Does Carrie Fisher's Dog Suffer from Macroglossia?

I’ve enjoyed seeing the reunion of the cast from the original Star Wars series, including Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill and especially Carrie Fisher. My primary memories of Fisher have always been of her in the role of Princess Leia, but she’s made quite the career for herself as screenwriter and author in addition to acting. The world has also become familiar with Fisher’s quirky personality, as she’s known for being predictably unpredictable and witty in her quotes and social media posts.

Accompanying Fisher on The Force Awakens press tour (and serving as a frequent guest star on her Twitter account) is her French Bulldog, Gary, whose cute mug is featured as Fisher’s Twitter profile picture.

My favorite of Fisher’s Gary-themed tweets is one which she’s lounging in bed with Gary accompanied by the caption: “The Force—having been awakened (frequently & uniquely by Gary & Bb8) will now take a well deserved nap … join us?”

According to US Weekly, on December 3rd Gary accompanied his mom to the set of Live With Kelly and Michael, where he proceeded to accidentally poop. “He can poop on our floor anytime!” cohost Kelly Ripa said.

The following day, Fisher and Gary appeared on Good Morning America, where Fisher introduced her pooch and said, “this is Gary, and he’s very, very famous on Twitter. He really likes looking at himself. Wouldn’t you if you looked like that?”

Gary even has his own Instagram account where even more amusing photos and captions are posted, including a photo of Fisher, Gary and a large-scale model of Jabba the Hutt, a shot of Gary backstage at The Ellen DeGeneres Show and a snap of Gary wearing brown earmuffs resembling the famous hairstyle worn by his mother in A New Hope(Episode IV).

Yet, with all the public posts about Gary, what do we know about him?  Although TIME profiled him, overall the public still does not know too much about Gary. Fisher did mention something about Gary’s tongue on Live With Kelly and Michael however, saying, “he does have a very long tongue. It’s not his fault. It’s one and a half times too big.”

Does Gary truly have an ailment where his tongue is too large? Every Instagram photo that allows us to see his face also appears to have the sizable tip of his pink tongue hanging out of the right side of his mouth.

The medical term for an abnormally large tongue is Macroglossia (marcro- means large and -glossia referring to the tongue). According to Dog Breed Info Center, Macroglossia is “not when the tongue is simply big, but when it is severely enlarged, causing cosmetic and functional difficulties including speaking, eating, swallowing and sleeping. The tongue protrudes beyond the teeth during a normal resting period. Dogs with this condition cannot fit their tongues all the way in their mouth, hence it's always hanging out, often off to the side. They have difficulty drinking and eating and usually make a mess when drinking from a water bowl.”

In looking at Gary from a veterinary perspective, I speculate that his tongue is just too big and does not fit well into his mouth and he does not have Macroglossia. Alternatively, Gary could have some loss of dentition (teeth), which does not permit his tongue to properly settle inside the mouth. As he does not look overly thin nor dehydrated (sunken eyes, lethargic appearance, etc.), I suspect Gary doesn't suffer from some of the more serious implications associated with Microglossia due to lack of ability to consume food and water.

I hope Gary safely travels with Fisher during further press junkets and when he accompanies his mom during the filming of Star Wars: Episode VIII (yet to be titled). And Ms. Fisher, I’d love to provide Gary with house call-based, holistic veterinary medical services if you are in need.