Anyone ever hear of Thymus?

Midnight was at the vet Saturday. A different vet saw him because his vet was on vacation. He had an x-ray done that showed he had an enlarged esophagus. She didn't know what that meant and was sending the x-ray to a specialist.

Our regular vet came back from vacation today. My father spoke with her on the phone. She looked at Midnight's x-ray and doesn't think anything is wrong. She said it's Thymus which a lymph node in his chest that is bigger. She said that happens in kittens. It goes down to normal size when their a year old. She doesn't think there's anything to worry about. An x-ray will be done when he's a year old.

Is anyone familiar with this?

The thymus is a gland, near the heart and lungs in humans, that is most active in youth. It helps the immune system develop. As we age, the gland shrinks and changes.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-thymus-gland.htm

I don't know about kittens, but in human babies the thymus can sometimes obscure the edges of the esophagus or heart. An enlarged thymus is definitely not something the doctors worry about.

My question is: why was Midnight getting an X-ray in the first place?

Originally Posted by cloud_shade

The thymus is a gland, near the heart and lungs in humans, that is most active in youth. It helps the immune system develop. As we age, the gland shrinks and changes.

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-thymus-gland.htm

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Thank you for the website

Originally Posted by GoldyCat

I don't know about kittens, but in human babies the thymus can sometimes obscure the edges of the esophagus or heart. An enlarged thymus is definitely not something the doctors worry about.

My question is: why was Midnight getting an X-ray in the first place?

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Midnight went to the vet Saturday because his eyes were watering 1 was dripping. I did tell the vet my concerns that he had a UTI as well. Midnight drinks a ton of water, he pees a lot, his pee is very hard to clean up, he does meow when he pees. She told me that kittens as young as Midnight don't get UTI's (he's 4 months old). She did test him for 1. She did give us an antibiotic for him just incase. She was more worried about his kidneys. I told her to go ahead and x-ray him. The x-ray showed his kidneys, liver, and stomach was fine.

Hmm, I never heard of a vet taking x-rays to look at the kidneys. Normally they do a blood test. Unless she thought it was kidney cancer instead of kidney disease. But it's still kind of weird.

Originally Posted by Willowy

Hmm, I never heard of a vet taking x-rays to look at the kidneys. Normally they do a blood test. Unless she thought it was kidney cancer instead of kidney disease. But it's still kind of weird.

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She did blood test on him to.