GDV gastric bloat in dogs

Hi, I have been lurking around this forum for a little while now, and although I am always looking at truck related info I happened to see this forum on pets and wanted to say something. For those that own any largebreed, deep chested dog, you really need to research signs and symptoms of bloat. I have a 9 year old German Shepherd named Ranger. We have had him since hewas born as my late male and late female had a litter back then. Ranger has never had any health issues. Having owned GSDs for 16years now I knew of bloat and some of the symptoms. I am OCD about not exercising them before meals as this COULD bea contributor,.

Monday night we walked my boy a couple of miles. We got home and he drank quite a bit of water. 30 minutes later he was trying to vomit, but couldnt.we lethim outside and he went into the bushes and laid down. His belly was rigid and slightly bloated. I suspected what was going on, but Icould not believe it. While my wife called the ER vet. I loaded him up in the truck and sped down there. The vet confirmed via xray that he had gastric torsion, and had to have emergency surgery. He did well, spent another day at his own vets ICU unit, and just came home an hour ago. Hopefully this never happens again.

From my previous knowledge, as well as the more extensive research I have done over the last couple of days there is no definitive causal factor for this to happen, just alot of theory.

I know this was a bit longwinded, but if you have breed that has the possibility of developing this you need to know the signs as bloat cankill a dog within hours. Do some research and educate yourself as it may save your best friends life.

 

Thanks for sharing, I'm a fellow GSD owner and have heard of this but not really in depth

 

This happened to a friend's GSD, but unfortunately the vet could not save him.

I an glad yours is home and doing well.

 

This is very serious. I have a 11 yo Great Dane that has bloated twice. Although his stomach is 'tacked', he still had severe complications that caused him to be quite sick. He has done amazingly over the past few years but always something in the back of my mind. Dogs don't always show the same symptoms either, so you need to really know what to watch for and what to do.

I'm very experienced with it, as I've seen it several times in my previous Vet Tech position. I've also contributed to studies to help determine the cause. Right now they're linking it back to genetics, but there are also many things, as you mentioned that can contribute to it.

Glad to hear your pup is doing okay. It's certainly a very scary thing to go through.

 

Is it pretty rare? Im interested now to look up some more info on it

 

I wouldn't think it's rare, but wouldn't call it common either.

My in laws Rhodesian mix died from complications of bloat. It was caught within an hour and he was taken to the animal hospital, rushed into surgery, and died during his procedure.

 

Not for deep chested dogs. It can be quite common. It's something you have to act quickly on and can cost you thousands of dollars to do emergency surgery and still have a 50/50 chance of survival.
Bloat kits are available to keep on hand but again this is something you need to be experienced with and its only a tool to spare you some extra minutes while you get to the ER.

 

Im glad my GSD eats very slowly and dosent scarf everything down like a wolf. He has always had access to food throughout the day and has never been ravenous with food.

"
Eating habits

Dogs fed once a day are twice as likely to develop GDV as those fed twice a day. It appears that dogs who eat rapidly or exercise soon after a meal may also be at increased risk. "

 

Looks like the GSD is relatively lower in risk

 

Thanks for the well wishes. Yeah its really scary as a dog lover. We were really lucky thatit happened in our presence. There are some good articles out there, but no definitive answer on what causes it every time. I think the best you can do is be as diligent as possible and know the symptoms, and not to hesitate when they arise.