My name is Sue Ann and this is my beloved dog Sage. Sage is a 4year old frenchie who has had no health concerns until 2 weeks ago.
On Monday January 6th i brought her to ER vet due to the suspicion that she may have swallowed something that was obstructing her airway. She had been vomiting anything she drank or ate and coughing for a couple of days.
They did X-Rays, sonogram and bloodwork. All came back normal and no obstruction could be detected. The vet stated it was gastroenteritis, which is like a stomach bug for animals. Sent us with some nausea medication and directed to feed a bland diet. Sage did OK that night that we got home and the next morning. That evening she vomited a little and then would not eat. The next day she would not eat and continued with the coughing. I thought she was sick with a bug so we would ride it out.
1 week passes and she is still not better. I was not pleased with the ER vet so i called my Vet and brought her in on Monday 1/13. She did another X-ray and bloodwork. The X-Ray showed an enlarged esophagus ( that was present in her first Xray but never mentioned) , and pneumonia present in her lungs. My Vet was very worried and sent us back to the ER to be hospitalized.
- Go back to the ER and the same Vet is there. She spoke with me diagnosed her with mega esophagus, which is a condition where the esophagus enlarges and the muscle loosens, not allowing food to pass through, causing them to regurgitate, which then can cause aspiration pneumonia. Which is exactly where we are at. Uncompassionately the Vet told me that I should just put my dog down . She likely would only live 3 to 4 months with this condition because of the high risk of aspiration pneumonia. I was a little hesitant and taken back, so I said I would like to try some things before jumping to doing that because other than the coughing and the vomiting, she was OK she was breathing fine.
She then said they would run a couple of more tests to make sure she didn’t have a couple of other diseases that could cause this condition and they all came back negative with bloodwork.
she then told me that because my dog was breathing fine and her vitals and everything else was good that she thinks it would be fine for her to go home even though my dog could not eat or keep anything down. She was giving an antibiotic injection that is supposed to last two weeks, but is not the best treatment for this situation. I should have fought for her to stay but this Dr did not care about my dog from Day 1.
We are discharged and home. Sage was doing okay. She needed to be fed upright and kept in that position for 30 minutes after eating or drinking. But she does not want to eat anything, and was living on ice cubes. We were doing nebulizer treatments at home for the pneumonia. I called my vet for another antibiotic and picked that up on thursday 1/16. I crushed the pill and placed in some pumpkin puree and forced her to take it. I knew i couldnt do that again. Friday i tried she did not want to eat, Saturday same thing. Then Saturday night 1/18 she was labored breathing and gasping for air. I rushed over to the ER vet and they took her in right away.
I met with the nicest Vet. She has been our saving grace. She was so supportive and compassionate unlike the first vet and had some hope and came up with a plan.
This morning Sunday 1/19 the morning Vet called and again, Amazing, so compassionate and knowledgeable. They have been so good to us. I truly believe if at my first initial appointment, I had a different vet we would not be in this situation. She was not treated properly from the first visit.
My bills are accumulating to over 6K. We would appreciate any small amount that you would be willing to donate for me to be able to continue to give her the fight that she deserves. I have joined support groups, and there are many dogs that live very long normal lives with this condition. It’s just getting through the pneumonia, which was never treated properly from the start. The doctors hopeful that she’s going to pull through and heal from the pneumonia and then managing her diagnosis will be do able. She is currently on oxygen with a feeding tube and they are going to start weaning her off the oxygen to see how she does. The vet also stated they did take a new x-ray today to check the position of the feeding tube and her esophagus is actually looking smaller, which could mean she doesn’t actually truly have that condition and it could have been caused from excessive vomiting, gas, and really, who knows the reason.
We still have a long road ahead of us and again any small amount that may help us fight. This fight would be so greatly appreciated as a single mother of three children. Life is expensive and I don’t want to give up on our Girl Sage she means the world to us.