I get so many visitors to the site looking for information on Megaesophagus & Bailey Chairs, I’m updating the post. If your dog has just been diagnosed, I want you to know there are lots of people out there who are dealing with the same thing and want to share what they’ve learned.
I recommend joining the Yahoo megaesophagus group—they’re active, responsive, & helpful. Look under “Files” for years worth of invaluable information on everything to do with megaeshophagus. There is now a Facebook support group for megaesophagus which is also active & growing.
Megaesophagus is a condition in which a dog’s esophagus is enlarged to the point that food remains in the esophagus and never makes it down to the stomach and is instead regurgitated. The muscle contraction and relaxation that normally takes place to move food down to the stomach doesn’t work. Megaesophagus can be present since birth or can develop in adult dogs. If left untreated, it can cause a range of problems, including starvation and aspiration pneumonia.
- You can find information at www.caninemegaesophagus.org
- The Mar Vista Vet site has a crash course on megaesophagus, including:
- how regurgitation differs from vomiting
- x-rays comparing a normal esophagus to a megaesophagus
- interactive videos demonstrating megaesophagus
- plus information on cause, diagnosis, & treatment
- Pet Place has very detailed megaesophagus information on:
- symptoms
- related conditions
- in-depth diagnosis
- treatment options
The Bailey Chair was designed by, Donna & Joe Koch, the owners of a dog (Bailey) diagnosed with megaesophagus. The dog sits in a “begging” position to eat, drink, or take medication and gravity does the work to bring what’s ingested to the stomach. There are a few ways you can acquire a Bailey Chair:
- The creators will send you a DVD or video of instructions for building your own Bailey Chair for $6.00 to cover costs. Send email to Matthew1@earthlink.net to inquire about the address. (Find out more in the Yahoo Megaesophagus Group.)
- eHow has instructions on how to build a Bailey Chair (thanks Yvette!)
- Oleisa & Neal Moor have started building the chairs and sell them for the cost of the materials. Scroll down to the bottom of this page for the info. and photos of the chairs. You can also find information on the Moor’s chairs in the Yahoo Megaesophagus Group & the Facebook Megaesophagus Page.
This “highchair” for dogs can be made of different materials and in different sizes to accommodate small and large dogs.
With proper eating position, diet, and medication, these dogs can have almost normal lives. Like Roxie, Rocket, Jasmine, Mattie, Diyoji, and in particular Tobin, whose caretakers’ describe their trials, errors, and successes in ongoing journal entries.
Hi all,
I have a six year old lab mix named Sandy. He was diagnosed with myacenia gravis and megaesophagus about two weeks ago. It has been a very disheartening process caring for him, because I feel as though for every step forward, he takes two back. He still regurgitates a lot of his food, and it is so sad to hear him at night because he is retching, eating, retching, and eating it again. He is also recovering from aspiration pneumonia, so i know that has a lot to do with it.
My mother and I attempted to build him a bailey chair, but we really need one of higher quality. I have seen some improvement with the new feeding method. Before, I was propping him up on the deck bannister, which made both of us pretty mad, him because he didn’t want to stand there, and me because he is heavy and I am a small girl.
In short, I am looking for someone to build a bailey chair for me. My mom was just in a car accident, so I need for his care to be as easy as it possibly can, at least for a while. I live in the metro atlanta area, and I am willing to pay for shipping costs. My dog weighs 63lbs and stands at about 3.5 feet tall.
A donation would be nice as well. I am a recent college grad working on a very limited income. I would also appreciate any advice anyone has on what has been the most succesful for them.
I recently had to say goodbye to my golden retreiver Hanna, who suffered from megaesophagus, a side effect of a tumor. I created a pretty inexpensive “bailey’s chair” and i’m happy to share pictures and instructions if you email me. The base of the chair is just a small trash can.
Ben
Ben,
I would be so greateful if you would email me those instructions. I feel so bad becase Sandy hasnt been getting a whole lot of attention lately, with my mom being out of commmission.
My email address is kendall.r.simpson@gmail.com. Thanks again for your help. I’m so sorry to hear about your pup, Hanna.I hope that you’re doing alright
Kendall
I am co-fostering a 15 week old labrador puppy that has M/E like symptoms – she had surgery at 6 weeks for PRAA but despite a very gradual transition, she is still unable to eat normally – we feed her 4-6 times a day, slurry her food and keep her upright. Barium x-rays still show an abnormality in her esopagus that the doctors are looking into further, but it will never be “normal”. She is growing at a good rate & I have been blessed to be able to work with a dedicated veterinary team, be able to take her to work for constant care and my family understands the situation. My husband is going to build her a Bailey chair but is struggling with how to make it grow with her? I’m sure he’ll get creative. My quesiton is – she’s going to be alot of work for anyone between her special needs and being a busy lab puppy – are there people out there willing to adopt her? I’m curious as to how other rescue puppy stories “turn out” or how you explain the level of care needed to any potential adoptive parents. Any suggestions are appreciated.
Our Great Pyrenees male dog has just been diagnosed with megaesophagus, and we are treating him now for a mild case of aspirated pneumonia after today’s chest e-ray. We badly need a Bailey Chair for him. We live in Westchester County, N.Y. Does someone have this for a 128 pound dog, or who can build it? What dimensions are needed? We must have it really work!
Thank you. Arlene Oraby
my neighbor has a welsh corgi 1-1/2 yrs old she is in need of a bailey chair. Where can we send the measurements of her to have one made? She was neglected and now she has a good home and we would like to make her life a lot better. Please let us know how we can get a chair for her.
