Hello, I am new here, having been urged to find a dog forum due to my 14 year old, MacKenzie River Husky's recent battle with GDV.

Basically, this happened only 48 hours ago, and having had little sleep since the beginning of the episode, I may sound scattered describing it, but I post it here because if anyone here has had experience with this, and can tell me how I should proceed from this point to try to ensure he does not relapse, would be greatly appreciated.

Shadow is a large, barrel chested dog. He was recently operated on by another vet for tumors on his ear, face and chest. He is normally very long haired, and they shaved him completely to check for other masses. We chose not to put him on any adjunct therapy, due to his age and other problems he already had, like bad back and such. He is a dog who is easily stressed, his former owners used to beat him, so we rescued him in 1997.

The other night, I had just fed him some watered down dry dog food and decided to take him for a walk, not realizing the danger in doing this. (He's been indoors since his first surgery in January, he doesn't have enough hair to take the current cold and snow, so we've been walking him as often as possible-about once every few hours or more-while he's inside so he doesn't get cooped up and gets to go potty.)

Everything seemed normal until we turned down our driveway and suddenly his head and tail went down and he started walking stiffly. (I do remember he didn't seem interested in walking at first, but I figured he was just not interested in going out at the time.) I thought perhaps he was having trouble passing feces, but I slowly took him back inside. The minute he got in the house, he started pacing, crying and it looked like he was gagging. My first thought was to try some kind of Heimlich maneuver and also checked down his throat for an obstruction. Nothing. He would calm down and then he'd start pacing again and repeat the whole process. I called my husband at work and told him we needed him home right away.

Waiting for him to arrive (about two minutes away) I would take Shadow outside since he seemed more comfortable out there. He would try to eat snow and walking seemed to make him feel a little better. But it always ended with the hunching behavior and finally I just took him back inside and started hunting up vets. We live 40 minutes outside of the nearest town up here and of course, the first two vets I called weren't eve in on a Wednesday night. (about 8-9 PM)

When hubby got home, he tried walking Shadow, still no improvement. I've had enough animals to know that it could be one of a few things; peritonitis, lodged foreign object, poisoning, perhaps even heart failure...any of which needed immediate attention so I just kept calling until I found the vet who'd see him. She told us to bring him in right away so we did as best we could in the snowstorm that had just blown up that night.

On the way in I can see Shadow is in terrible pain. He stands, sits, tries to lie down (the car motion seemed to ease it somewhat at first) but by the time we got to town I was sure we were losing him. He looked like he was going into shock, legs stretched out, head down, lying flat on his side, whining. He snapped at me only once, when I touched his stomach. He NEVER snaps at me.

Surprisingly he managed to walk into the vet's office with a little help from us. At first she thought he had a mass in his abdomen, but after an xray she confirmed the GDV. The mass had been his spleen, which was already displaced. We helped her get him ready for ER surgery.

After 1 1/2 hours, the tech came out with a small baggie with pieces of one of those toy tennis balls you find in most pet sections of the store. He hadn't had one of those to chew up since he first came home from the vet in January! Either it had been in there the whole time, or he'd just found it in some obscure corner and eaten it...either way, I am not convinced it was the complete cause of this illness.
The doctor had said his stomach was just beginning to turn purple when they got him open. The xray showed it was taking up his entire chest and she felt we'd gotten him in good time to help save him. Still, with his advanced age, he will require lots of recovery time. They gave him a good deal of pain medication and he is still in the hospital today, being weaned off morphine and they got him to eat a little food. It will take days for his body to clear that medication. He tends to stumble a lot even on simple painkillers like Metacam, I don't understand why that happens.
Yesterday he did have some arrhythmia, which I understand is probably from the poisons clearing his system that were trapped in the stomach during torsion. It's so hard to see him go through this, as he was jsut starting to get his old energy back from his last surgery.

We live quite a distance from town, so I'm going to keep some simethicone on hand in case this ever happens again. (Doctor did stitch his stomach to the abdominal wall to try to prevent recurrence.) We're also going to try to get him some different food and change his eating/exercise habits as is recommended in most articles I've been reading on the subject. But if there is anyone here who has had experience with this condition, if you could post any advice here you think would be helpful (besides moving closer to town-lol-I wish!) I would be most grateful.

