Special high chair saves a puppy with a life-threatening condition

A 7-month-old German Shepherd puppy in Boise, Idaho got a second chance at a healthy life thanks to a special chair.

Elijah, or Eli for short, was born with a condition called Megaesophagus. Because of this, food wasn’t making its way from his esophagus to his stomach. (You may remember the story of Mickey, another dog with the same condition.)

“A ring was growing over the esophagus from the heart that normally should have broken down during development and it didn’t,” Dr. Baxter from the Ada Animal Hospital said in a story by KUTV 2 News. “It allowed milk to pass through but not solid food.”

The condition caused Eli to become malnourished, and he even broke his leg because his bones were brittle due to a lack of calcium.

Because of his special needs, the pup’s original owners couldn’t care for him. But Savannah Amberson, a vet tech at the Ada Animal Hospital, decided to take on the challenge of caring for helpless pup.

“He had to be syringe fed in a full liquid diet every two hours and that was for the first three months of his life,” Amberson said in the news story.

Vets did as much as they could to help Eli, but after several surgeries and procedures, they had just about run out of options. Amberson was faced with a decision.

Video: CNN Puppy's special chair saves his life.

“The doctors sat me down and had the conversation with me, you know you’re going to have to make a hard choice,” Amberson told KBOI 2 News. “How much further you want to put him through, there’s really not much else we can do at this point.”

But miraculously, a solution presented itself in the form of a special high chair–also known as a Bailey Chair–where Eli could sit as he ate, helping the food go down. A local man custom-built the chair especially for the little pup.

“It’s supposed to make it so that gravity pulls the food through his esophagus rather than the muscles pushing it through his stomach,” the dog-mom said in the story.

Three and a half weeks later, Eli was eating, keeping food down, and bursting with energy. The shockingly simple solution proved to be a huge success!

“For once in his life, he’s getting a full stomach,” Amberson said in the story.

She is grateful to the community for pitching in to help with the medical bills, as well as the man who provided Eli with his very own “throne.” Now, this pup can live the royal life he deserves!

Watch the news story here:

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Thanks to Savannah Amberson for giving this adorable little guy a second chance!

(h/t: KUTV 2 News)

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