Hi,

A friend of mine who was due to collect a puppy in a couple of weeks time from the pups breeder has had some disappointing news today.

The puppy who is now 6 weeks old seems to have some swallowing problems. The breeder first noticed that the puppy was a bit "fussy" about his food when she first started to wean him at 3+ weeks. A trip to the vets confirmed that the puppy appeared in excellent health, was the correct weight for his age etc. and as he was lively it was decided that there couldn't be much wrong.

Apparently the puppy’s problem seemed to get worse and not only does he have problem with swallowing his food but he dribbles saliva a lot and it would appear he can’t always swallow this either. Another trip to the vets confirmed that although he is lively and not too underweight he is now smaller than his littermates and looks a bit thin by comparison. The vet doesn’t seem to think the problem is a Megaesophagus because the practical suggestions for helping pups/dogs with Megaesophagus haven’t made any improvement at all. If anyone has any experience of this type of problem or any suggestions I would be really grateful.

Chrissy

I looked after a litter of gsds and three of them had megasophagus, you say the vet does not seem to think it is this, what things did you try? with our pups all we did was soak the food well and always feed off the ground at head level, i dont know if you have tried this already.
Diane

Hi,

Thanks for your reply. The puppy's breeder has tried what you suggest all to no avail, this is why they are sceptical that is is a megasophagus. When I heard the symptoms my immediate thought was a megasophagus, but her vet seems to think it is something else (perhaps similar). They are waiting for news from the vet.

Out of interest, how did you get on with the 3 dogs? Did they (as they grew) "grow" out of the problem or did they need surgery?

Thanks for your help.

I only see one still but she is fine, she didnt need surgery they just kept her on food that they soaked for her and fed her off the floor, just a normal gobby gsd she turned into:D
One of the other dogs is a working police dog.

I just took my puppy to the vet in the middle of the night do due yaking like hair balls.  He was diagnosed with Megasophagus.  They did some blood work..I am hoping the test results come back as negative.  Can anyone offer me any advice?

I know this wont be much help but,

My 9 month old has megaesophagus ( as you can probly tell from my other posts) I don't think they grow out of it, but all we do is give him his food and water from a height and he is fine.(and we feed him softer sort of food so it will 'go down easier' as the vet said)

And as far as i know it dosent effect there happieness or anything, mine is still bright as a button!
He had blood tests that came back negative.. for mysthenia gravis (sp?) is that what your dog has been tested for?     
But don't worry too much about megaesophagus, hopefully it wont affect your dog too much xx

Has the vet done a barium meal?  They will need to diagnose the extent of the problem and perhaps that will show why their treatment isnt working.  The symptoms do sound a lot like megaoesophagus.  I have got a friend who has got a 6 year old dalmatian, a one year old one and someone with a 5 year great dane who are all fine.  Now one of the people feed theirs on liquid food or more precisely nutra diet dried food blended with water as this is the only way to keep it down the other two have to feed theirs on dried food and they find that goes down best.  they always allow one hour after befor giving water.  You are supposed to feed the puppy then hold it up for 10 minutes afterwards but as they get older everybody tells me they grow out of it and you only have to feed from a height. 

I actually had a puppy about 5 months ago diagnosed with one totally improved and had a barium meal redone and it showed no sign of one.  Unless there was a miracle happened the only explanation they can offer is the oesophagus was weak and then tightened due to the fact from 3 weeks he was feed up high.  The only symptom he had was milk through the nose.  He is now a strapping lad with no problems whatsoever. 

When I came on here at the time I had someone tell them theirs grew out of it.  It is a gamble but all you can do is try.

I'm surprised that they would a diagnosis of this by bloods, he needs to have an x-ray (barium swallow) to check this out i would of thought?

Mine had to have a endoscoptomy ( cant spell that sorry) And as they were pulling the camera thing back out they realised his esophagus wasn't working properly i think