The ready at Bailey’s for dogs is a simple and ingenious idea that has dramatically improved the quality of life of dogs with megaesophagus (and their owners too).
In fact, an indispensable remedy for this condition is to make the dog eat in an upright position. Not everyone is able to train Fido for such a feat, and that is why this particular chair was born, which is very reminiscent of a high chair, but in reality it is much more.
What is megaesophagus in dogs?
The megaesophagus is a pathological condition, typical of the elderly dog, in which the muscles of the esophagus they lose tone and elasticity and they are unable to properly convey food to the stomach. In physiological conditions are the muscular contractions of the esophagus and intestines, called peristalsisto allow the regular transit of food along the digestive system.
What does it entail?
Due to the loss of muscle tone, the dog’s esophagus tends to dilate and widen thus making proper digestion impossible, exposing the dog to further health risks.
This condition prevents it from properly assimilating nutrients causing frequent regurgitation and weight loss.
Why is it dangerous for the dog?
In summary, the potentials symptoms of megaesophagus can be described as follows:
Bailey’s chair, the high chair for dogs with megaesophagus
The Bailey chair is an upright chair that helps the dog stay upright during the meal, and for the next 10-30 minutes. This chair has a impact therapeutic effect on dogs suffering from magaesophagus, allowing the correct transit of food along the digestive tract by exploiting the force of gravity instead of muscle contractions.
The Bailey chair is therefore essentially a containment: hence the name “bailey”, which means wall, precisely because it “locks” the dog inside for the time necessary to ensure adequate nutrition.
How to teach the dog to use Bailey’s chair?
Megaesophagus can appear in the first months of a puppy’s life when the cause is genetic, however this disease is much more common in older dogs, which may have more difficulty ad to adapt to the new way of eating.
But with the right approach, it will soon become routine for Fido and our friend won’t even notice it anymore, after all it’s for his own good.
Ecco some advices for how to approach Bailey’s chair:
- Give the dog time to get used to the chair, without forcing it for the first few days. Make it a familiar object to him.
- Make the chair comfortableespecially if it is an elderly dog that has to fight with osteoarthritis: try some padding.
- It is important not to trigger a fear of the chair in the dogbut use a gentle approach starting with providing food on the open stool.
- When the dog begins to enter the chair by itself you have to reward him keeping him company while waiting.
Where to buy or how to build a dog Bailey chair?
If you are familiar with the art of working with wood you can delight in build a Bailey chair for dogs. Building it is undoubtedly the best way to ensure that it is perfectly suited to its physicality: on the web you will find several tutorials that explain step by step how to do it and what tools you need.
If you prefer instead buy iton some websites you can find them pre-packaged or you can contact companies that make them to thisas the Bailey chairs 4 dogs.
And why not, ask your carpenter to make it tailor-made for your friend.
- A adaptation period and finally the dog will be able to benefit from adequate nutrition adapted to his needs: the results will be surprising!