Shadow has been with us quite a few years longer than we ever expected him to be, but I sure don't want this to be his last memory on this Earth. Can he come back form this and lead a relatively normal rest of his life? He's got to be pretty hardy, considering the pain he went through and how he held on like he did. His breed was originally created for the Cooke and Peary expedition to the North Pole, so they are dogs that walk till they drop and pull freight. But my boy is going to live the remainder of his days like a king if I have anything to say about it.

Thanks for reading. Thank you for being here.:smile:

[CorkyMax]

Hi! Sorry to hear about your dog. This is an excellent site:
Bloat in Dogs

Scroll to top of page.

Wow...you poor things! You guys have been to hell and back!!!
Seems to me that he is lucky to have such a supportive family and I bet he knew that even when he was suffering such pain. Hang in there and do what you do best...love him and look after him and I hope he bounces back soon.

Thank you Corky and Terric. Yes, it's been rough. He's been in hospital for three days and just got home this morning. He's pretty unsteady, wearing one of those nasty collars and I am very nervous about adjusting his feeding, watering and walking. This has definitely affected him deeply, and I am just hoping I can take my cues from him as to how to help him recover.

We got lots of instructions and medicine to help him along. Unfortunately, he doesn't do the best on tramadol (for pain) but I think the metacam he was given for his earlier surgery to remove masses this year may not be any better considering the trauma already heaped upon his stomach.

I had found the article you linked to, Corky, it was very informative. Thank you. Is there anyone on board who has dealt with this themselves? If so, what advice could you give to help me nurse my poor boy back to health?

Oh dear, I just realized I misspelled the title of the post...lol. Sorry about that, my eyesight is terrible these days and, where I spell check the body of the message, I often forget to do so with the headline.

[CorkyMax]

Happy to hear that Shadow is back home. Don't know if you know about this or not, but your dog needs probiotics because of all the meds he has been on/and is on now. Don't want to repeat what I put in another post so will direct you to that info. And of course that whole post doesn't pertain to your situation---just part on probiotics. Go into the forum titled: Dog Health and Nutrition--go to page 2--find post-Dog continues to lose weight due to condition (the 2nd yellow triangle w/! in center of it)--then find post #9 by me-Corky/Max. Hope things keep improving w/your Shadow--give him a big hug for me. Keep us informed of his progress! See you around.

Thank you Corky, I was wondering about that, but had forgotten to ask the vet. She will be back in the office tomorrow and I will get some from her.

I have a rabbit who is on antibiotics right now too, and I've been giving him Proviable each day to keep his stomach regular. Kind of surprised the vet didn't think of it right away for the dog as well.

I was thinking the amoxicillin that Shadow is taking was probably not going to help with the gas level in his belly.

I hope this will also help clear his system of the morphine and tramadol he's been given, as he's pretty slow at flushing this stuff out on his own. He's still so wobbly and unsteady on his feet. Getting up from a lying position is incredibly hard for him.

He's developed some urinary incontinence too, (actually he just doesn't wake up from the deep sleeps he's going into in time to get outside and urinate), that the on call I spoke with today said might be due to the painkillers. Does that sound likely?

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by ForShadow

Thank you Corky, I was wondering about that, but had forgotten to ask the vet. She will be back in the office tomorrow and I will get some from her.

I have a rabbit who is on antibiotics right now too, and I've been giving him Proviable each day to keep his stomach regular. Kind of surprised the vet didn't think of it right away for the dog as well.

I was thinking the amoxicillin that Shadow is taking was probably not going to help with the gas level in his belly.

I hope this will also help clear his system of the morphine and tramadol he's been given, as he's pretty slow at flushing this stuff out on his own. He's still so wobbly and unsteady on his feet. Getting up from a lying position is incredibly hard for him.



He's developed some urinary incontinence too, (actually he just doesn't wake up from the deep sleeps he's going into in time to get outside and urinate), that the on call I spoke with today said might be due to the painkillers. Does that sound likely?

