A Bloat Survival Message

I just received the following message via Jake' Page.
http://home.flash.net/~jdebess/index.htm
Since most of the messages I receive are from people who have lost their dog to bloat it's nice to hear about a survivor. Here is the note I received:

Janice had surgery this morning for Bloat. She is 11 1/2. I took her for a walk this morning at 6:30. By 10:00 her symptoms were all that you mentioned. Even tho we had not read them yet, I have had horses with colic and the symptoms were much identical to Janice's. We took her to the vet, an emergency small animal clinic. I knew she was engorged.

She had surgery. Her spleen and liver were fine and the contents in her stomach did not smell. We spotted her engorgement very early. (Wish we had not suddenly changed her diet .... dry food that makes gravy .... )

She is an old lady. I shall call for info this evening at 10:00. We saw Janice's restlessness, hanging her head .... wandering in circles and then lying down and then wandering around again - all the time holding mouth open and panting in a funny way.

This night is not over, but the vet thinks she'll be OK. We have to see if the common problem Arythmia (Spelling? Sorry.) with her heart appears, but they know it's common with this surgery and they are ready.

I hope my letter can help anyone else. Unfortunately I changed her diet to the awful dry food that makes gravy. She has been on organic dry food mixed with some moist food. I changed it only for the weekend .... no abrupt change is good and this new stuff we fed her was awful. I knew all this ..... so angry with myself. Hope others learn from my lesson. (She loved this new stuff and it threw us off, but we knew instantly why she was bloated and out of sorts this morning and got her to an emergency clinic IMMEDIATELY.) Her spleen and liver were pink and healthy. Thank God. Again, we got her there quite quickly.

Thanks. It's helped me to write this letter.

Good luck to anyone else who has a precious dog with bloating symptoms. If you suspect your dog has bloating symptoms - get your dear dog to a vet immediately.

 

thanks for sharing, I hope she has a speedy recovery, are older dogs more prone to get it?

 

honeybears,
Yes. The condition almost always occurs in dogs over seven years old and mainly in larger, deep chested breeds.

 

I work at a vet clinic, and just a month or two ago, we had a weimeraner (sp?) boarding with his australian shepherd friend. They went home that afternoon, then at 6:15, as our last client went out teh door, they rushed back in. Their weimerainer (sp?) was experiencing bloat. Apparently when they got home and fed him, in his excitement and eagerness to play he ate it very quickly and then went to play with the family. The dog is fine now and was in just the other day for a check up. They moniter how quickly he eats now, and make sure he doesn't play too much before or afterwards. I don't remember how old he is, not too old, I don't think. I remember we were all so worried, and their poor little girl who was about 12 was sitting in the waiting room feeling awful since she was the one who had fed him and then played fetch. Thankfully he survived and is doing very well

 

I think I've asked this question before, but b/c I'm super paranoid about bloat I'm going to ask it again. I know the symptoms of bloat, know as in I have read them. But...if a dog is really bloating - will you know for sure? Like is it very obvious?

I'm asking b/c a couple weeks ago when I brought Maggie home, she was super excited when we got up, drank a lot of water, then I fed her, then she just did her usual running around thing, then she started throwing up. For like 45 mins she threw up and she looked kind of upset so I freaked and took her back to the vet and the vet kinda looked at me like I was crazy b/c I told him I was afraid of bloat. He was so casual right when we walked in, he's like "its not bloat". It just irritated me b/c I don't want to be rushing to the vet every time they look upset.

 

elizavixen,
If the dog is actually throwing up then the stomach is not twisted. Bloat causes the dog to attempt to throw up, more like a gagging reflex. You may see a little foam but nothing of substance. A dog in bloat will also pace and be very uncomfortable. My advice is if there is any question at all, seek help.

 

The first couple times she was really throwing up stuff. But then she started throwing up like nothing or just clear liquid goo. And I couldn't really tell if she was uncomfortable. She wasn't her usual hyperactive self, but she wasn't pacing or anything like that. It's just that I tend to be a hypochondriac, esp with the dogs.

 

Me too. I provide better health care for the boys than I do for myself.

 

I am so happy there is a discussion on here about bloat. I have an english mastiff puppy and am SOO paranoid about it. I understand that large dogs are more prone to it... I am constantly peering over his shoulder when he eats to make sure he's not gulping his food and will follow him around after he eats to make sure he isn't running around too much! It's crazy so I am glad this discussion is here so I have something to go by... Now I can give him a *bit* more space when he eats! I sent this link to my mom because she watches the dog quite often for me.

 

Can someone list the symptoms of this condition. You all know my luck with doggies, mine'll get it!! :x

 

What kind of dogs do you have? the smallest dog Ive seen it was a Chow although I did hear about it in a Cocker Spaniel. Its common in larger deep chested dogs (GSD's, Danes, Dobies,) but can happen in any breed.

Initial signs are 'belching'....like trying to vomit but nothing coming up, theyl be going through the motions of vomiting but the end result is usually nothing more that saliva, a little fluid or maybe nothing.

Watch the abdomen....whats happened is the stomach has filled up with air



when this has happened, if you tap (not too softly) on the abdomen with your finger it should sound 'timpanic'. Feel around the stomach, especially at the sides, it should feel like a big ball and you might notice that the skin 'feels tight' (in some dogs this is an obvious thing but not in all dogs, knowing your dog well, how he/she 'feels' normally can help make the assessment, if you just run your hands over your dogs body once a day and get to know what is 'normal' for him or her....this is a good thing to do anyway as you will get to know if there are any lumps or bumps that have just appeared etc). Dont use this as the only deciding factor on whether or not your dog needs medical attention, Ive seen cases where this is hardly noticeable.

