Canine MegaEsophagus

My GoldenDoodle has just been diagnosed with Canine Mega Esophagus. It can be pretty scary, but we have it pretty well managed at least for now. The specialist (in Richmond), who I like very much, said that our Doodles are prone to this condition -- that he's seeing more of it than the population would indicate. Have any of you Doodle lovers seen this in your dogs? (BTW, Canine MegaEsophagus is a condition whereby the dog has an enlarged esophagus which creates a condition that makes it difficult for dog food to easily travel down the esophagus, and so they regurgitate with some frequency.) In some cases, it can be easy to explain away, but is very serious.

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Permalink Reply by Pam and Ginger Snap on April 4, 2012 at 9:03pm

Where did you see Scout?

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Permalink Reply by Ronna, Murphy & Wilson on April 5, 2012 at 5:30am

Saw him on Facebook...he was in foster care again. I contacted DRC and they knew about it and said he was safe but still needs a forever home. He is with a different orginization from what I understand, don't really have any details.

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Permalink Reply by Jennifer,Chloe & Myla on April 5, 2012 at 9:27am

So sad about Scout, heartbreaking.

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Permalink Reply by Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle on April 5, 2012 at 10:47am

Scout was kind of a "joint project" through a couple of different rescues, so as to get him as much exposure to as many potential adopters as possible.

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Permalink Reply by Jacquie Yorke (DRC) on April 5, 2012 at 4:40pm

Hi Deb and All. Deb thank you so much for being an extraordinary doodle mom! Harry is a beautiful boy and one lucky dood to have you..: ) I don't mean to hijack your discussion but I wanted to comment regarding Scout and other doodles we have had in the DRC program with ME. In total we have had 4 in the program since 2009.

Scout was originally a courtesy post for his original owner who reached out to us for assistance with placing him into a home in 2010. At that time, his owners wanted him to stay in their home until adopted. Knowing they had experience with placing these dogs we asked rescue colleagues Jodi Goldberg of ATPAR in PA and Robin Urman of PetResQ in NJ to also post Scout. Together all three organizations were coordinating our efforts to get Scout placed into an ME experienced, responsible and quality home. We had several wonderful candidates that were forwarded to Scout's owner and were told they had found a home for him.

But when we were contacted last month by a first time dog owner and single mother with a request for assistance with placing her miniature Goldendoodle with ME named Scout, we realized it was the same dog. Apparently Scout's original owners had decided to place him with some friend of a friend of a friends who had never had a dog before, worked full time, had 3 kids under the age of 8, was going through a divorce and lived in an apartment. She was crating Scout 10 hours a day, was not following any of the feeding protocols for ME and was basically starving the poor dog to death slowly. She was also threatening to dump him at a shelter where he would have been euthanized on the spot.

Thankfully, one of our wonderful foster volunteers in Maryland Brenda Stacy picked up Scout and has been fostering him ever since. Scout was not in great shape by the time we got him and he needed to see a specialist and be brought up to date on literally everything. So ATPAR graciously stepped up and offered to pick up the tab for Scout's vetting and care.

The great news is that he is doing beautifully, in foster care and has put on most of the much needed weight he had lost while in that inappropriate and neglectful home. Poor guy was so grateful to be out of that crazy house he literally leaped into Brenda's car tail wagging a million miles a minute. So as of now Scout is posted on ATPAR's website and will be up on the DRC site hopefully by this evening.

He's a great little guy. Very loving and sweet. He just needs to be fed 3-4 times a day in his Bailey chair and kept quiet for half an hour after eating. Otherwise he's a normal, healthy and happy doodle boy.

Deb, thank you so much again for being a dedicated and devoted doodle mom and for taking such incredible care of Harry! ME is more often than not, manageable unless there are other health issues or complications arise as a result of failure to follow appropriate feeding protocols.

We just placed a beautiful girl with ME last month and she too is doing great in her new home!

Thank you again Deb for sharing Harry's story with us all and for allowing me to temporarily hijack your discussion to update everyone on Scout.