<snip> Diva was diagnosed with MEGAESOPHAGUS. Her only symptoms are occ. wheezing & " gulping " of her food. <snip> Does anyone know about this condition & do you have any helpful advice?
**************** Hi, Terri! Sorry for the delay in replying ... I've been off-line for awhile. My Jake was diagnosed with megaesophagus when he was 6 months old. As your head is spinning now from information overload, so was mine. The two drugs of choice to help manage megaesophagus are cisapride and metaclopramide. Both drugs stimulate the muscles along the esophagus and should be given 20 or 30 minutes before the dog eats. The dog should sit after eating for 10 minutes or so, and no exercise - not even a walk - for an hour after eating. There are literally thousands of pages on the internet that discuss megaesophagus. Most pages say that an afflicted dog will most likely not survive past the age of two. Megaesophagus itself is not fatal but, if the dog inhales while it's regurgitating, it could get pneumonia which must be treated immediately. Let me stress: do not believe all the horror stories on the internet. It is often a case of hearing the worst case scenarios. My Jake was diagnosed with megaesophagus at 6 months; he is now 2 1/2 years old and going strong. In fact, Jake was doing so well that, six weeks ago, I stopped giving him the metaclopramide pills. I did, however, keep some on hand in case Jake started regurgitating. In the past six weeks, Jake has had 4 pills total (2 pills on two occasions), instead of 4 pills a day every day. Megaesophagus is definitely manageable. I hope this helps. Feel free to e-mail me privately if you have any more questions. Maureen Barry Montreal, Quebec __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! SiteBuilder - Free, easy-to-use web site design software http://sitebuilder.yahoo.com
