Topography
- Cervical part: begins dorsal to the cricoid cartilage, runs dorsal to the trachea and in the caudal neck deviates to its left.
- Thoracic part: runs through the mediastinum dorsal to the trachea and the heart base, right of the aortic arch, and reaches the diaphragm.
- Abdominal part: very short; after the esophageal hiatus it opens into the cardia of the stomach.
Structure
The muscular coat is striated in the cranial two thirds and smooth in the caudal third. This is why, on a contrast esophagram, the mucosa of the caudal thoracic esophagus of the cat forms oblique folds with a normal herringbone appearance.
Clinical relevance
- Drug-induced esophagitis and stricture: doxycycline or clindamycin tablets and capsules retained in the esophagus can cause strictures; water or food should follow every dose. Gastro-esophageal reflux during anaesthesia is another cause of stricture.
- Foreign bodies: needles, fish hooks and bones stop at the physiological narrowings: the thoracic inlet, the heart base and the esophageal hiatus.
- Megaesophagus: much less common than in the dog; vascular ring anomalies and hiatal hernia are also uncommon.
- Esophagostomy tube: placed through the left side of the neck, it is the usual route for assisted feeding in cats, for example in hepatic lipidosis.
3D model
Schematic tube (illustrative fidelity) from the pharynx, placed from landmarks on the skeleton; the abdominal segment up to the cardia comes from the feline CT that provides the stomach. It shows topography, not fine morphology.