2 Year Vet Check-Up

Sidney had his 2 year Vet appointment last Friday. They tested his blood work, fecal samples and several other things. The tests all came back great. No problems. He is healthy and in good shape and weighed in at 53 pounds.

So even though Sidney is on 5mg of Bethanechol twice a day and gets one Prilosec OTC tablet in the evenings - that hasn't adversely affected his health. I was worried that maybe since he is a dog and these aren't typical meds for a dog to be on regularly, that maybe it would affect other parts of him negatively. Luckily, this is not the case and Sidney has a clean bill of health. So our routine is working. His diet is keeping him in shape. He is well-hydrated, has a great coat and the meds seem to help minimize the regurgitation from what we can tell. Although he regurgitated when I got home from work yesterday. Wouldn't be life with Sidney's Megaesophagus without at least one hiccup.

Sidney is Feeling Better

Sidney seems much better. Not sure what was wrong - but it is always better to be safe than sorry. When we suspect anything, we address it immediately. If the main threat to Sidney's life is Aspiration Pneumonia, then we are taking that very serious.
I believe that as long as we diligently keep a watch for any of these symptoms that Sidney will live a very long, healthy and happy life.
ALSO - the photo is what Sidney does when he is feeling uncomfortable or sick. He raises himself fairly vertical on the couch and sits like that until he feels better. Pretty impressive.

Sick in the Middle of the Night

Sidney woke me up at around 4am the other day. It wasn't the normal swallowing sounds or regurgitation. It was more like he was struggling to regurgitate. He did it several times and then kept trying. I felt so bad for him, but I really couldn't do anything at 4 in the morning aside from sit with him and try and make him feel better. Maybe he ate a stick or something. It's tough to tell. He unfortunately loves to eat sticks for some reason, which is super frustrating. YES, we try and correct the behavior every day - easier said than done.

I was worried because he sneezed several times and it seemed like he was having trouble breathing. What sucks is it's hard to distinguish between a Megaesophagus issue and a random he has something stuck in his throat issue. Of course I err on the side of caution. Aspiration Pneumonia is the enemy. It is the one thing that will kill him with this stupid condition. After a while he seemed to get out whatever the problem was, but we still need to be careful.

We have watched him closely, got him on his Aspiration Pneumonia meds to be safe and have the Vet on speed dial. So far he hasn't shown any more symptoms or issues. However last night around 4am again, he woke me up with his "more normal" gulping/swallowing sounds. He sits up as straight as he can because I think it makes him feel better in a vertical position. My smart little guy.

He hasn't lost his appetite and hasn't lost any energy or had any difficulty breathing, etc. So I think we will be OK - hopefully anyways. We will get him checked out next week to be sure unless I see something that we need to rush him to the Vet sooner.