Hello,
My red male(Jackson Brown) is 7.5 months old. We found out he had megaesophagus when he was about 10 weeks old, shortly after we got him. Once we figured out how to deal with it, it hasn't been that big of a deal. Now at seven months old he is 65 lbs. and doing great. We use a mixture of high quality foods. Chicken Soup, Natures Variety Raw Instinct(very, very high in protein), and Natures Ballance Beef or Lamb Rolls(the rolls smell so good i want to taste them). We soak this mixture of food in water and then blend it up in a food processor. I hold his bowl over the kitchen sink so that his back is almost straight up and down. It runs straight down through his esophagus and to his belly. At first we held it over a lawn chair, but he quickly got to big for that. It took a while to get it perfect, so that he would not regurgitate his food. For us, i think the trick was getting the consistency correct, and feeding him four times a day. He gets a total of about 5 cups of dry a day. Before I go to bed I Put 2.5 cups in the food processor and add about two coups of water. It soaks overnigt. It only take about 30 minutes to soak properly but I don't feel like getting up 30 minutes early. When I get up in the morning, I mulch the food that is in the processor until it is about the consistency of cookie dough. Then I add a little water and keep chopping, and adding more water, until it is the consistency of a thick milkshake, but not so thick you couldn't pour it out fairly easily. He eats half for breakfast, the rest in the middle of the day. then I soak about 2.5 more cups and repeat the process for a meal around 5 or 6pm, and before i go to bed. 4 times a day. With all that water, if i fed him all that food once or twice a day, it wouldn't all fit. With your dog being 4yrs old he may be able to handle more food per sitting. You'll just have to experiment. Consistency is important. To thick and it won't run down past his esophagus. If it is too thin, Jacks will easily burp it back up, especiall if he starts running around and acting crazy like puppies do. He gets so much water in his food that he hardly ever drinks water plain. Actually, when he goes out and drinks alot of water by itself out of a puddle or something, he tends to regurgitate it right back out. I never have a water dish out. With 5 cups of food he probably gets about 8 or 9 cups of water. Which is probably more than most normal dogs drink in a day. After i feed him, i will lightly play tug of war for a few minutes with his front feet off the ground to further help it all down. Then he goes out to go to the bathroom and then he goes in his pen for about thiry minutes to help let the food settle. Very rarely does he regurgitate anymore. The only time he fights it is if he goes outside for a while and eats a bunch of grass or something, or if he chews off a big piece of his rawhide. That crap always comes back up. I keep several rawhids so that when one starts to get soggy i pick it up and throw him another while the wet one dries.
The only real threat to MegaE is aspiration pneumonia. This occurs when food gets inside their lungs from lots of regurgitation, and they develope pneumonia. If you feed your dog in a way that keeps him from regurgitating very often, you will GREATLY reduce the risk of pneumonia. Our vet has been practicing for almost 20 years and has only seen 1 or 2 cases where pneumonia actually developed as a result of megaesophagus.
Other than a crazy feeding schedule, and liquified food. Everything else is pretty normal. He's an ace at obedience and protection work. On days when we go to obediance and protection training, i wait to feed him until after class. A full belly of dog food milkshake and a lots of intense exercise doesn't mix for a dog with MegaE. It will always come back up. I can't think of anything else but if you need anything just post. Good luck. My vet told us that Jackson's case was one of the worst she had seen when she looked at the initial x-ray, but with a little TLC, it has been very managable. Didn't mean to write an essay but i know how it feels to find out that your best friend has this condition.