possible megaesophagus

[Florrie!]

It's a possibility that Florrie has megaesophagus

Shes been regurgitating food and water and the vet is worried that the cause of this could be quite serious.
I have antacids for her and a liquid medication to coat her throat and esophagus to see if its just a flare up of her esophagitis which she gets now and then. The symptoms that Florrie has the moment though are more consistant with megaesophagus. There is no cure for it and there is a massive risk of aspiration of food and water into the lungs.

If Florrie is no better by tuesday then she has to go in for imaging to see whats going on. She keeps putting her head down and food and water just fall out, theres no retching or warning to it. She may burp loudly or give a little breathy cough but not every time.

Im hoping its nothing serious, poor Florrie isnt very comfortable at the moment, shes very restless and clingy.

Does anyone have any experience of this or know anything about it? Any info would be helpful.
Thanks

[Liz!!]

Oh, poor florrie-kins... it seems non-stop for her! Hope it is something easily put right. It sounds horrid. XXX

[Bid]

Cecilia and I helped to rescue a cockerpoo with this - it took a little trouble feeding him, but as far as I am aware he did very well with a little care. It helped to hand feed him while he sat up with his paws on a knee, but if you google it there are some chairs made for feeding dogs with megaesophagus.

[Pollydoodle]

This should give you hope .... dog born with this disorder.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sidA3-7XezU

PS: snap Bid

[swardie]

Aw, poor Dood, and poor you. It must be horrible for you both. Hope you get a good outcome soon. Hugs from Dexter and Mum. X

[scooby Dood]

Let's hope things improve! Can't imagine how you feel. Scooby had a simple tummy upset and went to the vets, that was worrying enough. We are keeping our fingers crossed for you.

[Liz!!]

I watched that video and another about another dog - and this is what the owner of that dog had to say (he had also made an eating chair for his dog):

"Mick is doing incredibly well; and, has regurgitated only 7 times since his 12/5/11 diagnosis. Each time it has been water only - no food. He is on Prednisone for the rest of his life as he does not make corticosteroids-the basis for his problems. After going from 158 lbs to 136 lbs in 4 weeks, he has gained all his weight back & then some. He did get up to 172 lbs so we actually began feeding him diet food. He's lost a few lbs & at his last weigh-in he was 168 lbs."

Does Florrie have a corticosteroid problem?

[Lexi-dood]

Poor Florrie and poor you.

I remember reading about it a few years ago. The owner made a kind of baby highchair and the dog sat upright while feeding (I think it was quite a watery diet) and remained there for a good 10 minutes to let the food go down. I will try and find the link and post it on here.

[Chelsea2]

We've had 2x dogs at the kennels with megaoesophagus. Pio who is a pointer and is now around 3 years old - he came here for a little bit whilst we got him stabilised and onto a feeding regime he could tolerate. He was then adopted by a lovely family who have followed his feeding plan to the letter and has no problems whatsoever, doesn't regurgitate his food and requires no medication. He is fed a soft, smooth diet similar in consistency to thick porridge and eats 6x small meals a day.
We still have Barnaba at the kennels. He is a small mongrel of 11 months. He has lots of other health problems in addition to his megaoesophagus. His symptoms are much more severe than Pio's and we know he has a very limited lifespan both due to his severe meg and his other illnesses . Atm he is eating 20x tiny meals per day, liquid only. He has lots of meds including liquid vitamins, antacids, antibiotics and steroids (the last 2 when he aspirates his food/water and develops pneumonia). Despite all this he is quite a happy chap and does not appear to be distressed or in pain with his condition. In fact I think it affects us a lot more than it affects him.

[Pauline]

Poor Florrie - I was only wondering today how she was.

[Florrie!]

Florrie is still continuing to vomit, on Friday she started bringing up bile which she hasn't been doing. She was so uncomfortable and kept coughing that on Saturday, I took her back to see the vet. We ended up seeing the vet who did Florrie's Pyloric surgery and he doesn't think she's regurgitating as whatever she is bringing up is not sausage shaped .He thinks it is true vomiting but either coming from the very top of the stomach or just before it as whatever she brings up is not digested hours after eating plus there is still no retching or heaving or any warning to it.
He prescribed her some strong anti-sickness tablets to get us through until tomorrow but despite being on these, and 2 different antacids, she still managed to vomit 3 times on Saturday. She still keeps coughing which the vets think is where acid is irritating the oesophagus causing the coughing. Saturday though after she vomited the first time, she coughed and hacked for 2 hours afterwards, then vomited a little, the coughing and hacking continued then she vomited again. It was almost like whatever she brought up first time, some had got stuck somewhere, hence the hacking cough.

She didn't vomit at all yesterday and was much happier in herself and she's not vomited so far today. If it continues though then she still has to go in for x-rays and to have her oesophagus and top part of her stomach scoped to see if theres any narrowing, scarring or blockages. We need to find the cause of this so we can treat it and settle her back down. Shes not had regular vomiting like this since her pyloric surgery which must have been over 2 years ago.

I just want my happy doodles back, this is like her first year when she was constantly sick and unwell. She's had a few really good months and we thought she was finally getting there and then we go backwards again. On the plus side, the vet thinks its unlikely that she has Megaoesophagus so that's a bit of a relief I guess.

[Doodle Dee]

all I can do is which Florrie better and hopefully they find out what is wrong exactly this week!!

[stout]

Ooh poor Florrie. Sorry to hear she has been unwell again, the poor little sausage.

Have they ever tried her on omeprazole? Chris uses it for his reflux heartburn, and the vet gave it to stout last time he was sick, I think it stops the stomach acid.

Big hugs to you and Florrie from us and Stout.

[Mollysmom]

I'm so sorry to hear your baby's not feeling well. I hope the vet figures it out soon. So she can feel better. Poor doods

[Florrie!]

Thanks for all the good wishes for my girl.

I took her back to see the vet earlier as even though she hasn't vomited since saturday, she's still not right and is still coughing when eating or drinking.

Shes got to go in for a GA on thursday to have an endoscope put down to see if theres anything going on to be causing this. I also have to give her a BIPS capsule tomorrow night with foodso they can x ray to see if there are any blockages anywhere.

Shes been on omeprazole, antepsin and cerenia for the vomiting and reflux.but its still not settled things.down. At least after shes had these tests done we will know what is going on and how to sort her out and get my happy doods back again.

Tasha