Pune has just logged a rare medical milestone: the world’s first documented surgery to correct megaesophagus in a dog, performed by veterinary surgeon Dr. Narendra Pardeshi at the Small Animal Clinic. The surgery, called POEM — Per Oral Endoscopic Myotomy (literally meaning “cutting the muscle through the mouth using an endoscope”), is a highly specialised procedure normally done only on humans. For animals, no surgical treatment existed until now for this condition.
Megaesophagus is a disorder in which the food pipe becomes so stretched and weak that it cannot push food into the stomach. Dogs regurgitate whatever they eat, and many die when food accidentally slips into the lungs. “There was never any surgery for this anywhere in the world,” Dr. Pardeshi said. “The only treatment was feeding the dog upright and relying on gravity.”
The patient, who happened to be a Labrador, had reached a stage where even gravity-based feeding was no longer effective. To treat the condition, Dr. Pardeshi and a team of human gastroenterologists adapted the POEM technique for veterinary use. Instead of cutting open the chest — an extremely risky area containing the heart, lungs and windpipe — they inserted a thin endoscopic camera through the dog’s mouth, created a small tunnel inside the food pipe and cut the tight circular muscle that was preventing food from passing. “It is a very specialised human surgery,” he explained. “Only a few human doctors do it, so adapting it for a dog was a huge challenge.” The Labrador recovered and is now eating normally — a global first.
Although this is the first surgery of its kind, megaesophagus itself is not rare. It is increasingly being reported in large-breed dogs such as Labradors, Great Danes and Hounds. Dr. Pardeshi says two to five percent of these breeds come in showing symptoms. “Many dogs eat too fast or swallow sharp bones. The food pipe gets injured, it weakens, and over time it becomes like a big bag that cannot push food down,” he said.
The POEM surgery is one of several advanced procedures his clinic has handled recently. In the last few months, he performed one of the world’s few minimally invasive surgeries on an egg-bound turtle. Traditionally, the turtle’s shell has to be cut open — a process that takes up to nine months to heal. Instead, he removed the eggs through a 5 mm incision, and the turtle was able to swim again within three days. He has also carried out India’s first documented bariatric surgery on a dog, reducing a 55-kg animal’s stomach size. The dog now weighs 24 kg following sustained recovery.
Dr. Pardeshi says Pune’s veterinary facilities have transformed dramatically in the past 25 years. “Earlier, it was only injections and basic treatment. Now we do CT scans, dialysis, endoscopy, colonoscopy — everything,” he said. One of the biggest improvements is the switch to ventilator-supported gas anesthesia, the same system used in human hospitals. “Earlier, dogs took 6 to 18 hours to wake up. Now they stand in 15 minutes. Even a 100-gram bird can be safely operated with this.”
One of the oldest known facts among veterinarians, he said, is that Indian stray dogs recover faster than pure breeds. During his years with Blue Cross, he performed an estimated 2.5 to 3 lakh surgeries on strays, sometimes 50–60 surgeries in a single day. “Strays are adapted to the climate and they haven’t been overexposed to antibiotics. Their immunity is stronger,” he said. In contrast, pure breeds — especially Labradors and Golden Retrievers — are increasingly coming in with hip dysplasia, heart problems and muscle disorders linked to selective breeding. “One in ten pure-bred dogs we see now has a heart issue,” he added.
His clinic also treats fish, hamsters, guinea pigs, tortoises and birds. He says fish surgeries are among the most stressful. “A goldfish can stay out of water for about 10 seconds. A larger fish maybe 30,” he said. “We have to diagnose and operate before they run out of oxygen.”
Despite infrastructure challenges and the high cost of equipment, he believes India is steadily moving towards specialised veterinary care. “The field has grown ten times in the last decade,” he said. “In the next ten years, it may grow a thousand times.” He adds that more students today are choosing veterinary science as compared to earlier generations, and are entering the field out of genuine interest — including his own children, who have chosen advanced veterinary and biomedical paths.
The POEM surgery stands as the clearest example of how human medical techniques can be successfully adapted for animals in India. It also shows what is possible when collaboration, training and technology come together — giving conditions once considered untreatable a new path forward.
