Austin

Austin was brought into our rescue when he was only 6 weeks old. He was the runt of a litter of nine puppies. Austin was much smaller then the other pups. The family that turned him in said that he would throw up every time after he eats. So we took Austin to the vet for a check up. We found out that Austin has a serious condition. He was diagnosed with Congenital Mega-Esophagus. Basically, he doesn't have muscles to push food to his stomach. The vet did not give him a good prognosis, in fact, he suggested that we euthanize him immediately.

Euthanasia was not an option for us. We decided that instead of putting Austin down, we will give him a chance, even if it's very slim. We knew that Austin will require a lot of care and special feeding. He will have to remain on a liquid diet and be fed in an elevated position so food will travel to the stomach by gravity.

After a second vet check we found out that Austin has generalized mega-e, rather than a vascular ring anomaly. His esophagus is expanded all the way to the thoracic cavity and the chances of him growing out of it, is very slim. But we decided that we will continue providing Austin with the care he needs and once we can’t feed him upright anymore, he will have a surgery to insert a PEG tube. Essentially he will have to be fed through a tube, which will bypass the esophagus and deliver the food directly to his stomach.

Austin was placed with a loving family in San Antonio. They are taking great care of Austin. His name was changed to Einstein, because he is a very smart puppy. Einstein is being fed liquid diet food while sitting in a special chair that holds him upright while he eats. Einstein is very happy and playful dog, he goes to the pet store to pick his toys and everybody who meets him falls in love with this special boy.

We are happy Austin was given the chance to live.