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  1. #1
    Puppy
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    Megaesophagus Diet

    Our 12 yo lab Wyatt has been diagnosed with megaesophagus as of late May. He had been regurgitating his food for at least 3 moths however we had thought it was due to his larangyl paralysis. Our vet had recommended against surgery for Wyatt for his LarPar when his diagnosis was confirmed last year. Since he was diagnosed with megaE our vet has prescribed METOCLOPRAMIDE. He also takes Prilosec OTC and dog Xanax. We also give him probiotics and glucosamine. He is a very happy dog. The METOCLOPRAMIDE has really curtailed his regurgitation to less than 4 times/day. My question is feeding? Those of you with dogs with megaE, what do you feed? We've had to switch canned foods atleast ever 2 wks as it seems Wyatt develops a distaste of his food, we believe because he's regurgitated it and has had enough. We alternate between ideal balance wet food and nutro wet food just different flavors. I've also been adding canned pumpkin for supplementation. Wyatt should be a healthy 75lb but since May he is down to 65. Any helpful tips would be great. What do you feed, did your dog gain any weight having megaE, etc? We can't really get Wyatt to eat in a Baily chair device since his back legs hurt him in that position so we keep him up and around after he eats for atleast 25 min. We are praying Wyatt can live out the rest of his life happy and moderately healthy as we lost our other 12yo lab Koby in June. We know there is no cure for megaE and our vet thinks 6 more months would be the max he may have. Thank you

  2. #2
    House Broken Brutus's Avatar
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    May 2014
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    Before this board went down there was a member who had a lab with megaesophagus, Sidney. Unfortunately that thread is gone, but he does have a blog and I'm sure there is a lot of good info there- here is blog.

    Canine Megaesophagus

    I remember he had a special chair that he built to feed his dog. His dog was diagnosed as a puppy.

  3. #3
    Puppy
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    Good advise, I loved reading about Sidney and I do keep up with his blog.

  4. #4
    Real Retriever Laura's Avatar
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    My dog had megaesophagus, but it was caused by a stricture at the lower esophageal sphincter. I imagine Wyatt's issue is neuromuscular, so I'm not sure if what worked for me will work for you. For Harley, the food bolus had to be thin enough to get through his stricture. The largest his stricture ever was, after many balloon procedures, was 18mm. So I had to feed him what amounted to a slurry. I tried lots of different things, and the easiest to get through him was ground raw mixed with water. Unfortunately, it was not very dense in calories and it was VERY difficult to keep weight on him.
    Merrick used to make a food called "Before Grain" that came in a can and was pretty dense in calories. That was probably the best for him. It was always a balance of what I could actually feed him and how well his belly tolerated it. I tried everything including ground raw mixed with water, ground kibble mixed with water, stage 1 baby food meat mixed with rice cereal and water, canned food mixed with water. I would sometimes add in pumpkin to help him tolerate it.
    I tried feeding him on the stairs to let gravity help get the food to go down, but I don't think it really made a difference. It was (for 2+ years) a struggle to keep his weight up, and it got to the point where I really couldn't exercise him because he didn't have any calories to spare.

  5. #5
    Real Retriever krosen's Avatar
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    I read somewhere, I can't remember where, about a dog having megaE and they thinned a high calorie wet vet food and fed it with a feeding bottle, so the dogs neck was up and stretched out. They fed 5 small meals a day like that.

  6. #6
    Puppy ChippieDog's Avatar
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    My Teddy was diagnosed with megaesophagus a few months after having surgery for his LP. He was on the Metaclopromide and over the counter antacids Pepsid and Zantac. I fed him his regular kibble with about a cup or two of water added to it. It worked well for him. I fed him from an elevated feeding station in order to keep his head high when he ate. Some people will feed their dogs with MetaE on stairs. The dogs have to put their front legs on a step to reach the food, thereby increasing the slope of their esophagus. (I couldn't use either the Bailey Chair or stairs for feeding due to Teddy's arthritic hips and weak rear muscles.) Like you, I also tried to keep him on his feet for a while after eating.

    I didn't have issues with weight loss - he maintained his weight at a lean 75-80 lbs. Teddy was eating Orijen Regional Red or Six Fish kibble due to his allergies. These are high protein (38%), high fat (18%) foods so he was staying fit on 2 1/2 cups a day spaced out into 4 smaller meals - although I'm sure he found additional "snacks" while roaming around the farm and in the woods.

    If you haven't already done so, please educate yourself on the symptoms of aspiration pneumonia. It's a common complication of MegaE.

  7. #7
    Chief Pooper Scooper JenC's Avatar
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