Through Fostering Baby Jewell and speaking with her vet and others, I have learned so much about how to manage her condition and help her live a mostly normal life.  Jewell has a condition called Megaesophagus.  This is where part (or in extreme cases all) of the muscles in the esophagus are weak and become stretched out.  These weak areas cause pockets that catch food when the dog eats in a normal position on all fours.  The food is later regurgitated.  There are two major concerns with these dogs.  1) if the food never makes it into their stomachs, they can starve to death.  2) when they regurgitate, they can aspirate the food and develop pneumonia.  Pneumonia is an extremely dangerous issue for these dogs because they can’t take many medications – especially those in pill form. 

Dogs with this condition CAN live a relatively normal life.  The key to managing the condition is to feed the dog the correct food in a vertical position and keep her vertical after feeding until the food can make it past the weak spot and into the stomach.  This vertical feeding allows food to fall through the weak area of the esophagus instead of pooling in the pocket.  In Jewell’s case, the weak spot in her esophagus is right before her heart, so she only needs to stay vertical for 10-15 minutes after eating.  Other dogs with this condition may need to stay longer.  Jewell does best on a mixture of canned food and water three times a day.   

We spent the first two weeks with Jewell eating her meals out of my lap.  I would sit in a chair and hold her dish so she had to stand up on her back legs to eat.  Afterward, I would hold her over my shoulder like an infant and walk her around the house for 10-15 minutes.  This was a tedious process, but it worked.  She is even starting to put weight on her very thin body.  

Through my online research about Megaesophagus, I ran across information about a “Bailey Chair” that can be built to hold the dog upright during and after feedings.  I showed this information to my husband, and he built Jewell her very own version of the chair.  It has been working wonderfully and has made her care so much easier on us.  We still have to be careful to monitor her outside to ensure she doesn’t drink water without being held vertically afterwards, but life inside our home is much better.  She is now a happy, playful girl with lots of energy thanks to finally being able to eat properly.  

You can learn more about Megaesophagus from the following link:

http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_megaesophagus.html

 For support with a Megaesophagus dog, please join the Megaesophagus group on Yahoo. 

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/megaesophagus/summary

 For more information and instructions for building a basic Bailey Chair, please see the following links:

http://petprojectblog.com/archives/dogs/megaesophagus-and-the-bailey-chair/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQF19LR1rRk

http://www.ehow.com/how_4843356_build-bailey-chair-dogs.html