Thank you, Diana Speck (for Chris Gabellini and his dog Fiona)
Hi Arlene,
You were one of my teachers at Briarcliff HS (in the 70′s) and I remember you had a Great Pyrenees then (I think it was named Chelsea?). My dog Monty, a goldendoodle, was just diagnosed with megaesophagus as well. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed at the moment and in my search for more information, I came across this site and recognized your name. I wish you luck with your dog and hope all is well with you. Are you still teaching?
Peter Brown
pcbrown99@comcast.net
We created our own “Bailey Chair” from some materials we had left over from household remodeling, using ideas from some of the photos we’d seen. Sadly our Tyson died May 21, 2010, but the information we got from this group really helped us to do the best we could for him and to manage his megaesophagus.
Hi i foster for a charity in ireland, and at the moment i am fostering freddie a five month old jack russell terrier ,he has been diagnosed with megaesophagus .not much is known about the condition here as pups are put to sleep when diagnosed,however i want to give fred the best care i can as i have grown to love him in the month i have him, they dont give supplements here so if i could buy a baily chair and anything else i need for him i would be most grateful at the moment i give him liquedised burns some probiotic yogurt which seems to fill him up too much as i have said vets in this country dont have much interest in these dogs but i want to give freddie a chance, any help would be great thank you angela.
I am with French bulldog rescue an I am fostering a 13 week old French bulldog pup that has mega e I am looking for someone I can pay to build a Bailey chair. If anyone can he.lp me please let me know. Thank you
My 4 year old dog was just diaganosed with megaesophagus 4 hours ago. This web site has really helped. I will ask my brother to build a “bailey chair” and change her diet. If he is willing and successfull-I would like to share. ok?
I recently had a litter of great Dane pups and one little one has Mega esophagus. It wasn’t my intentions on keeping any of the puppies but “lil blue” has proven hard to give away. Time is hard to come by as both my husband and myself have full time jobs. Are there adoption places out there for al Dane with this kinda health problem?
Thanks
We got a Goldendoodle puppy 2 months ago and named him Cooper. He is now 4 months old. From the very beginning, he had pneumonia which we treated with antibiotics and then the vomitting started. Finally today, after a barium swallow xray, he was diagnosed with Mega esophagus and I am devastated. Our family has of course fallen in love with him and he is part of our family. Any ideas for building one of these chairs and materials to use would be greatly appreciated.
Ijust did my first attempt at breeding redbone coonhounds. I had two breeding females and 21 pups. I currently have 5 pups left and they are coming up on 11 weeks old. One of the female pups vomitted since birth and I just thought that she was eating to fast. When she was 8 weeks old she was weened from her mother and the vomitting greatly increased. She started to loose weight drastically and so a vet trip was made. She was diagnosed with mega esophagus and I was told my only option was a $5000.00 operation or to put this puppy down. She is so beautiful and full of life and we have started to feed her in an upright positiion and she is now gaining weight and quite healthy looking. I also am wondering about the Bailey chair as well as some information on the care of this poor puppy. I also need to rehome her as I already have 6 dogs and 4 children so how do I explain to a potential owner the level of care she will need. Does anyone know how long these dogs live now that we are feeding her this was she still vomits on occassion but holds down usually about 3 of her 4 feedings a day. We simply puree canned puppy food and water for her and it seems to be working. She doesn’t even eat like she is starving to death anymore. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
We have a lab who is battling this horrible condition.We lift him after he drinks & eats but can’t hold him up long enough. I fear he will starve if not helped soon. We love him so much. Please I would love to get one of your chairs for him asap!
This site and the links are amazing. We had a Great Dane 15 years ago who unfortunately did not survive her puppy-hood. She struggled and yet had such a wonderful disposition. What a trooper. I am so glad to see that there are resourses that are out there now that will help dogs and their families as they cope with this condition.
I have recently started building a company to manufacture vertical feeding chairs for canines afflicted with this disease due to the high number of chair requests around the web. Please email me if you are an individual who would be interested in this. Also please indicate a market price you would feel to be fair (we are currently doing market research to understand the type of quality the customers want.).
Brian McHale
bfmchale@pointles.com
I have no idea what to charge but I’m sure you have a price in mind or you would not have started this company
THIS IS A BAILEY CHAIR LISTED ON CRAIGSLIST, BOSTON, DEC. 31. PICTURE IS SHOWN ON CRAIGSLIST. I WAS UNABLE TO COPY AND PASTE TO THIS EMAIL.
HOPE THIS HELPS SOMEONE.
sale-f3p5c-2778067584@craigslist.org
This is a Bailey Chair that I built and it is solid. It is free to anyone that really needs one. I had a hard time finding one myself for my dog so I built it, now I want to pass it on.
Please email Paul
•Location: Abington, MA
•it’s NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
I really need a Bailey chair or insturctions ASAP. My new 5 month old St. Bernard that we got from a family last night has This disease. She is the sweetest puppy could be and it would help a ton if someone could give us one for free. We live in Maine
I need a Bailey chair for my pitbull dog. Please tell me how much.
Our beautiful long haired dachshund Leo was diagnosed with Megaesophagus in September 2010 and has had 2 bouts of pneumonia. The Bailey chair looks like just the solution. We have tried medications with little or no effect. Thank you for sharing this! Please send information about purchasing a Bailey chair (pricing, shipping, etc.). Thank you!
I’m in Las Vegas and my dog is named Bailey he needs the chair we have went through hell the last five weeks he just turned 12 has magaeophagus and I’m no good at building things will pay to be shipped he is 80 pounds and pretty long please help ASAP. I’m using the garbage can but he gets inpatient after a while dealing with arthritis to.