptoms by the time a cat is a year old. Symptoms of a hiatal hernia include coughing, vomiting, weight loss, and excessive salivation. Since these symptoms mimic many other digestive issues, such as roundworm infections, hiatal hernias sometimes take vets a while to diagnose.
Hiatal hernias are often discovered after a cat fails to respond to treatments for more common digestive issues. The vet may take an X-ray, which shows the protrusion of the stomach through the diaphragm. Sometimes, an esophagoscopy exam, which involves inserting a camera at the end of a tube down down your cat's esophagus, may be used to detect the condition.
Severe hiatal hernias may be repaired surgically, but not all hiatal hernias require surgical intervention. Often, the symptoms can be managed with a careful diet and prescription drugs to relax the stomach and esophagus.
Portosystemic Shunt
One of the liver's tasks in the body is to cleanse the blood. Blood enters the healthy liver full of toxins and leaves the liver free of these toxins. In cats with portosystemic shunt, the toxic blood is allowed to mix with the already-cleaned blood, meaning that the blood that circulates back to the digestive system and the rest of the body is still "dirty."
Symptoms of this congenital disease include vomiting, weight loss, diarrhea, lethargy, and a diminished appetite. Often, vets first become aware that a cat has this abnormality when they run blood tests and find elevated levels of certain toxins in the blood. Mild cases can sometimes be treated with a low-protein diet, but most cats require surgery to re-direct the flow of blood through the liver.
Pyloric Stenosis
The pyloric sphincter is a muscle found at the juncture of the esophagus and stomach. It opens to allow food to pass from the esophagus into the stomach, and then closes again to prevent the partially digested food from flowing back into the esophagus. In cats with pyloric stenosis, the opening in the pyloric sphincter becomes irregularly narrow due to tightening of the muscles.
Like the other congenital abnormalities discussed in this article, pyloric stenosis causes vomiting and weight loss. Generally, cats with this condition will vomit several hours after eating. Pyloric stenosis can be difficult to diagnose, but vets generally detect it by administering a number of laboratory blood tests and imaging tests of the digestive system.
Treatment for pyloric stenosis varies based on the severity of the condition. Sometimes drugs can be used to relax the sphincter muscles, and other times, surgery is necessary to widen the opening in the sphincter so that food can more easily pass through it.
If your cat has been suffering from digestive symptoms and has not responded to common treatments for worms and intestinal infections, it's important to consider the possibility that a congenital defect is causing the problem. Talk to your vet about the conditions above, and see whether he or she thinks one of them may be to blame for your cat's ongoing misery.
For more information, contact a local clinic like Pet Medical Center – Full Service Veterinary Care.
