Attention All Dog Guardians!
I am sending this alert because more people’s dogs have died of a Bloat AKA Torsion AKA Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus (GDV) than I thought, and if you have the knowledge, it’s completely preventable.
There are many articles on this topic available online, which I strongly suggest that you read, but basically, it can happen to any dog, not only large breeds. It can also happen with or without food in their stomach — but it’s always best not to give your dog a huge portion at a time; that’s why we always instruct our adopters to feed the dogs twice a day.
There are many good points on how to detect the bloat, and you should pay attention to all of them, but when I saved two dogs from it (one was my own dog, Forte), what gave me the clue was dry heaves. If your dog acts like he wants to vomit but cannot, or just clear saliva or foam comes out, take him to the ER.
When I saved a friend’s Great Dane, I saw him dry heaving. I thought he may have gotten something in his throat, but I didn’t want to take a chance, so I took him to the emergency, as this happened at midnight. The vet said he was the first dog who walked into the hospital with a Bloat because people usually carry their dogs to the hospital after the dog is all bloated up and can’t walk on his own.
It is natural to want to wait and see how it goes if your dog is just having dry heaves because they sometimes do that after they eat grass, for instance. Also, dogs often vomit some bile, which is usually yellow. But when nothing comes out, you have to make a move.
Most people notice when the dog’s torso is swollen, but by then it's often too late. Since the Great Dane I took in was operated on within 30-45 minutes after the first sign, all what the vet had to do was open him, untwist, staple the stomach and close.
It seems you have to get your dog operated on within two hours to save their lives, and if unnoticed for eight hours, the dog dies. Many people who do not know of this ailment think that the dog died of a heart attack in his sleep, but if his body is bloated, he most likely died of a Bloat (that’s why it’s called Bloat).
Please feel free to share this info with others who have dogs, as it may save some dogs’ lives in the future.
In harmony,
Marie
