After every meal, we are supposed to hold Gus upright for 15-20 minutes so that his food has a chance to move down through the esophagus. The only way we can tell if this is working is if his stools are relatively normal, that tells us that most, if not all of the food, is making its way through his digestive.
Maria is quite good at this, she’s turned it into a morning meditation session, which Gus lives and sets a sweet tone for the day.
This sitting up exercise is important.
Otherwise, it comes out through the front end and Gus loses weight and can starve. So far, so good. I have been spending many hours working on dietary formula and researching the effect of food on animals with this disease.
What I’ve learned is to simplify. We have cut out all of the medications Gus has taken and switched to a more robust, high-calorie food – a Pro Plan turkey and sweet potato mix. I’m winding down the EN gastronetric food, it will be gone from Gus’s diet by Friday.
I’m eliminating the high-caloric recovery food, I’m scaling back on the lubricants like chicken broth and using only one teaspoon of yoghurt to keep the food soft. I feel like Dr. Frankenstein in his lab sometimes.
In a week or so, Gus will be getting one wed dog food, lubricated with a couple of teaspoons of yoghurt. That’s it. I see this approach is working, at least for now. There will always be some episodes, the disease is not curable.
Gus has had very few episodes of regurgitation and vomiting, down by about 75 to 80 per cent. the medications were doing more harm than good, causing him to gag, urinate excessively, and have accidents.
More days than not, there are no regurgitations at all. So I’m sticking with this formula for nw, I think I don’t have to experiment any more, this is as good as it will probably get, and we can live with it. Gus seem healthy and active and obnoxious and affectionate -that’s Gus.
The message is simplicity and experimentation. To avoid doing too much or too little.
In a few weeks, we’ll X-ray Gus again to see how his esophagus is doing and figure out where to go from here.
The idea is balance, balance in all things.
The love for Gus comes through in this picture so clearly. He has won your hearts and you have won his. Bostons love nothing more than cuddling like this which is a win for Gus in the treatment of his illness. I love seeing him run with the dogs. He’s a lucky dog! I pray that he will be one of the dogs that grows out of his illness, but if not, I know you are and will do everything for his quality of life. Best of luck at his next vet visit!
You are all so blessed to have each other. So glad both your efforts are working.