This weekend we almost lost our sweet Pip. On Saturday, we were in the courtyard with our family when all of a sudden we noticed Pip was convulsing, retching and foaming at the mouth. He was in great distress. Several years ago our 11 year old Weimaraner had bloated, so I knew immediately that Pip had gastric torsion (otherwise known as bloat). Bloat is where the stomach basically twists and flips around the digestive track. It cuts off blood supply to the stomach and other organs. It is excruciatingly painful for the dog and the dog can go into shock and die within an hour or two. This is a big risk for any deep chested dog, like Great Danes, Weims or Labs, but small dogs can bloat too (Corgis, Bulldogs, etc).

We were able to quickly get Pip into our car and rush him to the emergency vet, where they stabilized him and performed surgery to untwist his stomach, and then tack the stomach to the abdominal wall so that this doesn't happen again (the chance of recurrence is high).

Surgery went well and there have been no complications. Pip will still be at the emergency vet for another 72 hours for monitoring. We visited him yesterday and he was up and walking. He still had food in his lungs from retching that the vets hope will dissipate.

We are still not sure what caused him to bloat, but we do know that he ate his kibble at 9 am as he usually does, but it was followed up by a large bowl of cold water with ice in it (it was a hot day). He lapped up quite a bit of ice, so we are concerned that the very cold water combined with gas in his tummy and a lot of food may have caused his stomach to spasm and twist. I will NOT be giving my dogs any ice anymore, just to be safe.

If you have a dog, please read the below article and know what the symptoms of bloat are and how serious the risk is. We are so thankful that he is still with us and that surgery was successful! Please keep sweet Pip in your thoughts.

http://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?A=672