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Success Stories....
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ZANDER
This is a story of a boy named Zander. He is a happy healthy pup. He loves to run and play. His favorite pastime is to dig for his ball in his baby pool. |
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Zander has completed Puppy Obedience, Level 1 Obedience, and now he is training in Agility. In two short months Zander will already be one year old. We will be qualifying him for Therapy Dog (TDI) and Canine Good Citizen (CGC).
So, what else is so different about my Zander than a million other dogs? At age 6 weeks Zander was regurging everything he ate. At every meal he acted as if it was the first meal ever. So off to the vet we went. At that time Zander was diagnosed with Megaesophagus. I was one of the lucky ones. My vet was very supportive. She sent me home with different things to try. She told me to get on the Internet, and also to find the Support Group!! Well after weeks of trail and error, and tears and constant worry, the sought changes emerged - his food was staying down and his weight started to increase and eventually normalize. He was eating out of a high chair. It didn't take long for him to outgrow that, so we moved on to the Bailey chair. I used supplements, vitamins, special foods. We still saw a very slight regurge here and there. So I backed off some on supplementation and extra foods.. The thing about MegaE is that it is a whole lot of trial and error. You have your basics in care techniques that are a must. But the rest I think might be up to the breed type, how severe the symptoms are, and how dedicated and vigilant you are. It wasn't long before people could not tell the difference between Zander and his litter mate. Fast forward to today!! Zander will be one on Sept 9th. He eats his meals and will for the rest of his life from his Bailey chair. His daily meals consist of 5 cups wet large breed puppy Eukanuba, one egg, 2 Complete B-complex, kelp, and fish oil. And always a little something extra!! His water is elevated. And limited. I found after hard play it was better to give him ice chips. No regurging! He is currently going through a growth spurt - perfectly normal at this age for his breed. And now he is as tall, if not taller than his mother. I had the opportunity on two different occasions to place him in different homes. I declined. When he was younger people would refer to him as the sick one. Not anymore. Mind over matter. I don't treat him that way. And I have learned it is not helpful to the dog to look at him with sad eyes. They need your happy eyes and smiles to encourage them!!! Submitted by: | |||