How to Care for a Dog with Megaesophagus - Understanding Megaesophagus

1. Learn why your dog has megaesophagus. This condition can happen for three reasons:
- The muscles of the tube don't contract properly and fail to massage food down into the stomach
- The muscles lack tone and a baggy pocket forms, trapping food
- The esophagus is caught within a ring of blood vessels (a vascular ring anomaly), and is physically constricted at a point in its length (imagine putting your foot on a hose). This stops food from passing along.

2. Recognize the difference between vomiting and regurgitation. The most common symptom a dog with megaesophagus will display is regurgitating food on a regular basis. Regurgitation is a passive process whereby the dog may only need to lower his head to the ground and food that was sitting in the esophagus spills down into his mouth because of gravity. This food usually is undigested because it hasn't made it as far as the stomach, and has been sitting passively in the pouch.
- It can be difficult to tell the difference between regurgitation and vomiting, but there is a subtle difference between the two events. Vomiting involves food that has entered the stomach and requires forceful muscular contractions, often involving the diaphragm and stomach muscles, to void the stomach of its contents. Vomitus is usually partially, or fully, digested depending on how long food has been in contact with the digestive acids in the stomach.

3. Be on the lookout for complications, like secondary pneumonia. Your pup is also at greater risk of accidentally inhaling food or fluids down into his lungs. This can cause secondary pneumonia, in which case the dog will be lethargic, cough, breath heavily, and refuse food. Dogs with a secondary pneumonia tend to be very ill, may run a fever, go off their food, and progress to a state of collapse over four to five days. The associated cough tends to be moist and rattle-like.
- If the dog breathes in at the wrong moment as he regurgitates, he inhales food or fluid, down into his lungs. This sets up an "aspiration pneumonia" which can be serious and needs prompt treatment with antibiotics. Be vigilant for any coughing, and always seek prompt veterinary attention should your dog seem breathless, off color, or cough.