CANINE MEGAESOPHAGUS

Photo by Melissa Palomo

Boy do I love this little guy.  He gave us quite the scare recently. For several months now Hampton hasn't been himself.  I kept attributing it to him adjusting to Addison. Some days he wouldn't touch his food, he has been constantly regurgitating food/mucous...you name it,  he's had an exceptionally foul smell to his breath & he had been making this terrible hacking noise like he was trying to clear his throat.  Recently his behavior starting changing, he has been extreme...either listless or completely wide open.  We, well Philip really, finally said enough is enough...something isn't right & this isn't just Hampton "adjusting" to Addison.  
THANK GOODNESS Philip listened to his gut because something isn't right.  Hampton was diagnosed with a genetic condition called Canine Megaesophagus. Basically his esophagus has become like a balloon that's been inflated & deflated several times, stretching it.  The muscles become limp & fail to propel food into the stomach.  The food just sits in the chest cavity never making it to the stomach. For those in the medical profession, you know this is dangerous because the food that has remained in the esophagus gets into the lungs causing aspiration pneumonia.  There are lots of underlying causes of this, we don't know at this point if it's related to Hampton's thyroid, if he has another condition called Myasthenia Gravis, Addison's Disease or a neurological problem.  We are crossing our fingers it's idiopathic.
The fantastic news is this is totally manageable & proper management reduces the risk of severe or life threatening complications. 
First thing we had to do is elevate his bowl significantly higher.  

We purchased this bowl   

Ours sits quite a bit taller but this is identical to what we bought Hamp.

The second thing is we had to buy a dimple ball. 

The ball in the center will keep him from gulping the food.  Slower eating is better for digestion & also reduces the amount of air that he swallow.

Third is medications. He is taking Pepcid-AD 3 times a day & Reglan (antiemetic that also slows motility) 3 times per day.

Fourth is to wet his food & decrease the amount of treats he has.  He has to be on a lowfat low residue diet.

As he ages we will have to buy him a Bailey Chair

It's basically a highchair for dogs that keeps them vertical while eating to aid in digestion. 

Surgery is an option down the road but thankfully they said at this point it's not necessary.

It completely breaks my heart for him but I am so incredibly thankful it is something manageable.  

Here are a few more pictures from our photo shoot with Melissa:

There are soooo many other amazing ones but these are just a few of my favorites.