[PBlank]

I'm hoping somebody with first hand experience with Megaesophagus can help give me some advice. Long story short, last week my 4 year old Great Pyrenees was diagnosed with Megaesophagus.

He's on several meds right now until they get the test results back to 100% confirm thats what it is. The vets are 99% sure, but they wanted to send out the test anyways.

I've been doing what they have told me, give him meds, wait 15min, then feed him while he's sitting, elevate his water bowl to be at head level and so on. So far it's been hit and miss as to him still regurgitating. It's awful. It's very stressful on me, it's stressful on him obviously, and I just want to know if there is anything else I can do to help him with this from people who have dealt with it.

I've heard of the Bailey Chair for dogs with this condition, but have no idea if anybody with a large dog has done it, and where I would even find a large one. I'm sure he wouldn't tolerate it very well, but if it really helps and I can find one, I would certainly try it.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[timber]

Perhaps you can teach your dog to sit by you and you gently hold his neck up for a little while after eating. I wish you all the best. I had a foster puppy that had that, was pretty frustrating and sad to see her constantly bringing food/water up. Talk to your vet about the meds, maybe they just need to readjust the dosages for it to work better.

 

[Tess]

My dog had a megaesophagus diagnosed at 7 years old. As an adult onset, the issue always is what is causing it.

Unfortunately for my dog this condition was caused by Myesthenia gravis, which was probably secondary to a Trigeminal nerve root tumor.

We treated our dog with multiple medications, which helped, but inevitably the other diseases became too much and we had to put our boy down last July.

During those extra few months we had with him, I hand fed him, so he would not have to put his head down to eat.

 

[PurpleTurtle]

I'm not sure how much my input will help since I had a cat with Megaesophagus rather than a dog. My kitty just started throwing her food up all of a sudden, like seconds after eating it, meaning it didn't even get the chance to make it to her belly. This cat had a history of eating so fast that she'd throw up, but it would be after maybe 30-60 minutes, not 30-60 seconds. She was diagnosed with Megaesophagus, but the vets who saw her could not find anycause. She had nothing in her throat, nor did she have a tumor or anything pressing on her throat. So I started syringe-feeding her watered-down Hill's Science Diet, and she got to a point where she was vomiting up water and I was told to consider putting her down within 24-48 hours so she wouldn't suffer.

She started keeping her syringe food down again, and then one day she ate kibbles off the floor and kept them down. Just like that, she could eat again. She struggled with dry food a little, but canned food was just fine. I still have no idea what actually caused her to develop this condition or how it mysteriously disappeared when I was told it was incurable. I'm not sure how a large dog would tolerate force feeding, but it sounds to me like you're doing everything right for your pup.

It's a very depressing and stressful thing for both the dog and the owner to deal with. I hated forcing food into my cat's mouth, but she was not only very mellow, but very hungry, and she handled it a LOT better than my other cat when I tried to syringe-feed him (he would hyperventilate, cry and then vomit everything I fed him from the stress).

This is kind of an extreme measure, but would a feeding tube be out of the question? It would ensure food reached the stomach, but I don't know how active your pup is and a tube could be very easy for a big dog to rip out. Could anxiety medication be considered if he's so stressed out from this? The stress could also cause him to throw his food up. In any case, I'm so sorry you're going through this with your dear fuzzy; Megaesophagus is a bizarre, distressing and usually not curable condition.

 

[vm0613]

I have seen bailey chairs made for larger dogs, like boxers and labradors though I'm not sure about a dog as large as a great Pyrenees. If you are a bit crafty, it isn't that difficult to make one on your own. Usually the dog gets trained to eat in the chair, then wait for about half an hour after eating. You can try baileychairs4dogs.com for ready made ones, but I've also seen people make one with just some peices of plywood to make a simple bailey chair with their own dog's size in mind. Here are some sites that are really helpful with templates and some suggestions for training, etc. Good Luck! http://www.caninemegaesophagus.org/support.htm
K9 Megasophagus Bailey Chair