Senior Dog with Megaesophagus and other issues!
 

Hi All,

Just a little background first. I have an 11 yr old peke mix that has megaesophagus. She acquired it about 3 years ago and it's slowly gotten worse. She has MAJOR dental issues(I know because her breath smells like rotting sewage and I've found a couple teeth throughout the house) She is currently on sucralfate, Pepcid and metoclopramide 2-3 times daily(or as often as I can get it into her...usually only once/day)
She was on clavamox a month ago for an upper respitory infection due to aspiration.
When it comes to medicating her, my only option is to mix the meds in food. If she even sees a dropper or syringe she turns into a land shark! I value my fingers and other limbs and I hate to stress her more than she already is. My issue now though is that she barely wants to eat, yet I can tell she's starving and WANTS to eat :/ she's lost a considerable amount of weight and I have the hardest time(here recently) keeping it on her. It seems her biggest problem is keeping water/fluids down. She's constantly thirsty. She aspirated a few days ago(in the process of us moving across country) her breathing is somewhat rigid and shallow if that makes any sense! I sometimes have to get really close to make sure she's still breathing!
It now looks as though there is a molar that is either infected or abscessed that is definitely bothering her! I can't have her put under due to the severity of her megaesophagus and age and she cannot tolerate ACE at all! Are there other options to removing teeth that are causing problems without having to put her under or give her ACE? I'm so afraid that she either has or will developed a bacterial infection because of her bad teeth!
My other question is WHAT else can I do do get her to eat and keep it down and keep her hydrated? I've been cooking her chicken with broth, hamburgers, wet food, baby food, fresh pet bite size food(which has been the most successful, except now she's even refusing that!) At this point I feed her whatever she wants. She regurgitates on average about 10 times a day. Some days are better than others. Please help! She's a spitfire that I love and hate seeing her miserable and lethargic! I am currently looking at vets in my area, but I'm VERY picky as she's a difficult dog to handle in general. :/

Sorry your dog is so ill.
She must be in a lot of pain if her teeth are rotting to the point of falling out. One of my dogs had severe dental disease (x-breeding puppymill rescue). She would not eat either probably because of how painful her mouth was but as soon as the teeth were removed she started eating. There is also a high risk of blood poisoning with severe dental disease so I'm thinking she needs to visit the vet ASAP. Good Luck

I don't know much about the other options, but ACE is often not recommended because dogs are still aware, just can't respond. I think there are better drugs out there.....

Do you keep her upright during eating and after for a period of time? I think that well-managed mega, there should not be that much regurgitation? Is the thyroid in a good range? Addison's been ruled out?