Lab Has to Sit in a High Chair to Eat, Once She’s Done Owners Have to Burp Her

When Cori and Tom Sullivan found out their 1 year-old lab had megaesophagus, they weren’t sure what they would do until a little spark of creativity hit them.

Tink, a silver labrador, was brought into the Sullivan’s life at very young age. Sadly, they found out that she was suffering from a condition called megacongenital idiopathic megaesophagus (or megaesophagus for short). “There’s no nerve muscle connecting her throat and the nerve cells of her brain.” explained Tom about Tink’s affliction.

This low survival rate sickness had them horrified at the thought of losing their dog so quickly. After processing the news, they set out to figure a way to keep their best friend in their life and be there for her like they knew she’d always be there for them. That’s when the idea of the high chair struck!

Using the same setup as a kid’s eating chair, Tink gets herself in there standing while Tom or Cori closes the gate to straps her in safely. After that, its chow time as they spoon feed their dog! And she may be unable to swallow but boy does she still have a voracious appetite.

“If the chair’s open and she thinks its time to eat, she’ll climb it and stand in it until we come close it and she’ll sit down. Its already hard to get down, if we can get some of that air out it tends to help.” as Tom says this, Tink lets out a burp and her mommy chimes in with “And it stinks really bad!”

At the cost of roughly $100 a month on medicine and the 5 minute it takes to feed her, and the Sullivans regret nothing about their decision of keeping Tink around. The extra care, time and patience that they’ve invested has kept them busy, almost to the point of taking care of a baby. Their generosity has allowed a sweet creature to stick around and still enjoy life, no matter the obstacles that were put before her!