10/04/2026
When Your Dog Gets Sick, CrateTraining Matters More Than You Think.
Last Sunday 29/3 I was playing ball with Odi, we were having fun but I had a passing thought that he tired faster than usual.
On Monday 30/3, he started refusing food so I took him to the vet, he had a temperature, and just not himself. We did a blood tests, which came back normal and he was given oral antibiotics to bring his temp down
Thursday 2/4. Odi was drooling, and foaming at the mouth, X-rays showed an enlarged esophagus which explained his drooling. He was still on antibiotics.
By Easter Sunday, heād gone downhill fast. Drooling, foaming, vomiting, and suddenly weak/stilted in his hind legs. He was admitted to the vet clinic, put on a drip to medicate/rehydrate because he couldnāt keep food or water down, he was being treated symptomatically as we didn't have clear answers to what was wrong with him.
He came home Sunday night for me to keep an eye on him but was back at the vets again, on a drip, on Monday, where he was diagnosed with Myasthenia Gravis, Megaesophagus, along with suspected aspiration pneumonia.
That diagnosis ticked all the boxes. Once he was started on the right medication, his strength improved, his hind legs were more stable but heās still very unwell.
Recovery will be slow. We could be looking at weeks/months before heās well enough to even think about exercise. With megaesophagus, the risk of regurgitation is always there, and that brings a very real danger of worsening the pneumonia. So right now, his world has to stay very small, very calm, and very controlled.
Odie has been crate trained since I brought him home at eight weeks old. He sleeps in his crate every night, for him it means safety, familiarity, and a place to relax.
In the past 10 days, heās spent three days at the vet, in a crate, on a drip for antibiotics and fluids. Thatās already a stressful environment, being sick, being handled, being away from home. But the crate itself wasnāt something he had to learn to cope with on top of everything else. It was familiar.
Now heās home and he still has to be kept crated. No wandering, no time outside, no play or running about, but because he knows his crate, he's comfortable in it, he can relax. Heās not fighting it, and heās not adding stress to his body thatās already struggling.
Lot's of people don't like crates, some people think it's cruel or a punishment or just ugly, and don't want it in the house.
Odi likes his crate, itās his safe place. He goes in willingly. He relaxes in there, and thank god, because he will be spending the foreseeable future in it.
If he hadnāt been crate trained, this whole situation would be so much harder on him. Being confined at the vet could have been overwhelming. He could have panicked, tried to escape, even injured himself. At home, instead of resting, he could be pacing, stressed, unable to properly switch off and recover.
I always recommend crate training to anyone who will listen, properly conditioned, a crate gives your dog a safe place to relax, feel secure, and cope more easily with whatever life might throw their way.
