Christmas miracle: Shelter pulls off near-impossible feat to save starving dog in Ohio
A shelter in Ohio is being praised for going above and beyond for one of its pets, who was suffering and could’ve lost his life if not for the determined staff.
The average eye wouldn’t know it, but Hercules was starving. It wasn’t from lack of food, it was from his own insides betraying him, the Brown County Humane Society in Georgetown said in a Dec. 24 Facebook post.
“We had a dog come into the shelter that was painfully thin and unable to keep his food down. Poor Hercules would vomit shortly after every meal. He didn’t necessarily act ‘sick’ but was clearly starving,” the shelter said.
After a few tests, Hercules was diagnosed with Megaesophagus.
“Megaesophagus is a condition where the esophagus, the tube that carries food from the mouth to the stomach, becomes abnormally enlarged and loses its ability to move food properly. Which causes them to vomit their meal immediately after eating. Without help, the dog will starve to death if pneumonia doesn’t kill it first,” the shelter said.
The staff had their work cut out for them. According to the post, a dog suffering from Megasophagus needs to be fed upright, and must stay in that position for a “considerable period” to allow the food to safely travel to its stomach without regurgitating it back up.
“We were told this would be difficult if not impossible to do this correctly in a shelter setting,” the post continued. “Hold our beer.”
Normally, what’s known as a Bailey Chair is used for this particular diagnosis, which helps keep the dog in a vertical feeding position for 20-30 minutes post meal, Bailey Chairs 4 Dogs says. And since the shelter didn’t have one, the staff stepped in and held him upright for the necessary amount of time for the food to safely digest.
“And guess what? His food is staying down! He still eats like a mad wolf but every day he is a little bit better a little less hungry. Even cooler? The ME organizations we reached out to helped us find an adopter that has another Megaesophagus dog,” the shelter said.
Both Hercules and his new human met via FaceTime, and the pup will be headed to New Jersey after the holidays, the shelter noted.
“Talk about Christmas miracle! Moral of the story. Don’t tell BCHS staff and volunteers they can’t do something. They will probably show you that they can,” the post said.
For information on other adoptable animals, visit the shelter’s website.
Georgetown is about a 40-mile drive southeast of Cincinnati.