Bloat Dangers

B

Bird Buster

Active member
My 5 year old male lab developed bloat 2 days ago and we had to take him into the ER for a costly life saving surgery. This surgery now runs $4-6K evidently and has been quite a shock to deal with. He will make a full recovery but beware it appears a rawhide he had been eating may have played a role in this problem. After doing a lot of research on them I would highly discourage against ever letting a dog have one again. Only good news is they sewed his stomach so this won't happen again and he will be hunting this fall but a very costly ordeal :(
 
I talked to my vet once about this, and he told about a time where they opened up a Lab, or a Golden and the dog was filled with those rawhides...

Was enough to deter me!
 
Sorry to hear that

Bird Buster said:
My 5 year old male lab developed bloat 2 days ago and we had to take him into the ER for a costly life saving surgery. This surgery now runs $4-6K evidently and has been quite a shock to deal with. He will make a full recovery but beware it appears a rawhide he had been eating may have played a role in this problem. After doing a lot of research on them I would highly discourage against ever letting a dog have one again. Only good news is they sewed his stomach so this won't happen again and he will be hunting this fall but a very costly ordeal :(
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Bird Buster:

Sorry to hear about your dog (and your pocket book). I went through this a few years ago with my 9 year old lab while in the field (mountains) 2 miles from the truck. Longest couple of hours of my life getting him the vet. He also survived surgery but was never the same. If you research bloat on line you will see lots of theories but not a lot of science on the cause (some conflicting theories). You will also see it is the #1 or #2 killer of labs (Marley and me, book and movie) and yet many lab owners have never heard of it.

I hope it all goes well for you and the dog from here on out.
 
Hey thanks for the kind words. Today is day 11 since the surgery and he will have the staples removed tonight. He seems to be doing well with some slight soreness still in the incision area. Have had to warm compress it due to fluid build up which I guess is normal. His energy level is high and has been eating well. Hope to have him ready to hunt in a few weeks if his recovery goes well. The cost has been the worst part of the whole thing unfortunately. It sounded like they see this happen fairly regularly to a lot of different breeds with large broad chests. Guess it could have been worse though as we got him seen quickly when it happened.
 
Done with Rawhide

I've heard enough. No more rawhide for my dog.
 
V-John said:
I talked to my vet once about this, and he told about a time where they opened up a Lab, or a Golden and the dog was filled with those rawhides...
Click to expand...

That's one reason I switched a while ago to Bully sticks which are high in protein and 100% digestible.
 
Birdbuster, that must have been a big scare.. Glad to see that he appears to have pulled through. :thumbsup:
 
Stomach stuff is just the worst. After having two different blockage surgeries on my dog we now refer to him as the 10k $ dog or aka my wife's new kitchen cabinets and counter top.
 
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