Megaesophagus
There are three main "reasons" for megaesophagus. 1) congenital - puppies are born predisposed due to a structrual abnormality 2) acquired - secondary to other diseases and later onset (often autoimmune related, esp. myasthenia gravis, with or without thyroid involvement, and Addision's) 3) idiopathic - meaning there is no clear reason why, also generally later onset In our breed we more typically see this in the form of secondary to other diseases. The 2004 and 2009 OESCA health surveys unfortunately do not distinguish cause, something we apparently need to change before the next survey. In both surveys reported rates are low (0.36 % of dogs in the 04 sample, 0.22% in the 09 sample - numbers of affected dogs in both cases are too small to draw any firm conclusions, but there is a suggestion that females are more likely to be affected than males)and more likely to be acquired cases, but we can't say for sure. I've never heard of a puppy with the congenital form, which does not mean it never occurs, though my sense is that it is rare in OES. There is a genetic underpinning, though mode of inheritance is not clear. In some breeds this is a relatively widespread problem. I came across an interesting article about Ridgebacks which suggests a screening process when a problem is detected in a given litter or line (since that was the original question); http://rrcus.org/rhodesianridgebackheal ... phagus.doc Since this is uncommon in OES I would not expect breeders to specifically be screening for congenital megaesophagus unless they by chance produced a puppy with the problem, especially since the test itself is not without risk even to normal dogs. Kristine |
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| Not to sound dumb but what exactly is megaesopagus and what would be the symtoms??? |
Ashley wrote: Not to sound dumb but what exactly is megaesopagus and what would be the symtoms??? Not dumb at all. Sorry about that. I shouldn't assume everyone would necessarily know what this is. In the acquired/idiopathic conditions the muscles in the esophageous start to fail (lose muscle tone) for reasons that aren't necessarily well understood, which means that water and food cannot be propelled downwards properly. Because myasthenia gravis is a disease which involves weakening of the muscles it isn't too surprising that this may also involve the muscle of the esophogus, and megaesophagus can be the first symptom in some cases of MG. I lived with such a dog for a short while; she wasn't mine, but she was staying with me and she started vomiting small amounts after almost every meal, although it started with what I first described to the vet as "cacking", small, unproductive attempts at vomiting (not all dogs who "cack" have megaesophagus, there are many reasons for "cacking", but a persistent cacking in a middle-aged to older dog is probably always worth checking out, and not just with this in mind). Dogs like this may lose weight, sometimes apparently quite dramatically (she did not) And the confusing thing in her case was that this was the only form of muscle weakness she experienced. Her vet, being an OES breeder, was nonetheless suspicious and tested for MG, and sure enough, that's what she had. Hypothyroidism has also been implicated (loosely) in MG but in her case her thyroid was normal. She was diagnosed at 9 or 10 and was fed in an elevated bowl to lessen the risk of aspirating (which is a serious complication of megaesophogus) and put on some kind of meds (not sure what) and perhaps since hers was a mild case caught fairly early - or then again maybe she just had a mild case which would have progressed slowly in any event, I'm not sure - she was fine and never had any real problems, but it was a scary diagnosis at the time. Congenital megaesophogus is somewhat different, though the net effect is the same in terms of the esophogus not doing it's job efficiently leading to vomiting and do on. The congenital variety is typically diagnosed quite young, and except in mild cases, does not carry a very good prognosis. Kristine |
| Thanks Kristine, somebody asked me the other day what exactly it was and all I could come up with was ummmmmm  I know in my head what it is but, couldn't explain it  |
| Thanks Kristine. This was excellent information for all to keep in their files. Robin |
| Hmmm...Izzie, now 6, has occasionally "coughed up" food/water for her entire life. Sometimes it will happen several times in a day. Then I won't notice her do it for days/weeks at a time. She isn't vomiting....just all of a sudden, cough...and out comes some food/water. Would that be what this is? |
| It's probably something to discuss with your vet. Regurgitation occurs with megaesophagus. With regurgitation, the contents come up without effort... it's more passive, the contents just suddenly reappear. Vomiting requires effort to make stomach contents come up. If it was megaesophagus, would regurgitation be more frequent, after every meal? I wonder if overloading the stomach can be a cause of regurgitation too... |
| My four year old male does that regurgitation thing after he was running like a loon and gupled down water too fast. Never thought it might be a problem to discuss with Vet |
It sounds like there's a reasonable explanation for that one... the running like a loon and gulping water.  Kristine can share more because she has first hand experience. I've only done a little reading on it after following that little 12 week old that eventually entered rescue back in early 2009. Dogs with Megaesophagus need to be fed in an upright or at least elevated position so the food goes and stays in the stomach. People with megaesophagus dogs often prop the dog up or use a Bailey Chair. The dog must stay in that position for a short period of time. You'll find more info here- http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_megaesophagus.html |
| I read to never feed or let the dog drink water for at least 30 minutes before and after hard play.Seems to be linked to bloat. Robin |
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