Lucy’s Bailey Chair
I have the best husband in the world. 
And Lucy has the best Dad. She has megaesophagus… as you might know from prior posts. If anyone has missed out… she no longer has muscles in her esophagus that can move her food into her stomach. So if she eats regular food, the food gets stuck in her enlarged esophagus and won’t go down. She ends up regurgitating it a couple hours later.
She lost six pounds before we figured out what was going on. Now she is gaining most of the weight back and you can’t feel her ribs so much. My husband built this Bailey’s Chair for our collie girl Lucy. The original design was for a dog named Bailey. We got the plans and my husband built it this week. Doesn’t it look great! He did an awesome job! And he even used leftover paint, wood, and soft tiles so he didn’t spend much money on it.
We were holding her up on the couch, but we wanted to get her more vertical. We also wanted to get a way that we didn’t have to sit with her for 20 minutes every feeding. And we feed her four times a day.
She gets 2/3 cup kibble, 1/2 can wet, and water blended together in a blender… she gets that mixture twice a day and we cut it into two meals each. So four meals a day. And so far, it’s working really well. She doesn’t like to stay in it for 20 minutes… but we are feeding her, and then we let her lick some honey out of a bowl when she is still.
I don’t want her to learn that struggling gets her out of the chair. So when she is still, she gets a lick of the honey, which she loves. And so far, so good. She struggles a little, but not really so bad.
She is our baby girl, we want her to live many years yet! She’s only nine and a half!
Comments
Comment from Rebecca (Ramblings by Reba)
Time August 2, 2008 at 7:21 pm
Poor Lucy! But what an awesome chair! Yay for Lucy’s new chair!
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Comment from Johann
Time August 2, 2008 at 7:23 pm
OMD! That’s amazing! I’ve never seen or heard of anything like this. I’m so glad it’s working, and I would bet that soon, Lucy will love her chair and being in it. I’d do it for food, you bet! Nice hubby!!!!!
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Comment from Marie
Time August 3, 2008 at 7:56 am
Awesome! The chair looks great! I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again, Lucy couldn’t have a better mom and dad taking care of her!
Comment from pam
Time August 3, 2008 at 9:39 am
Go, hubby! You’ve got a keeper, Cyn! And look at Lucy lovin’ that chair – bet she knows it was built specially for her…! 
pams last blog post..Blame Nancy, part deux!
Comment from Cynthia Blue
Time August 3, 2008 at 11:41 am
Thanks Lora! I think it makes it easier for all of us.
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Time August 3, 2008 at 11:49 am
[...] cute and the Mum says I’m like babydolls, too. Though the Mum did say I couldn’t bother Lucy in her Bailey’s Chair when Lucy is eating. Bah. Oh well, guess I don’t get to eat that food though I [...]
Comment from Cynthia Blue
Time August 3, 2008 at 11:50 am
Thanks Rebecca! We like this chair for sure!
Comment from Joanne
Time August 3, 2008 at 12:08 pm
That’s amazing! She looks so comfortable. Lucy surely appreciates all your love and special care.
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Comment from mare
Time August 3, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Totally excellent – and I mean your pack, you and your husband, and your dedication to the pack members!
Comment from Fuzzy Logic
Time August 3, 2008 at 2:41 pm
Woohoo! That is awesome! She looks wonderful Cyn.. and great job Hubby!
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Comment from Christy
Time August 3, 2008 at 6:14 pm
YAY I can’t beleive how awesome this is!! What a great guy Aaron is!!!
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Comment from Cynthia Blue
Time August 4, 2008 at 9:31 am
Thanks Marie! Her food is staying down better when she’s in her chair!
Comment from Cynthia Blue
Time August 4, 2008 at 9:33 am
Thanks Johann! She is getting used to it and loves to eat in it!
Comment from Cynthia Blue
Time August 4, 2008 at 9:35 am
Thanks Joanne! I think she is comfortable in there too!
Comment from Cynthia Blue
Time August 4, 2008 at 9:36 am
Heya Pam! The husband is a great guy. And Lucy is doing well!
Comment from American Mastiff
Time August 4, 2008 at 12:43 pm
What a great idea. It’s always wonderful to see human innovation making life easier for animals in need. Hopefully your solution will work for other dog owners having the same difficulty!
Comment from Lindsay
Time August 4, 2008 at 5:05 pm
Aww, she looks like she doesn’t mind her chair. I’m glad it is helping her. She looks like a little kid sitting in a high chair.
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Comment from Cynthia Blue
Time August 4, 2008 at 5:08 pm
Thanks American Mastiff… but we can’t take original credit! We got the info to build the chair off the yahoo megaesophagus list!
Comment from Cynthia Blue
Time August 4, 2008 at 5:10 pm
She does look like a kid in a high chair Lindsay! We’ve been putting honey on her feet so she stays in and doesnt struggle for 15 mins. She sure likes that!
Comment from Margaret
Time August 5, 2008 at 7:07 am
What a great job your husband did on this chair! I can tell that Lucy is loving the chair and all that comes with it! Yeah Lucy! I’m so glad she’s handling this disease.
