It seems like when it rains, it pours when it comes to illness.
From Thanksgiving through Christmas, Chloe was in and out of the vet. She has been vomiting all the time and we could just not figure out what was wrong. She seemed healthy otherwise, but just could not keep her food down. The vet kept doing test after test but just couldn't figure out what the problem was. Finally, after a barium test, Chloe was diagnosed with Mega Esophagus. Basically her esophagus is enlarged to many times the size it should be. Food does not travel along as it is supposed to anymore. There is no real cure for this. I did a bunch of research online and found a group of others with dogs who had this problem. In many cases, it is possible to control the symptoms by having the dogs eat in a special chair called a "Bailey Chair", named after the first dog who used one. The chair keeps the dog upright while they eat and they have to sit in it for 20 minutes afterword while the food travels down the pipes with gravity, since the muscles that normally do the work are not longer functioning. You have to make their food very liquidy with a food processor and lots of water, to make it easier for it to travel down to their stomach. At first, we were discouraged because even using the chair Chloe was throwing up some. I had been soaking her normal dry food in water and then whirring it through the food processor. Then I decided to switch to canned food (also whirred in the food processor with water). That seemed to do the trick. She seems to be improving quite a bit. Here is a cell phone picture of her in the Bailey Chair Corey built for her.
At first Chloe squirmed a lot and tried to get out of the chair. Now she is much more relaxed in there. It is very cute because Lily tries to entertain her. Here is a video.
Yesterday, I found Chloe putting Jake in the chair. Maybe he has Mega Esophagus, too?
Then just when we thought we were all feeling better, Ed the cat came down with bladder issues. The vet through he needed surgery, but in the end it turned out to be treatable with medication. Thank goodness!
Here is a random photo that I love.
and another...
These days Lily has 4, count them, 4, blankies. She is very attached to each of them and each morning she gathers them all up and carries them around the house. Throughout the day, they are deposited randomly around the living quarters and at night they must be tucked in with her and Jake. Yesterday she wet the bed during her nap and I had to put them into the washer. She cried and cried and hugged the washing machine. I had to drag her away from it with tears running down her cheeks. Poor girl.
Another funny thing happened the other day. I was on the computer in my room and she walks in and plops a wet diaper smack on top of my keyboard. I was in complete shock trying to figure out how she got into the diaper pail. Then I look down to see her nakkie hiney. Point taken, little one! Love that girlie.
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