jnormanh
New member
Among the deep chested breeds, which includes most bird dogs, nearly 30% of those dogs will die of bloat. That's one in every three dogs. more than die of heart attack and cancer combined.
Let me repeat that. Bloat kills one of every three deep chested dogs.
And yet most of those dogs could be saved by prompt veterinary treatment.
Breeders, trainers and vets seldom tell dog owners about this. Why I do not know. Folks talk about food and vaccinations, and heart worm forever, yet almost nothing is said about bloat, which kills far more dogs than bad food, lack of vaccination and heart worm combined.
I'm no vet, but I have had two dogs which survived bloat and so I've learned about it. The first of those two survived only because he was being boarded at the time, and the alert kennel recognized the problem and took immediate action. With the second, we knew about bloat and took immediate action. In both cases an hour or two delay and the dogs would have died.
Bloat occurs when the stomach torsions, or twists. That shuts off the entrance and exit of the stomach, the gas from digestion expands the stomach, blood vessels to internal organs are compressed, the organs die and the dog dies. Start to finish the entire process from torsion to death is just a few hours. Without prompt intervention the result is certain death.
Bloat symptoms are not always so obvious. The dog will be restless, wandering around, unable to sleep. He may try to vomit, but will be able to. He may try to drink, but will not be able to. His abdomen will be swollen.
Bloat most often happens at night, and it's common for owners to think: "Fido has a belly-ache. If it's not better by morning, we'll take him to the vet." By morning Fido is dead.
Bloat is an all-out, flat-out emergency. You must get the dog to a vet. If you're lucky enough to live in/near a city with an emergency vet clinic, go there. Right now. If there's no emergency clinic, call your vet, at home, in the middle of the night, tell him what is going on and head for his office. Right now. There is no time to think, there is no time to wait. You must get your dog to a vet. Period.
If you get to a vet in time, he can probably save your dog. He make be able to to that by passing a stomach tube to relieve the gas pressure. More likely he will have to do emergency surgery to turn the stomach over and relieve the pressure.
Now suppose you are out in the field somewhere, no vet within anywhere near.
There is one possible remedy which might buy you enough time to get to a vet, and for that reason you should carry at least one large bore hypodermic needle, 16 ga or larger. You might just buy your dog some time by puncturing his stomach and releasing some gas with a hypodermic needle (no syringe) through the abdomen. Maybe. You might also stick him ineffectually, or in the wrong place. In a situation where there is no other choice, you might have to try.
All of our dogs will die someday. Lets hope they do so of old age, lying in our arms, not suffering in pain, during the prime of their lives of bloat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloat
Let me repeat that. Bloat kills one of every three deep chested dogs.
And yet most of those dogs could be saved by prompt veterinary treatment.
Breeders, trainers and vets seldom tell dog owners about this. Why I do not know. Folks talk about food and vaccinations, and heart worm forever, yet almost nothing is said about bloat, which kills far more dogs than bad food, lack of vaccination and heart worm combined.
I'm no vet, but I have had two dogs which survived bloat and so I've learned about it. The first of those two survived only because he was being boarded at the time, and the alert kennel recognized the problem and took immediate action. With the second, we knew about bloat and took immediate action. In both cases an hour or two delay and the dogs would have died.
Bloat occurs when the stomach torsions, or twists. That shuts off the entrance and exit of the stomach, the gas from digestion expands the stomach, blood vessels to internal organs are compressed, the organs die and the dog dies. Start to finish the entire process from torsion to death is just a few hours. Without prompt intervention the result is certain death.
Bloat symptoms are not always so obvious. The dog will be restless, wandering around, unable to sleep. He may try to vomit, but will be able to. He may try to drink, but will not be able to. His abdomen will be swollen.
Bloat most often happens at night, and it's common for owners to think: "Fido has a belly-ache. If it's not better by morning, we'll take him to the vet." By morning Fido is dead.
Bloat is an all-out, flat-out emergency. You must get the dog to a vet. If you're lucky enough to live in/near a city with an emergency vet clinic, go there. Right now. If there's no emergency clinic, call your vet, at home, in the middle of the night, tell him what is going on and head for his office. Right now. There is no time to think, there is no time to wait. You must get your dog to a vet. Period.
If you get to a vet in time, he can probably save your dog. He make be able to to that by passing a stomach tube to relieve the gas pressure. More likely he will have to do emergency surgery to turn the stomach over and relieve the pressure.
Now suppose you are out in the field somewhere, no vet within anywhere near.
There is one possible remedy which might buy you enough time to get to a vet, and for that reason you should carry at least one large bore hypodermic needle, 16 ga or larger. You might just buy your dog some time by puncturing his stomach and releasing some gas with a hypodermic needle (no syringe) through the abdomen. Maybe. You might also stick him ineffectually, or in the wrong place. In a situation where there is no other choice, you might have to try.
All of our dogs will die someday. Lets hope they do so of old age, lying in our arms, not suffering in pain, during the prime of their lives of bloat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloat
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