For the past few weeks, Gus has been spitting up and vomiting food, it was an eerily familiar experience for me. This week, the condition worsened, and he was vomiting four or five times a row, several times a day.

Aside from the mess  and discomfort  for him and us – it was extremely foul-smelling – we realized there was a problem and we brought him to see Dr. Suzanne Fariello at the Cambridge Valley Vet today.

She examined Gus and suggested an X-ray after administering a small amount of barium (the white substance on the right), so that she could examine his esophagus, where we both thought the problem was coming from.

Dr. Fariello is a superb diagnostician, she spotted the issue right away.

She showed us the X-rays and diagnosed him as having Megaesophagus.  Gus’s esophagus was abnormally swollen (see the small hand on left of the X-ray).

When a dog’s esophagus is healthy, it is narrow, and squeezes food down into the stomach by contracting and relaxing.When it is swollen, the movement of food into the digestive system is blocked.

Megaesophagus is the most common cause for regurgitation in the dog.

Regurgitation results from the inability of the esophagus to contract properly and push food down to the stomach.

As a result, the ingested food and/or liquid remains in the esophagus, for anywhere from minutes to hours to days. Since the good doesn’t reach the stomach, the dogs has no sensation of being full and will continue to eat. As a result, the esophagus  enlarges as it dilates  with food.

The majority of cases of canine megaesophagus have no apparent cause, and treatments vary wildly.  The illness is not a breeding issue.

I want to say right off that this condition is not genetic. Both of Gus’s parents and all of his siblings are seen by Dr Fariello, and  none of them have this condition. Dr. Fariello describes the line as exceptionally healthy and sound.

It is also quite ironic that my mother suffered from this same condition, they called it acid reflex or esophagitis. I took her to many doctors regarding it and learned a great deal about it. Perhaps this is why I recognized it so quickly in Gus. How curious that my mother and my dog would eventually have the same disease. Perhaps she has come back to haunt me, she often complained I didn’t take proper care of her.

This condition is confusing, it isn’t cut and dry, there is no instant fix, no surgery or common resolution.

It can be a major chronic problem or a minor one. It can be caused by anesthetics – Gus was neutered a few weeks ago – or it can disappear as part of the growth process.  It might be caused by a viral disease of some kind. Gus is only nine months old, he is still growing. Megaesophagus can also be caused by parasites or lead paint, peristalsis or pneumonia. We will almost certainly never know what has caused it in Gus.

Of course, there are vast online support groups for people whose pets have Megaesophagus. At this point, I don’t care to join them, I’ll go with my vet.  We are taking some steps to respond to this.

One is medication to reduce acid, and is administered before Gus eats.  We have dissolvable pills and a syringe.

We are raising his food bowl eight or nine inches off of the ground so he will raise his head when he eats and swallows. We can, if we wish, give him Pepcid or Zantac.

Many pet owners with this condition use “Bailey Chairs,” specially constructed eating chairs so dogs can sit up like infants when they eat and force the food down past the swollen esophagus. These chairs cost hundreds of dollars. We aren’t there yet, I don’t want one as of now. If I do, I’ll happily buy one..

We are, at Dr. Fariello’s recommendation,  switching his food from dry kibble to special wet or canned food – Purina Pro Plan Gastroenteric.

There were immediate results today.

Gus hasn’t spit up or gagged up or vomited his food once today. There was no gulping or any signs of acid reflex. Dr. Fariello wants us to monitor Gus for five days – give him medicine before and after he eats, stop giving him conventional hard treats or any kind of kibble. She also wants us to hold him in our laps sitting upright for five or ten minutes after he eats. No problem there.

Then we’ll sit down and strategize further. In the meantime, no therapy training or work.

So another chapter in our lives with dogs, more things to learn, more perspective to keep. This could go on for years, it could go away in days. I’ll share the process as always. Gus is in great spirits, running around like a madman, bossing the other dogs around, running his farm.

We are lucky to have him.