Yeah I would take him to a vet too. It looks painful, poor thing? Does he seem to be in pain? Or bothered by it in anyway? It doesn't seem to be blistering so this is probably a good sign… Good luck.

good luck with trying these out.

I took Cairo to our University Vet Medical Centre to try and get answers. Poor thing has been screaming more and more when trying to eat and has lost quite a lot of weight. After an endoscopy procedure and some fluroscopy, the vet thinks his retching food is caused by either Cricopharyngeal dysphagia or pharyngeal dysphagia. This is likely to be a functional problem with the nerves that control swallowing. What they think is happening is that he moves food to the back of his mouth for swallowing, thinks he's coordinated the swallow response but for some reason doesn't, then freaks out to find food still there rather so he screams and spits the food back out. Not sure why it has occurred but its a pretty rare condition. It might be caused by hypothyroidism or myasthenia gravis but neither causes are convincing as he doesn't have other signs or symptoms of thyroid problems or neurological disease. Apparently cutting the muscles that control swallowing can ease the problem but this has risks including food entering lungs so unless it is diagnosed properly we won't be pursuing this treatment. So for now I am feeding him a soft, blended diet with limited solids to try and build his weight up. I will keep you posted as to the outcome as we go along. Will have more tests when we can, and he's stronger. BW Darren

Poor little thing. Hope he's seeing well again soon.

mmm Sounds Tasty. I cooked Cairo's food for the first few years, then moved him to a raw meat diet for a few years. We had a Dalmation who liked raw food, and though she mothered Cairo he would eat this food unusually fast to stop her from getting it first. But when she died, he went off the raw meat so I resummed cooking it up. These days I find he prefers cooked food and eats more of it than with the raw stuff. But it never seemed to do him any harm so good luck with finding a diet that your B likes.

Hallo hoe gaat het met je?
You have an 8 week old basenji, how cute. This brings back lots of lovely memories about Cairo being that old and wrinkly and very cute. Cairo was scared when we first went outside walking, and it took a while for him to build his confidence. I don't know if a sweater would make Basenji sensitive to cool weather, maybe they will adapt later anyway. Cairo loves his little coat we got him when its cold. When we get it out he comes running up to have it put on, and then prances around in it for a while wagging his little tail from time to time and flicking his head before jumping. LOL. And he stops shivering when he's wearing it. Though I once discovered him to shiver for sympathy to come in from a light rain, and when he was allowed he then ran back out in the rain, and sat there looking at me, as if to say.. haa tricked you! Enjoy your lovely little one. Be great to see a pic of the little one all dressed up.

Cairo had his barium swallow today. Two xrays; no megaoesophagus. So I suppose we rule that out, but thanks everyone for your thoughts. It was like the electric toaster that is on the blink… Cairo ate his food without incident when being checked out! LOL. Vet thinks the barium might have lined the stomach, so he could tolerate food better - this pointing to an irritated stomach lining or perhaps an unseeable ulcer (treatable by antibiotics thanks to the two Ozzie Perth doctors who won the nobel prize in medicine). So we came away poorer, but happier, complete with zantac to treat the reflux (wish the cheaper option had of been considered first but that's the way it goes...). So now its a wait and see game, still trying the hand feeding to see if we can get food lower in the stomach and not cause irritation.

He really seems to like egg and milk at the moment, and I found feeding him this first helped him keep food down and eat without screaming. That's one high pitched scream...eh? BW, Darren

Hi. Got a second opinion on Cairo's retching problem. This new vet believes that it is caused by a Megga esophagus (who ever names these things right?, LOL), the formation of a 'sack' in his esophagus caused by old age, a tumor ? or a thyroid problem. This might cause him to retch food before it reaches his stomach. So he is heading back on Monday for a Barium Swallow + X-Rays to see if this exists. I'm kinda hoping that this is the problem, as it can be treated behaviourally if it is from old age. This means Cairo finally gets to eat from a table [LOL: my projection that he's been wanting me to think of him as human all along!]. If its a thyroid problem then treating that will reverse the megga-esophagus. If its a tumor…well lets not go there right now! But I'll let you know, but in the mean time I have my pad and pen ready to record experiments on his eating and retching habits...

Thanks for the kind and thoughtful replies for Cairo (and me).

I just came back from (a different) vet and guess what?, Cairo's heart murmer has disappeared. i thought of Baroo, and wondered if you may like to know that this vet believes heart murmers in Basenji's can come and go, like with dogs in general. Apparently, sometimes the heart valve positioning creates the murmer-rush noise, but that it is temporary and so doesn't reflect a cardio problem. Hope that his is so with Baroo too. Good luck.

Thankyou for your reply. I will follow this up. I think it is the next stage of testing necessary, and I will look at food texture and see what it does.