Topography
It rests on the visceral surface of the liver, mostly left of the median plane and within the costal arch. The fundus lies dorsal and to the left; the body descends ventrally and the pyloric part crosses to the right. In the cat the pylorus lies close to the midline, more medial than in the dog, which gives the stomach its J shape on the ventrodorsal view. The greater curvature carries the greater omentum, and the spleen is attached to it by the gastrosplenic ligament.
Parts
- Cardia: entrance of the esophagus.
- Fundus and body: the most capacious part, with gastric folds in the mucosa.
- Pyloric part: antrum and pyloric canal, ending at the pylorus and the duodenum.
Clinical relevance
- Trichobezoars: hairballs formed by grooming. Vomiting them frequently is not normal and can point to underlying gastrointestinal disease.
- Linear foreign bodies: threads and ribbons anchored at the pylorus or under the tongue; the base of the tongue should always be checked in a vomiting cat.
- Gastric lymphoma: the most common gastric neoplasm of the cat.
- Chronic vomiting: in the cat it is often due to small intestinal disease (chronic enteropathy, lymphoma) rather than primary gastric disease.
- Gastric dilatation-volvulus: exceptional in the cat, unlike the dog.
3D model
Segmentation from the CT of a cat (pixelbeaker model), simplified and registered to the atlas skeleton.