Puppyyyyyy

That is my puppy Stella! Turning 3 this year.


I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY SHE'S STILL A PUPPY TO ME!


Stella is sitting in what's called a "Bailey Chair." [link]

At about 19 weeks Stella was diagnosed with what's called "megaesophagus." It's a birth defect that is not common, but not rare in dogs, particularly larger breeds like German Shepherds. The esophagus of a dog with this condition has no peristalsis, that is, the nervous action of the esophagus pushing down food without the help of gravity. Peristalsis essentially is what keeps human beings from choking on their own saliva at night. The esophagus pushes it down into the stomach without us needing to sit up. Obviously this action doesn't always work sometimes for whatever reason, but that's what it is.

Stella has to eat, AND drink sitting in this position so that gravity can take the food and water down into her stomach naturally. The chair is padded on all sides, and we have a cushion on the bottom for her to sit on and be comfortable. Back in the day, a diagnosis of megaesophagus used to mean a death sentence for dogs. Often owners would put their dogs down because they had no clue how to take care of the pets, and would rather not let the animal suffer. The Bailey Chair lets Stella be Stella, and live a full happy comfortable life.

There are complications to megaesophagus, obviously. One is the threat of aspiration pneumonia. If she hasn't sat in the chair long enough after a meal or water, or gets into some food she's not supposed to get into, then the food and water will sit in her esophagus in pouches that have formed off the muscle (think of it as growing saggy from disuse) and put pressure on her lungs or heart. At night, if she has remnants of food or water in her esophagus, it could spill out of her esophagus while she sleeps and into her lungs, causing aspiration pneumonia which is extremely dangerous. However, Stella has not had any of these issues, we are very careful when taking care of her, and she is, believe me, by no means fragile because of it.

Trust me. At 75 pounds she's a BEAST. <3

So... yeah it's kind of a time-consuming job to take care of her, but after having her for three years I've worked it into my schedule, and it's very very worth it. For me dogs are not just "pets" they aren't things you get to look pretty around the house. They're companions; and I've raised Stella since she was 13 weeks old. SO THAT'S THAT.