Other things to watch for are discomfort, restlessness/pacing/anxiety, hunching over, check the gums, theyre usually too wet and will probably be getting pale, if you can check the heartrate it will most likely be rapid and a pulse will most likely be fast and 'thready'....meaning not a good solid definate pulse, more 'swishy'....kind of like say you have a hose pipe switched on and you press down a bit on the hose....you can feel the water as its going through, with a good pulse youll just feel the 'beat' with a thready one can usually feel the actual movement of the blood going through (hope that made sense)...., best thing to do is to check these things on your dog while its healthy, keep a note of your dogs baseline vitals

temperature...normal is 99.5 - 102.5 (F) This can be elevated initially due to stress but with a GDV it doesnt take long for the dog to go into shock and the temperature will be lower

heart rate/pulse...this can vary from around 80 - 150. Average is around 120, Smaller breeds are usually faster, larger muscular dogs will usually be lower, for example a muscular Boxer or Pit Bull in great health and at rest can be as low as around 60

normal gum colour....should be pink (unless the dog has black pigment), if the gums are whitish, 'muddy' pink, bright red, dark red, blue, purple...these are not good signs.

CRT....if you press the gum down with your finger itll go white, it should start to pink up again immdeiately, when theyre in shock the refill time will be slower, count the seconds, normal is 1 -2 seconds, 3 is acceptable in some dogs.

These are all signs of shock.

This is an emergency though, you dont have time to 'wait it out and see if the dog recovers by itself' it wont and the longer its left the more damage is being done to the gut as the blood supply has already been cut off at the esophegus and small intestine by the stomach twisting, Ive seen too many cases where by the time weve opened them up large parts of the stomach are necrotic. The quickest Ive known a dog to die from this was around an hour, a friends GSD, he had been out for his afternoon run, came home, one of the kids threw a large piece of ham into his food bowl, he inhaled the ham and then drank a large bowl full of water, he was acting 'strange' for about half an hour and was dead by the time my friend got him to the hospital.

Some of the things you can do to help avoid this is not allowing the dog to run around immediately before or after eating and drinking, some people will acutally crate a very hyper dog for about half an hour each side. A lot of vets are recommending that you use elevated food and water dishes as there is less air likely to be swallowed while eating and drinking in this position. The air can actually be produced in the stomach as well though so its not always a matter of swallowing it.

The sad thing is that there is no one exact cause of it, it can be just one thing that starts it off or it can be a combination of situations but its also happened in dogs where every precaution has been taken to avoid it, it is more common in older dogs (from about 6 or 7 years old) but it can happen at any age....except in my own experience I have never seen nor heard of it in a puppy...not saying it wont or doesnt happen in a puppy.

Hope that helps, heres a good link also with more info on.
http://www.thepetcenter.com/sur/bloat.html

 

This may be a stupid question but how exactly do you take a dog's pulse? Can you do it without a stethoscope?

 

Thanks for that info, I'll keep an eye out and thankfully I haven't seen anything like it.

Buster has the hiccups a lot which worries me some. Worry-wart???

Tori is a Black Lab, very deep chested and just had her 7th birthday March 7. I do keep the activity level down in her after meals, if she goes into hyper mode, she vomits, always cleans it up, when she doesn't, I know somethings wrong. But she is a fast eater, and I have a hard time getting her to slow down. I honestly don't think the girl tastes anything. She's on the same diet she's been on her whole life, IAMS, and occasionally I'll put that bottled sauce on it. A lot of times I'll get it wet, she seems to slow down some when it's wet with water, or sauce.

 

Yes...in most cases, to check the heart rate, easiest way is when the dog is laying down on his/her side, if you position the elbow up against the chest the heart should be around there, then with your fingers press down a little and you should feel it. For a pulse, the best is the femoral pulse, on the inside of a rear leg, kind going down centrally and up near the top (groin area) you should find it. (Ill see if I can find some diagrams on line that I can post).

I know you have a larger breed though and sometimes it can be a bit tricky to locate the exact spot, also with an overweight dog you might have trouble locating the spots.

ADDED:

Found this site, if you scroll down a litte there are a couple of 'rough' pics showing where youll find them. It really is important though that to use this as a guide you need to know where to look beforehand....if your not sure you could always have your vet or a tech show you on your next visit.
http://www.dr-dan.com/sarcopt.htm

I would be careful of trying to find a pulse on a paw though on a pet in an emergency, when they go into shock the body starts to concentrate on blood flow to the major organs rather than the extremities...this is why their feet, tail, ears get cold first....

 

lorelei,
Are you feeding at least twice a day? It is essential to not allow the dog to be "starving" when it eats. Feeding only once a day can trigger ravenous feeding.
One technique that I've read about that seems extreme but has been said to work to slow down a fast eater is to place a 12" segment of very large link stainless steel chain into the food bowl. The dog has to slow down to pick out the food.
Did you read the site I posted on bloat at: http://home.flash.net/~jdebess/index.htm
I did a lot of research and also included a lot of links for additional information.

 

A Bloat Survival Messag