This week marked several major milestones. Thursday, my self-imposed maternity leave ended and I started teaching yoga again. Friday was the 10 year anniversary of our first date (movie: Cruel Intentions with Reese, Ryan and Selma and dinner: sushi in the Mission). Saturday was the two year anniversary of my arrival in Argentina. Tomorrow - another biggie. We'll leave our beloved bulldog Utta in the care of a friend for the first time since we moved here. By extension, this trip to Dallas (visiting family) will be the first time Hugh and I have taken a vacation together in two years.
Taking care of Utta is no small favor. She has a condition called Megaesophagus (an enlarged esophagus) and is a "special needs" doggie. What are these needs? Well, for starters, she eats in a chair like a baby and will do so for the rest of her life. It's a highchair but rests on the ground. Twice a day, one of us leads her to the chair, puts her in it either by picking her up (at 50 lbs, its like heaving a large sack of sand) or backing her into it and lifting her paws up to slide the rollbar in front of her chest. Once seated, she's fed by hand. The dog food is soaked in water first (to weigh it down and to satisfy her hydration needs) in a measuring cup. Once the dog pellets are placed in her mouth two or three at a time, the leftover water (like dogfood soup) is poured into her mouth. Set the timer for 30 minutes and leave her in the chair for the food to make its way down to her stomach. If this routine weren't followed, she'd vomit the food/water and potential aspirate fluid into her lungs, get pneumonia and die. The vet who diagnosed her back when she was a 1 year old puppy told us she probably wouldn't live another year and that we should come to grips with the reality of her condition. Instead of listening to him, we found a support network through Yahoogroups of other owners of megaesophagus dogs. One of the members of the group designed a chair for her dog to eat sitting upright. For every new member, she sends (for free) a CD with detailed instructions on how to build the chair for your own dog. Utta is almost 5 years old now, healthy and happy thanks to that chair and our vigilant routine.
She can't have treats or eat anything off the floor. She gets hot easily (like all bulldogs) and must sleep with a fan blowing on her and the a/c on. There are only a few people in the world that know how to take care of her. Me, Hugh, my sister Rachel, our friend Edie the bulldogger breeder, and our ex-SF dogwalker Doug Pizzy. We miss Doug a lot. He took great care of Utta when we went out of town and took her on daily walks with a few other well tended furries. For the next 8 days, Hugh's expat friend Chris will stay at our apartment while we're in Dallas to take care of our baby. Tonight he came over for a practice run. We have three pages of care instructions, emergency phone numbers and tips. Hugh is so nervous he asked Chris to call us everyday with an update of how things are going.
2 comments:
What a fabulous story...and you and Hugh should be very proud of yourselves. Utta is very lucky and so are you. Love K
Hello, My name is Kerri Orgeman and my English Bulldog Sadie was just diagnosed with Mega-E. Right now I am feeding her the soft watered down food in a heightend food dish and then picking her up in a begging positon aftewards to make sure the food goes down, I had no idea you had to wait at least a half hour, my vet didnt say how long. I am very intersted in making one of these chairs for her. I love my Sadie so much and will do anything to make her better and give her a better life, she is already 9 years old but I want to do everything I can to help her get better, she is getting so thin and is getting over pneumonia. Can you please tell me how to make one of these chairs? And any other information that would be helpful? My address is N2441 Hwy. 45 Antigo, Wisconsin 54409, if you want to send me info, or you can email me at kerrio1974@gmail.com..thank you very much.
Kerri Orgeman
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