Margaret
Comment from Judi
Time August 6, 2008 at 8:17 pm
Your husband did a great job on the chair! What a good idea too. Lucy looks like a very good girl sitting in her chair.. I bet it feels good to her to get the food down where it’s suppose to be.
Comment from Polina
Time August 7, 2008 at 8:42 am
Lucy is a lucky one to have such a caring family. Hope that she’ll gain all her weight back and will feel better.
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Comment from HoundsGood
Time August 7, 2008 at 4:24 pm
That’s so great that you are helping your baby like that. I have a dog that doesn’t have any medical issues, but sits up like that on a sofa…he would love a chair like that. Just glad he doesn’t “need” one.
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Time August 8, 2008 at 6:47 am
[...] Lucy’s Bailey Chair – Tip Tail [...]
Comment from Kim @ What’s That Smell?
Time August 8, 2008 at 6:58 am
Lucy is very lucky that you have discovered her problems and have been able to make her a wonderful chair to help her eat.
Kim @ What’s That Smell?s last blog post..Kids Lunch Box Cards – a review
Comment from Daethian
Time August 9, 2008 at 9:14 pm
How clever! The inventiveness of people never ceases to amaze me. What a great way to treat the cause instead of medicating the symptom!
Comment from Donna Moody
Time August 12, 2008 at 9:24 am
Thats a pretty good looking chair. My Golden was diagnosed with the same condition and we have also built him a chair. As you mentioned Lucy gets restless so does “Murphy” after he is finished eating. I noticed that after 10 minutes i let himout he runs like crazy to the door and hunches up like he has to go to the bathroom. He runs outside and assumes the position where he has a very small bowel movement but clearly something brings this on when he is in the chair. Have you had that happen?
Comment from motox1073
Time December 10, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Can you send me the plans for how to build the bailey chair because my dog has megaesophagus also and I am trying to get one somehow. However he is a great dane and needs a very large one. my email is mori0207@umn.edu
Comment from Cynthia
Time December 10, 2008 at 6:30 pm
Hi Motox! We got the plans off the Yahoo Group for Megaesophagus..
http://pets.groups.yahoo.com/group/megaesophagus/
I don’t know if my husband still has a copy or not, but I’ll check. If you join the group I think you can get a ton of info from there!
Comment from Clark
Time December 12, 2008 at 12:40 am
A friend of my father has asked for help building one of these for her German Shepherd. Just looking at the general design, I am wondering if it would be easier for the dog to learn to walk in from the back and have the back raised or closed like a cabinet door than to learn to back into it. Any thoughts on this would be welcome. alldraft@bellsouth.net
Comment from aeron chair
Time December 25, 2008 at 1:28 pm
Herman Miller should invent an aeron chair for Lucy
Comment from Jason Dolynchuk
Time July 4, 2010 at 8:54 am
My sweet dog just got diagnosed with Megaesophagus and is not doing to good. I was wondering after you started feeding your dog in that chair, did it need to be on medication? I would really like to try building a chair like that for my pooch to see if it would help. During the day I sit her on me for 10 to 15 minutes and she seems to do just fine all day. but when it comes to night time, she vomits like 5 times. If I can’t get this under control soon, My wife wants to put her down. So cam you let me know if your dog live a happy normal life now?
Comment from Cynthia
Time July 5, 2010 at 2:28 pm
Hi… our dog Lucy still regurgitates a lot at night. We just keep her in a room with tile floors where we can clean up in the mornings. I don’t know if most dogs do this or not, but we aren’t willing to put her down because of it. Your dog can live a full life, but you’ll have to manage her condition. I hope you will have the patience and love to do so. The Bailey’s Chair helps a lot. Check out my links in the sidebar for the Yahoo Group, it has plans for the chair.
Comment from Krista
Time July 15, 2010 at 2:24 pm
Hi, What a great idea with the Bailey Chair. Our German Shepher who is 9 years old has been vomiting for the last year. We just found out what he might have – Megaesophagus -?Spelling. He is getting an Endoscopy done next week and I;m scared it won’t be good. He use to weigh 115 pounds and is now 91 pounds. Its heart breaking to wittness this. My husband wants to build this chair. Do you have to keep Lucy on Antibiotics for the aspiration in the lungs. Max is on that and Carafate and Prilosec. This past year not really knowing he might have this has been the worst ever and he is a very good dog. Any info would be great!!!!
Comment from Chuck Scudder
Time July 18, 2010 at 2:27 pm
I have a German Shepard his name is Clouse and he is going on ten years old. We have been dealing with him throwing up or purging since he was a puppy. We went to several different Vets and now we finally have the diagnosis of Mega-esophagus. This was two days ago July 16Th and now I am researching what I can do to help Clouse.
I am now in the process of building a Bailey Chair. While I am getting this done we are feeding him on our stairs and then taking him for a walk. we are not letting him lay down after he eats this usually ends in him purging. This seems to be working somewhat. We have now put him in the bathroom when we leave the house or go to sleep so he will not purge on our floors. Good luck to everyone who have a family member with this disorder.
Comment from Saint Lover
Time August 2, 2008 at 5:47 pm
That is a great chair!!! You guys did a great job on that thing and it will make it so much easier for her to eat. She is so lucky to have you guys!
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