It sounds likely to me, but I'm no vet----but I've seen what some other members have mentioned about the deep sleep because of meds. their dog has been on. I'm very much against most of the meds that are prescribed by vets---But suppose you have to use some of them sometimes--but I sure would get off them as soon as I could----I would never allow my dogs to have Rimadyl (which is also known as ----Darn, can't think of the name right now-starts with c I think---Put rimadyl in your browser and you'll prob find it as Rimadyl is the brand name for this 'poison'! I will never allow them to have Proin or Prednisone either. I would suggest that you put the name of the meds you are using, in your browser (one at a time, of course) Example: Rimadyl/side effects/dogs
What are you feeding your dog right now to regain his strength and not upset his stomach too? Did vet suggest any special foods? Of course I'm against all commercial dog food---not much value there. Does your dog feel like eating---hope he's drinking plenty of water too! Keep in touch!

Another word I was looking for (above): Rimadyl=Carporfen-Rimadyl is a brand name for carporfen!!

Thanks again , Corky.
Yes, we went ahead and stopped the tramadol. I notice that this (and past experiences my dog has had with rimadyl) causes rear leg weakness and spasms in him. So we wanted him off it anyway. Today he is doing better in the elimination department, although he has not had a full bowel movement yet, I expect it's the restricted food intake he's on causing that.

We received probiotics today and I'll start them in a an hour or so. He will have fresh meat from now on, I have given up on the commercial pet food industry, they are either too careless and money hungry to provide a decent product, or they've got such poor quality control that things like melamine get into the pet food system. And that's all I'll say about that.

In fact, its just about time for a short constitutional for Shadow. We'll give him an hour to relax afterward before trying to feed him, but I am curious about water consumption (he seems very thirsty-but I don't want him to slurp a huge amount down and fill with air again.)

Also, do you recommend anti-gas meds and if so, where do you find the correct dosage/strength and availability? I did some research last night and found a site that suggests 1200 mg for a dog the size of a Great Dane (that's Shadow) but the largest we could find was 180 mg tablets. I wonder if it can be used as a preventative?

He has had gastroplexy, btw, in case I hadn't mentioned that. I notice also that as he lays down, it's like hearing a two liter bottle of water slosh around sometimes (not after drinking, it doesn't seem to have an obvious trigger, this noise) and I wonder if that could be due to the gastroplexy?

[CorkyMax]

Originally Posted by ForShadow

Thanks again , Corky.
Yes, we went ahead and stopped the tramadol. I notice that this (and past experiences my dog has had with rimadyl) causes rear leg weakness and spasms in him. So we wanted him off it anyway. Today he is doing better in the elimination department, although he has not had a full bowel movement yet, I expect it's the restricted food intake he's on causing that.

We received probiotics today and I'll start them in a an hour or so. He will have fresh meat from now on, I have given up on the commercial pet food industry, they are either too careless and money hungry to provide a decent product, or they've got such poor quality control that things like melamine get into the pet food system. And that's all I'll say about that.

In fact, its just about time for a short constitutional for Shadow. We'll give him an hour to relax afterward before trying to feed him, but I am curious about water consumption (he seems very thirsty-but I don't want him to slurp a huge amount down and fill with air again.)

Also, do you recommend anti-gas meds and if so, where do you find the correct dosage/strength and availability? I did some research last night and found a site that suggests 1200 mg for a dog the size of a Great Dane (that's Shadow) but the largest we could find was 180 mg tablets. I wonder if it can be used as a preventative?

He has had gastroplexy, btw, in case I hadn't mentioned that. I notice also that as he lays down, it's like hearing a two liter bottle of water slosh around sometimes (not after drinking, it doesn't seem to have an obvious trigger, this noise) and I wonder if that could be due to the gastroplexy?

