Is megaesophagus fatal for dogs? What are the risks and treatments?

There was a recent study that looked into the use of Sildenafil and megaesophagus. At a recent conference held by an internal medicine specialist, they are now using Sildenafil in these cases to reduce regurgitation and are finding great improvement and a decrease in the amount of regurgitation. Here is a link to the paper. There were no comments on weight gain when using Sildenafil and no mention of this in the study. I hope this helps! You can show your veterinarian this research paper as well. We have used Sildenafil in several cases of megaesophagus now and they have shown much improvement since starting. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further! ( http://caninemegaesophagusinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Sildenfil-CIM-Full-1.pdf )

I don't think you will be able to find a simple answer to this question, because there really isn't any good data available. Dogs with megaesophagus who have frequent episodes of aspiration pneumonia often live shorter lives than those who do not. There are a large number of dogs with megaesophagus who are able to have a normal life expectancy with appropriate care and prevention. I have attached 2 handouts below. The second has links to a great Yahoo group for owners of dogs with megaesophagus as well as a link to the Bailey Chair website. https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=604 https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=3480 Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Hello and thank you for reaching out to Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. I'm sorry to hear that Rooney has been diagnosed with megaesophagus. This means that the esophagus is abnormally enlarged/dilated, and does not move food down toward the stomach appropriately. This can make dogs more prone to regurgitating their food or water, meaning the food or water falls from their mouth after eating/drinking. Dogs with megaesophagus are more likely to develop aspiration pneumonia, which can be life-threatening. The type of food is not as important as how you feed Rooney. It will be important to feed Rooney in an upright position, and offer him meatballs of wet dog food one at a time. There are specific dog feeding chairs, called Bailey chairs, that you can purchase online, that help dogs with megaesophagus eat upright. I hope this is helpful!

Sadly his long term prognosis is probably not very good if he is regurgitating water in addition to food. Some dogs can be managed for awhile with elevated feedings, and at some point a low profile gastric feeding tube might be an option. If the megaesophagus is caused by a vascular ring anomaly then the prognosis could be good with surgery, but this is usually obvious on a chest x-ray.

Wow, this is quite a complicated case, so the answer will not be straightforward and is very involved. I'm assuming that you are trying to present an impressive report, but I'd recommend scaling this back, because the more complications you add, the more you will be accountable for. There are a few fundamental things that I'd like to point out about your report that are already erroneous and may result in reduced points. First, you need to understand the difference between symptoms and signs. Symptoms are what the patient is feeling and telling you. Examples of this are the patient feels tired, pain or dizzy. Since animals cannot talk, we can only base these things on observations (aka signs). This means that you can never truly refer to anything as a symptom in animals. They are all signs. Megaesophagus is a sign. You should also be aware of the difference between ammonia and pneumonia. Ammonia is a nitrogen-containing molecule and is often used as a cleaning product. Pneumonia is a condition where the lungs are diseased/inflamed. If you have not been taught these concepts, then I doubt your instructor expects you to know what medications to give for this condition. To make it easier, but still impressive, I would say that the pup has a persistent right aortic arch (PRAA) and that you need to place a stomach tube while he awaits surgery for the PRAA. Keep the SOAP simple to the level of education you are at. There is no way your instructor could expect you to know how to diagnose and treat these conditions. This is graduate veterinary level of work. I know I still haven't answered you question, so I'll give you a few treatments below for pneumonia secondary to megaesophagus, which would be secondary to Mysthenia gravis. If he had this along with anemia and a stomach tube, then there would be no take-home meds, because this dog would need to be hospitalized. IV enrofloxacin and metronidazole for the pneumonia Oral (through the stomach tube) pyridostigmine for the Megaesophagus. Blood transfusion depending on the severity of anemia When dog recovers from pneumonia, it should go on oral prednisone for the Myesthenia Gravis. I hope that helps and the project turns out well.

Megaesophagus is not something that suddenly appears unless it is congenital. THis could have developed ofer a long period of time and your dog was able to compensate so you would not have noticed any problem By Friday it may have just enlarged to the point where Sarena was not able to compensate and then you noticed that she hat trouble eating. Here is some useful information: https://vcahospitals.com/know-your-pet/megaesophagus

I am so sorry for your loss. Megacolon is not particularly common in dogs. There is usually an underlying disease process that causes the colon to become larger than normal, making it difficult to impossible for pets to have a bowel movement. Some of the possible underlying causes include Myasthenia Gravis, severe chronic constipation, disease of the rectum or anus, and injury to the spinal cord or pelvic bones. If a pet is very young with megacolon, it can be a congenital deformity. Occasionally, we never discover the underlying cause; this would be an idiopathic case of megacolon. There are several different treatment options that can help manage mild-to-moderate megacolon, including enemas, medications to stimulate colon contraction, or laxatives or stool softeners, as well as directly treating the underlying cause if known. I am a veterinary acupuncturist and have had moderate success in treating megacolon cats with acupuncture as it is another modality that can cause colon contraction and decrease pain. Abdominal massage can also aid in comfort and stimulating the colon. Occasionally, you have to physically express the stool from the colon if the pet will allow. As I mentioned above, megacolon is not common in dogs. It can be much harder to manage than megacolon in cats simply due to size of the pet. I hope this information has answered your question. If there is anything more we can discuss about megacolon or problems specific to your pet, or tips on handling grief after the loss of a pet, please choose a consult and we can discuss things further.