Euthanized dog with megaesophagus.

Dr. Marie replied:

Aw. I'm sorry to hear about Bailey's story. Megaesophagus can be devastating. There are some dogs that can have mild forms of megaesophagus where they do really well with eating soft/liquid food from a raised platform. But other dogs really do not do well.

When I hear about Bailey's case, I think that if this were my case I would definitely have recommended euthanasia. As I see it, he had three issues:

-Megaesophagus
-Possible aspiration pneumonia
-Possible intestinal blockage

If we just ignore the second two issues for now, just the fact that he had megaesophagus for a year and was not able to put on weight would be enough for me to recommend euthanasia. If he is hungry all the time, that is not fair at all. And it sounds like you guys were doing everything possible that you could.

Now, let's add the fact that he had aspiration pneumonia. This is very serious. Now, it is possible that the pneumonia could be cured with antibiotics, but in some cases it can be fatal.

Thirdly, let's add the fact that there was possibly an intestinal blockage. Most likely he would have needed surgery to fix this. Surgery would not be advisable in a dog with aspiration pneumonia. There is a good chance that he would have died on the operating table and you would have been left with a large bill and still no dog.

But, even if he did have a blockage and he made it through surgery successfully, this doesn't change the fact that Bailey had megaesophagus so bad that he was starving every minute of his life.

In my opinion, with what you have told me, as hard as it was, I believe you made the right decision.

Dr. Marie.


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