She was diagnosed at 9 weeks old.
A pup with a rare condition eats all of her meals in her very own high chair.
Tink, a Silver Labrador Retriever, suffers from Congenital Idiopathic Megaesophagus, a condition in which the neurological connection between the brain and the muscles of the esophagus are not developed or a paralysis occurs.
Because Tink can’t contract the muscles in her throat to swallow her food, her owner, Tom Sullivan, and his wife made a special mealtime routine just for the 1-year-old canine.
Tink sits in a custom high chair — called a “Bailey Chair” — so she can eat and drink while sitting upright.
“She loves it because she knows she gets to eat. If the chair’s open and she thinks it’s time to eat, she’ll go climb in and stand in it until we come close it and [then] she’ll sit down,” Sullivan told InsideEdition.com.
Tink was diagnosed with the condition at 9 weeks old when Sullivan thought she was throwing up after eating.
“It turned out to be regurgitation," Sullivan said. "And we ended up going to an emergency vet and they were able to confirm.”
Doctors ran tests and diagnosed Tink’s condition.
“My uncle is a veterinarian and he said it’s not a very good prognosis. So there were a couple of days of a lot of emotions, a lot of trying to figure out what we were going to do, but there was no way that my wife was giving her up."
Now Tink takes medication twice a day that costs about $100 a month.
And her owners burp her after each meal to help her get out any air that might be stuck in her esophagus.
“It’s already hard enough to get down, if we can get some of that gas out, it tends to help a lot,” Sullivan said. “Once in a while she lets out a pretty good belch and it’s gotta make her feel better.”
Sullivan said despite Tink’s struggles they love her and don’t mind the extra care that she needs.
“I mean, it’s [a] good time. It’s time that we’re spending with her so it’s rewarding,” he said.
