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To be fair, it's actually my wife and the vet that spared this dog. Not that I was bloodthirsty or anything (
), but I showed up that day mentally prepared to spare the dog a life of agony. I was prepared for the vet to suggest putting her down if it was, in fact, megaesophagus. When he confirmed it (barium x-ray looked like a 'lazy river' in her esophagus), my heart sunk, and I just knew the next thing he'd suggest would be to spare her the misery.
My wife just started BAWLING when he confirmed it, though.. The vet was more ambivalent about our options than I expected, so I asked what he'd do if it were
his dog.. He looked at my wife, then at this adorable little 7wk old puppy and said..."I'd give her a chance." He told us that we should keep her food pretty liquid so it moves easily, feed her on an incline, and that we'd know what do to within a week or two.
Thankfully, it worked.
She had some stomach issues a while back and had another barium x-ray just to rule out a worsening of the megaesophagus condition.. Vet said it didn't really look that bad. Not worsening, anyway. Her stomach issues ended up being grain related, but we were very happy to know that her esophagus didn't seem to be expanding..
Hopefully she'll live to old age without it ever getting any worse.
She'll be 3-1/2 next month....from what I read, the average lifespan on a MegaE dog is about 2yrs.