You had mentioned having simethicone on hand--isn't that an antigas med? I don't know much about this 'stuff' but sounds like a good thing to have in an emergency---before bloat happens. Sounds kind of off to me about needing 1200mg--if you can only find it with 180 mg. Like I said, I don't know about this stuff---Is it for humans too---if so, I would think a dog would use less than whatever the human dosage is! Maybe you should ask the vet about how much to use and if it is a good idea to use all the time-----It might not be good to continually use as a preventative---might deplete something if used all the time or cause a build-up of something--I have no idea!! You've prob. already been to vet again today--maybe you can call and ask about that 'stuff'---Did you ask her opinion on what the sloshing noise could be?
And, yes, I guess it wouldn't be good for Shadow to drink water either an hr. or 2 before and after eating according to that website I mentioned to you above (#2 post) I went back into that to review a little---I would suggest you to go through it again---a lot there to remember--esp. on prevention! But I would try to get him to drink plenty of water (slowly) in between meal times.
This is frm another book I have-Earl Mindell's Nutrition & Health for Dogs--which is 10-11 yrs. old ---very good book on how to prevent things-about vitamins and supplements,etc. I wish every dog owner had it--I know it was listed on Ebay-at least a few wks. ago and it can be bought used very cheaply. Quote: Here are some guidelines that may reduce the risk of gastric bloat and torsion: 1. Feed a high-quality diet. 2. Feed several smaller meals rather than one large one. 3. Do not feed an excited or stressd dog.
4. Do not feed one hr. before or after vigorous exercise. (Although the Purdue researchers found this not to be a cause, many breeders do feel it is an important factor.) 5. Do not let an excited or stressed dog drink large quantities of water. Afraid if this post gets too long--it will get 'knocked out' of here so will be right back! Rimadyl is one of the brand names for carporfen!!!

[CorkyMax]

This is also from same book mentioned above: Keeping your dog in optimal health will keep his liver in optimal health. If your dog has to take medications over a long period of time, has had a high exposure to toxins, or has spent his life on a low-quality diet, there is no doubt that his liver has suffered.
Milk thistle and alpha lipoic acid are both nutrients that can help restore the health of the liver.
Milk thistle is a member of the daisy family and contains a flavonoid called silymarin, which enhances liver function, stimulates production of new cells, and has antioxidant properties that protect the liver cells from damage. Daily doses for milk thistle are: sm. dogs--1/2 capsule, med. and lg. dogs--1 capsule and giant dogs--2 capsules. For maintenance of a healthy liver, I recommend milk thistle (silymarin) for a month each year for all dogs over six yrs old. This is me (Corky/Max) 'talking now---I have read that too much of this can cause a kind of false elevated liver reading in blood tests--not harmful. But I take where it states above about the daily doses to mean only a period of time when the liver needs to be 'restored' from the harm that has been done to it. And then all dogs over 6 yrs. old to have it for 1 mon. of each yr. for maintenance. Back to quoting:
Alpha lipoic acid is an antioxidant that is a potent promoter of glutathione. Glutathione (GSH), a major antioxidant and detoxifying agent, is found in highest concentrations in the liver, which is the primary organ in charge of detoxifying the body. If your dog has been or is on any kind of medications for an extended period of time, I recommend supplementing with alpha lipoic acid at the following daily doses: sm. dogs--50 mgs, med. dogs--
100 mgs, lg. dogs--200 mgs, and giant dogs--300 mgs. Mindell considers sm.
dogs=up to 20# med. dogs=20 to 50# lg. dogs= 50 to 100# giant dogs= over 100#

Corky you are a Godsend, seriously! Thank you so much for all this information!
I can't believe I had forgotten about milk thistle. (Having been a cancer survivor myself for about four years and I used to be pretty versed in homeopathic cures. Of course, not all that is good for humans is good for pets, but I'm glad to know that this particular item can be used for them.)
I think I will try to suss out that book, it sounds like great material.

I hadn't talked to the vet this morning, husband did though (they tend to call before starting shift at 8 AM, they are really following up nicely) but I'll ask her what the noise might be. And of course, about the simethicone.

He's doing well. The incontinence is fading and he's walking well and eating beautifully. (raw brisket or boiled chicken) Hasn't really gone #2 for a day or so though, so I need to talk tot he vet about that also. (His meals are currently very small, so I'm thinking there's just not enough to go through that well. But I don't want him to be 'holding' himself because he may be fearful of pain, or that he's just not walking far enough to stimulate the bowels.

Thank you again. I'll update as warranted, but I'm hoping we're on the mend here.