In  early March, AGR was contacted by a Goldendoodle breeder who had a litter of 7-week-old puppies she wanted to surrender. One of the puppies obviously had megaesophagus, so she suspected that his four siblings, who were asymptomatic, had this condition, too, and knew she could not sell the puppies. A previous litter of 9 puppies by the same Golden and Poodle parents all had megaesophagus and 8 of them had to be sent to the Bridge. The breeder had had X-rays done on the current four that showed no symptoms but the results were inconclusive. So, we took the entire litter knowing we would have some significant vet expenses (we might have to have all of them go through extensive testing to have megaesophagus confirmed) – but that’s what Rescue does a lot of the time. The five puppies all needed deworming (twice), a full set of DHPP vaccines (every three weeks for three doses), leptospirosis (two doses), bordetella and rabies vaccines and will eventually be spayed or neutered. An exam was done on four of them and a full diagnostic work-up was done on Guinness, the one who obviously has megaesophagus (he would regurgitate food or water if he did not ingest it in a fully upright position).  AGR transporters drove to Camp Verde to  pick up the puppies. There were two black ones (one male and one  female) and three gold ones (one male and two females).  For names, they were given an Irish theme for St Paddy’s Day:

Keely - “Beautiful” red and green collar
Kiera - “Black-haired girl” red collar
Aiden - “Fiery One” dark blue collar
Charm - “Lucky Charm” black collar
Guinness - I just like the name and it’s Irish; light blue collar
All the puppies met their prospective families at our foster's house before they were moved to their forever homes.

Guinness was the smallest pup in the litter, one of the two black ones, and the one who had overt symptoms of megaesophagus. We had a full work-up done on him with barium X-rays to determine the severity of the condition. AGR also started him on a medication called Sildenafil (Viagra), which increases the ability of esophageal muscles to work and relaxes the esophageal sphincter into the stomach so food can get into the stomach more easily. None of the other puppies needed this medication. Liz, our Health Care Manager, had adopted an AGR dog with megaesophagus, McKayla, several years ago. She found the condition manageable with a little extra effort at feeding time and with providing water in a large upright container that looks like a giant Hamster water bottle. Liz, who has adopted Guinness, has adapted AGR’s Bailey chair for his use at meal time. He props himself up in it and Liz feeds him with a large spoon, which helps him keep his head up so that the food just slides down his esophagus. It’s a neat and efficient arrangement! Liz wrote:

When Guinness arrived with his littermates at 7 weeks of age, I could pick him up with one hand at a mere 10 lbs. His regurgitation due to megaesophagus didn’t allow much growth or weight on him after weaning. Now at 20 weeks, he weighs 40 lbs, and I wouldn’t even try to pick him up! He is very smart, potty trained, listens well and knows several commands. He also has had his first few swim lessons and he is fearless. He and his two sisters, Reba and McKayla, are the ones he plays with the most, and he also loves to play with toys on his own. He eats standing up like his sister McKayla and along with taking Sildenafil, he rarely regurgitates. He is a happy, healthy boy and even his Doodle big brother and sister, Watson and Emma, deign to play with him once in a while.

It’s quite a colorful and interesting family, with two black Goldendoodles (Emma and Guinness), a large cream-colored Doodle (Watson), a Gold Bloodhound-Golden mix (Reba) and a small Golden female (McKayla).