Megaesophagus and the Bailey Chair
What is Megaesophagus
Megaesophagus is a symptom where the muscles of the esophagus fail and it cannot propel food or water into the stomach. The result is that ingested food sits in the esophagus and never makes it to the stomach. Ultimately, the dog will regurgitate the food. This is different than vomiting. Vomit is digested or partially digested food that is usually yellow because of the presence of digestive fluids from the stomach. Vomiting is an active process usually preceded by gagging, heaving, and retching as the body actively expels stomach contents. On the other hand, regurgitation is a passive process with food coming from the esophagus undigested and suddenly expelled, often without any retching sounds or warning.
What is a Bailey Chair?
A Bailey Chair is a box your dog (or other animal) can sit in to allow the forces of gravity to overcome this disability. Megaesophagus is difficult to detect and diagnose, and the medical remedies are limited. It is an elusive disability as most symptoms are quickly labeled as allergies or other digestive related problems. If identified it can be treated though by feeding the animal in an upright position. This allows gravity to assist the esophagus in moving the food to the stomach. It’s a fairly simply remedy and just about anyone can build a bailey box. [LINK]
We aren’t certain Gunner has Megaesophagus, but I’ve built him two chairs now and feeding him in it has drastically improved his ability to keep food down. In combination with a raw diet we are finally feeling in control of his condition, albeit we haven’t fully identified what it (or they) are.
Here is a a photo of his first chair I built;
version one
You can see i built it too big. I like to just “dive in” to projects like this and obviously a little more planning would have saved me some time.
Even though this wasn’t the best fit, he did tolerate it and eating his meals in it produced the right outcome: no barf.
Bailey chair version 2.0 was much better. I narrowed it some, stained it (for my own benefit) and lined it with some carpet remanent I had laying around.
Bailey Chair version 2.0
Bailey Chair version 2.0
It might sound silly, but since this is going to be a permanent fixture in our home I thought it be worthwhile to at least make it pleasant to look at. Who doesn’t love the look of polished nickel hinges on espresso wood?
We also added a pillow to the bottom for him to sit on. He’s a champ while being fed, but getting him to sit there for 15 minutes is a challenge. The pillow helps, as does holding a treat over his head.
Gunner in version 2
I also ditched the towel around the pvc pipe his paws are on. Since we’re feeding raw, this is much easier to keep sanitized.
Version 3 will come down the road, but I’ll post some simple plans to follow on how to create this, how much I spent and the tools necessary. I wish we would have tried this before surgery, but hindsight is 20-20.
Read more here
Hi- just found this post- my dog was just diagnosed with M/E- did you ever post any plans?
We’re working on the plans Tana! Check back mid December. We also may have a commercially available version in the coming months too.
Hi, thanks for the great post. I would love the instructions for how to build the Bailey chair. You mentioned a few times that you would get around to it some time. I like your model better than others I’ve seen online. I’m in dog rescue and one of my former foster dogs was recently dumped in the desert because she was “sick” or so the adopter said on her social network page. The dog is 6 years old and has confirmed megaesophagus. I am struggling with what to do with her because it seems her quality of life is not that good. I’ve only had her back a week (thank goodness for microchips … she was picked up by the pound and scanned which is the only way I even know she was dumped in the first place).
She is the sweetest thing. If we could find a way to manage the megaesophagus, that would be wonderful. Also, you said Gunner stays in the chair for 10 minutes. Is that enough? I’ve been holding this dog up for 7 minutes (as long as she will tolerate so far) and it doesn’t seem to work long enough for her food to pass to her stomach … still lost of regurgitation.
Jamminjosie,
Thank you for having such a big heart.
How long the dog sits entirely subjective to the dogs needs. Gunner usually sits for 10 minutes, but occasionally longer. Often, we can actually hear the food travel into the stomach. sounds a little like a burp. The wetter the food the better:
• A wet diet that is low in fat and semi solid in consistency is optimal. We feed ground Raw Meat [LINK]. I personally think this helps considerably because it isn’t as abrasive as dry kibble, or as large. If you are committed to keeping the animal on kibble, you might have more success by soaking it in water for an hour prior to feeding. Most commercial kibble is heat-pressed, which means it will expand when it is saturated in water (or mucus). Think about the effect of that if the kibble is stuck in the esophagus.
You’re doing a great thing. I’ll post plans for our version of the Bailey Chair soon. Would love to hear how she does.
Just found this site as I have an 80lb GSD Byron that was just diagnosed with this. Thank you very much for this info especially since my dog is bigger than all the other sites I have found.