Prophylactic Gastropexy

Update on the bloat. I call my regular vet, and he proposes doing a larthroscopic prophylactic gastropexy. Got that?

Basically this is an operation where the surgeon uses some kind of microscope thingy to look in the stomach area. They grab the stomach, and basically staple it to the body wall. The idea is that while the dog may bloat again, his stomach can't turn over and kill him. While its initially stapled, over time the tissue grows together and the stomach becomes permanently attached to the body wall.

I've already had 2 dogs die of bloat/torsion, so its a no brainer to get this done. Here's the catch: the cost is $1263.

Well I went ahead and got it done. Once a dog has bloated, and Tony is only 3, chances are very high they're going to bloat again. Next time I might not be so lucky and get him to the vet on time.

The surgery was scheduled and I dropped him off at 7 AM. Everything went smoothly and I picked him up and took him home the same night. Instructions were relatively simple, keep him quiet and don't let him romp around for 21 days. Kind of hard since I've got 4 dogs.

The first night after the surgery he was quite groggy. They gave me some pain meds that would last about a week, and let me tell you the first week was kind of rough. His belly got kind of swollen and he was just acting "under the weather" the whole time. I was worried something had gone wrong, but then he started pulling out of it. By about 2 weeks time, he was getting back to his old self.

If you are considering getting prophylactic gastropexy, I strongly advise it if you've got a large dog prone to bloat. Generally this includes breeds like Great Danes, Boxers, German Shepherds, Dobermans, etc. and to a lesser extent labrador retrievers and the like. It is expensive, but its alot cheaper than surgery for torsion and better than risking the sudden death of your dog.

Another Case of Bloat

About 6 weeks ago another one of my dogs bloated. It was about midnight and he was kind of puffing air out of his mouth. I thought that was odd so stayed up with him for awhile. It seemed to stop and he went and laid down, so I went to sleep thinking I had come ever so close to another bloat and potentially dead dog, but avoided it.

I woke up around 6:30 AM and found him puffing air out again, and then he began throwing up foam. OK at this point there is no doubt that it was bloat. I quickly got dressed, put him in the car, and drove to the nearest emergency vet. Luckily I got him to the vet on time, and they were able to stick a tube down his throat and evacuate the gas.

But while I was waiting, they are thinking they're going to have to do surgery. So they get in and do x-rays to see if he's had torsion, and how bad it is. Then the vet comes out with a cost estimate. She says $6,000. I about fell out of my chair. At this point what are you going to say? They wanted half down, and I wasn't going to say "yeah OK just euthanize him". I gave her my credit card and ouch! they charged me $3,000. I slinked away depressed, they said they would call me later and let me know how things were going.

It was a few hours later that they called and informed me the surgery wouldn't be necessary. Turns out there had been no torsion-so death looked in the eye and averted-this time. The dog is a German Shepherd so I knew he was at high risk.

So they sent me home with some gastric motility medication, and instructions to feed him 4 times a day and get a prophylactic gastropexy.

Stomach Torsion (bloat)

Something you need to be aware of especially if you own large dogs is stomach torsion which is also known as bloat. This is a problem that develops in large breeds when a dog eats too much food at a sitting. In April of 2007 it took the life of my 10 year old German Shepherd Dog Sam, pictured here.

This condition, which is a medical emergency, is typically associated with dry dog food. I guess this has something to do with the fact that the dry dog food swells up in their stomachs. Their stomachs get really bloated and twist around, cutting off the blood supply to the vital organs, leading to death.

You can mitigate the risk by substituting some canned dog food for a bit of dry (or of course not feeding dry food at all). Another good way to reduce the risk is to split the feedings up. Don't give your dogs all their food in one single meal, feed them twice or three times a day.

When Sam was a puppy I took him to obedience school and the instructor actually mentioned this condition and told us not to feed once a day. So I had some awareness of it, but as the years went by I forgot the symptoms and forgot about feeding once per day. For most of their lives, I fed my German Shepherds a couple of cups of dry food and one can. Sam also had a fondness for egg Mcmuffins which I let him have once a week!

Then I got my Weimaraner and I got kind of lazy. I was pretty busy at the time with work projects too, so I started feeding them all dry food because it was easier. Sam weighed about 100 pounds so I fed him roughly 4 cups a day. Little did I know it would end up killing my dog.

Sam was older, he turned 10 years old in September of 2006. But he was in fantastic physical condition. I routinely took him for hikes in the Sandia mountains, and we would go on hard trails. It was real hiking and not just walking around. We did that 3-5 days per week. So I had this illusion in my mind he would live forever.

That April, Sam started burping one day. I noticed it and noticed the odd sound it made, but really thought nothing of it. If your dog starts doing this you might take some notice.

A few days later I was sitting and work and had this overwhelming urge to take the dogs for a hike. I skipped out of work and took them for a long hike on a nice trail deep in the forest. It was a great day for the dogs for sure. I took them home and went out for dinner.

That night Sam started throwing up. It turned out I was exhausted because at that time I had been writing a book and going to my full time job, so I really couldn't get out of bed. I heard him throwing up but fell back to sleep. When I got up the next morning I saw Sam laying in the bathroom. I called to him and he lifted his head and I thought everything was OK. Later I came out and saw him dead by the door leading to the backyard. I guess the poor fellow had to go to the bathroom.

In a state of shock I was running through all kinds of things in my mind. Maybe I had hiked him too hard and there wasn't any water in the house when I went out for dinner, maybe someone poisoned him-I just didn't know. A friend urged me to take his body to the vet to find out what had happened. I did and they told me it was stomach torsion.

I will always feel an overwhelming sense of guilt. Since Sam was in such good condition from hiking I thought he would live to a ripe old age for a big dog, like maybe 13-15. I feel bad for changing him to all dry food and for feeding him once a day. I feel guilty for not knowing the symptoms-for example if a dog is throwing up water you need to take them to an emergency vet right away. The only way to deal with this condition is with emergency surgery. Even then the success rate is not that good, the best thing to do is prevention. So split your dogs feedings up if you're not doing so already, and if you have deep chested dogs maybe don't even feed them dry food. I have also read that dog bowls raised off the floor reduce the risk of the condition. The reason is gulping in air during eating increases the risk, and a dog is more inclined to gulp in air if eating off the floor. Finally don't exercise your dogs for at least one hour after eating. Let them rest and start digesting the food. One more thing-make sure you have some money on reserve or a credit card available. Emergency surgery for a dog can cost a couple or three thousand dollars. Visit this website to learn more Gastric Torsion in Dogs.

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