Posted on 12/17/2010 1:41:58 PM PST by afraidfortherepublic
My daughter's 11 month old Red Standard Poodle has been diagnosed with "mega esophagous" which means that his esophagous is nearly twice as large as it ought to be, and the food has a hard time making into the stomach and just sits in the esophagous. He regurgitates much of his dinner daily.
This is a worrisome, messy, smelly condition, but not fatal. Her vet says she should learn to manage it by keeping him calm & upright for a half hour after he eats and offering smaller meals. Obviously he's getting some nutrition because he's 49 lbs, although he's on the small side of the standard scale.
Has anyone on the Doggie Ping list had any experience of managing such a disability and any tips to offer?
I’m not sure if this would help but I did read that carbs are good for this condition...so
I have dogs with eatwhateverwefind syndrome and they pick the craziest times to get sick on me (usually when I’m sleeping good).
They get mild blockages that leaves them ralphing. I feed them warm mashed potatoes or canned pumpkin (if I have it on hand).
The potatoes work really well, especially when they’re not really wanting to eat— they love them. Anyhow, they usually stop puking pdq and finally pass whatever.
It’s not the same problem but just maybe it could help?
Respectfully, my basset hounds are as loved as if I gave birth to them myself. They both have had surgeries that easily cost in the thousands of dollars, MRIs, tests and multiple office visits and worth every single penney.
Right now, I am making them brown rice to go with the simmered chicken breast I will shred and serve with broth over rice on top of Blue Buffalo Basic Turkey and Potato dog food as one is having digestive issues.
We don’t have children. I miss that everytime I hear from friends who have had to bail out their kids in the middle of the night, pay for rehab, save their entire lives to pay for college only to have them drop out and shack up with some jobless loser who knocks them up or beats them up or both. When honey and I met 10 years ago, he told me that he wasn’t interested in having children but could understand if I wanted to seek out someone else who could give me children if that was what I wanted. He then said that if I chose him, he would give me everything I could ever want or need and have as many animals as I wanted.
He had me at, “I...”.
But, that being said, I do understand what you are saying. It could be expensive and what will the dog’s quality of life be. Once the quality of life is compromised, everything is off the table. But, if the dog is not in pain and she doesn’t mind the extra care, why rush to euthanize the dog?
Seriously though, give me a furry couch potato whose only request is a belly rub over a crazed liberal shopper any day. Or give me one of my dogs.
While my dog was laying down, we put out a piece of beef in front of her. When the mega esophagous slowing crawled out of her mouth towards the beef, we grabbed it and killed it.
in humans, you dilate the blockage on a regular basis.
Presumably they can do that with a dog...if you want to pay for it. Probably will have to be done at a bigger animal hospital because few ordinary vets will have gastroscopes equipped to do it.
For example, megaesophagus can sometimes be secondary to a congenital condition called Persistant Right Aortic Arch (PRAA). A blood vessel which normally would disappear in the womb forms a stricture point over the esophagus leaving only a tiny hole for food to pass. This causes the animal to vomit up any solid food. The onset of regurgitating food therefore is usally not noticed until the pup begins eating solid food after weening. Since PRAA is sometimes the true cause of the megaesophagus, it's very important that a capable vet conducts an endoscopy.
I write software for a vet who happens to be a specialist in internal medicine. Coincidentally, I also own a cat who suffers from PRAA, which can often lead to megaesophagus. For what it's worth, my cat has lived for over five years on a diet of blended wet cat food. My vet has another patient whose dog has lived nearly 15 years on a similarly blended diet.
Bottom line: See a specialist immediately
That link has excellent suggestions. Thanks. I’ll pass it on.
Don’t quit your day job.
Very interesting. My daughter’s vet had a ferret with this condition.
>>Respectfully, my basset hounds are as loved as if I gave birth to them myself. They both have had surgeries that easily cost in the thousands of dollars, MRIs, tests and multiple office visits and worth every single penney.<<
Hey, if you have the money and time, that’s great!
I’m very attached to our two year old maltipoo. I have to be. My wife is out of town a lot. He is very well trained and makes eye contact with me so much it is as if he knows what I am thinking. It can be downright spooky.
That said, if she were to die tomorrow, I’d get rid of the dog almost immediately. It’s a T-chart thing: reasons to keep him don’t even come close to the number of reasons to not have a dog.
You’ve heard the phrase, regarding movies, “suspending disbelief”? Well, that is what I can’t do with animals. No matter how human they appear to act, I see them as a poor facsimile. I cannot “suspend disbelief” that their reactions are not genuinely human. But that’s just me, and I know many do give them human qualities on an emotional level.
But if I had a “puppy” with the enlarged esophagus problem and all the special treatment (and hard earned money) that is going to involve throughout his life, the choice is pretty simple and obvious. And the longer you wait, the harder the decision. If the dog belonged to one of my children, I would use it as a teaching experience to help them understand the difference in value between humans and animals. It was done for me when I was a child and it has helped enormously.
BTW, we’re empty nesters. My wife wanted the dog as something to “nurture”. If I gave him away, I’d feel bad, for a while, but the benefits would last and last.
Thanks. Good advice. I don’t know the background, or specialty, of her vet. She’s a new one to the family since my daughter was not too pleased with the lack of care her previous poodle received at the kennel owned by the previous vet. She knows that nothing could have prevented the bloat that killed her 17 year old dog, but she was not notified when he suddenly started losing weight.
My dog had no problem learning to eat vertically. All I had to do was leave a pizza on the countertop.
Eating vertically is never a problem with dogs. LOL It’s making them stand upright afterwards that is the problem. They fight and struggle and think it’s a game and runaway and urp — especially when they are 11 months old! Thank goodness this is a poodle. They have an easier time sitting up in the begging position. My Golden couldn’t do that. But he’s big enough that he just does whatever he wants anyway. LOL
LOL!
I have 3 blue heelers and 1 staffy and the only way I could leave food out without them magically levitating high enough to eat it would be to nail it to the ceiling!
Generally speaking, this is not something that one simply fixes with a quick treatment and then all is well. A diligent search on the internet will show many resources for living with pets who suffer from this. Devices to aid in feeding the animals upright, specialized diets, support forums, etc.
In addition to serving small servings of wet food three or four times/day, I would try to find a liquid he will lap up after he eats.
My dog used to love milk and get A LITTLE for a treat sometimes. He lapped it up fast. It’s not the greatest for dogs, but it might be better that your dog move the food down. Another idea would be ice cubes, ice cream or popcicles after meals - whatever he loves and will go after right after a meal to help wash the food down.
Thank you. Your good wishes and prayers are appreciated.
There is a special chair for these dogs that is used when they eat. You can find it on the internet. Please take this dog to the vet. They will most likely have it the rest of their live
You need to feed him in an elevated position like they feed show lambs.
I hope you find the help you need. I am not familiar with this. Good luck.
Thanks for the ping Joe.
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