Another Sad Bloat Story

I just got another sad email from my website concerning bloat. I always respond to these emails to hopefully ease the pain the people are going through. Everytime I get a letter like this I relive my old Jake's experience.
Here is the latest story:

I just found your website and it is very hard for me to read. My best pal, “Hunter” has been part of my family since 1995. “Hunter” was a perfectly healthy dog, full of love and energy, until the evening of August 15, 2005. “Hunter” never liked thunder and lightening, and it was really booming that night. I knew that he was normally anxious, but that night was different. Prior to that night, I had never heard of a “twisted stomach”, let alone heard of the symptoms. Hunter was pacing, trying to vomit and couldn’t, foamy drool around his mouth, and had a full look to his abdomen. I did sense this early and took him to the local animal emergency clinic to be checked out. We got there at 11 pm. The doctor took x-rays and told me that Hunter’s stomach had “twisted”. The doctor said that surgery was an option, but in a ten year old dog, Hunter would probably die during surgery. The doctor led my wife and me to believe that surgery would only prolong the obvious excruciating pain that my pal was in. Having never wanted my pal to suffer, my wife and I requested that they make him more comfortable while we faced this horrible choice. They gave Hunter a shot of morphine to ease his pain. After about fifteen minutes of sobbing and reflection, my wife and I decided that we should do the humane thing and let our Hunter go to heaven. We gave the okay for him to be put to sleep, and Hunter died with his head on my lap shortly after midnight. It was the hardest thing that I ever had to do. I truly felt that I made the right choice, until I saw this website. If only I would have known more about this, and known that it can be survived by older dogs, maybe Hunter would still be here with me. I hope that I didn’t let my pal down, and that he realizes that my decision was out of love. It breaks my heart. My eyes have been opened, and I hope and pray that your website will help educate others about the dangers and facts concerning this problem…

If you haven't read tabout bloat lately it's always good to review the symtoms and know what to look for. It could save your dogs life.
Here's the link to my site:
http://home.flash.net/~jdebess/index.htm

 

oh how sad, another dog lost to bloat I hope you hear you are saving l dog ives too by people reading your web-site

 

Thats sad, Ive seen a lot of GDV's over the years and to be honest, the older the dog is the less likely they will recover, the heart is always a concern, as is necrosis of the stomach wall, toxicity. I found a pic of an x-ray of a GDV, its not that great but in it you can see that the stomach is full of gas, it expands and can cut off circulation to the spleen which is why the spleen is often removed during surgery, also most vets these days (the ones I know) do a gastropexy (sp) were they staple the stomach in place, dogs that dont have this done have about an 80% chance of it re-occurring.