Surgical Correction of an Aberrant Right Subclavian Artery in a Cat

A case of chronic regurgitation in a 9-month-old female domestic shorthair cat secondary to compression of the esophagus by an aberrant right subclavian artery is presented. The cat underwent division of the anomalous vessel through a left lateral thoracotomy. After surgery, the cat showed a marked improvement clinically and on radiographic evaluation. Although aberrant right subclavian arteries are frequently observed in human beings, this condition has only rarely been described in dogs and to the authors' knowledge, there are no definitive studies on then- incidence, relevance, or treatment in cats.