Hello all! Let me say upfront that I'm not a vet, assistant or any other such thing...I'm just a dog owner who had a terrifying experience & I want to share it with you. What's below is based on my experience only...please do your web research to learn more & read without judgement. My story is a bit long, but I believe it's worth the time to read. That being said.....if you are the owner of a large breed dog, you
must know about gastric dilation & volvulus - also known as GDV, gastric torsion, bloat or twisted stomach.
Last Saturday (the 21st) seemed normal..until my German Shepard - Bandit, the sweetest pooch ever! - came in from playing outside. He started vomiting a very thick mucous that looked like beer foam. My boyfriend & I figured it was an upset tummy & would pass soon....but it didn't. Bandit continued to vomit every hour for about two hours & he was increasingly uncomfortable, pacing & whining more each time. I thought maybe we should take him to the ER, but the bf disagreed...his tough boy just had a tummyache & we shouldn't overreact. So the vomiting continued for another hour - when Bandit laid down on the kitchen floor, I was petting him & trying to comfort him. That was when I felt his stomach was very hard on his lower sides - he got up & I checked his other side..that was hard, too. Now I KNOW something's wrong & after far too many minutes of 'I don't care how tough you think he is, he needs a doctor NOW!' we were off to the local animal ER.
When we got there, I described Bandit's symptoms to the nurse & she came out to feel his sides. Immediately she said, 'We need to take x-rays because he may have bloat.' My heart sank...I had heard of bloat & knew what it was, but didn't know the signs. Had I known them, my precious pooch would have been spared hours of agonizing pain. They took him for x-rays & in minutes we were in a waiting room listening to the vet tell us that he needed surgery immediately or he would die. This was a perfectly healthy 6-year-old dog who was totally normal 6 hours ago & now he's on death's doorstep. There was no other decision to make - we told her to operate, knowing there was only a 50% chance he would survive. We were allowed to see him for a minute while the vet prepped for the surgery - I'm sure some of you can relate to having to see your best friend on the examining table with IV's sticking out of him & a shaved belly, already knocked out -petting & kissing his ears for maybe the last time. If you've never been there, I hope you never are.
The next few hours were horrible - they sent us home & said the vet would call. When the phone rang just after midnight, I nearly jumped out of my skin - it was the vet, saying Bandit had made it through the surgery. His stomach was twisted 270 degrees & was dark purple in the twisted parts...his spleen was so badly damaged when it got caught in the twist that she had to remove it. But on the good..when she untwisted the stomach the tissue pinked up right away so she didn't think any of the tissue had died (that's a major part of the 50% success rate). She had to perforate his stomach to release built up gas before untwisting it & emptying its contents. She also 'tacked' his stomach to his abdominal wall so that it could not flip again. He would have to stay at the ER until Monday morning, then be taken to his regular vet for follow up. We went for a visit the next day - he was still groggy & had the IV's, plus a big new bandage around his entire midsection. We petted him & talked to him for awhile, then went over his bloodwork with the vet - there was concern because his platelets (they help with clotting) were low & his white blood cell count was high. The high WBC was an indicator of a possible infection, so they would continue to monitor it - if it continued to go up, the only way to could find the infection would be to open him up again & wash him out, which again he may not survive. If the platelets continued to drop, he would need a blood transfusion. So we held out breath through an entire day, calling every 6 hours for the new results & breathing a little easier as it normalized.
We took him to our vet on Monday - I literally went up to him as soon as he got out of his car & explained what happened. Dr. H examined him - inside, of course! - and said they'd need to keep him for the day for observation. Bandit's spirit had picked up quite a bit & he was even a little frisky, so Dr said if everything looked good, he could go home that night. But he warned us that the next week would be critical...if he started showing any signs of a post-op infection, it was pretty much game over. So we waited & went back to the vet at the end of the day. Bandit was doing well so far, so he could go home with antibiotics & even have a small meal & some water. Surgery had done what it could & now Mother Nature had to take over. Under no circumstances could he climb stairs or be left alone for the first few days and we had to keep him calm & resting (I took the entire week off to stay home with him). Any vomiting or dry-heaving meant right back to the vet & he had to come back the next day for follow up. As long as he kept showing signs of improvement, we could be optimistic but not yet relieved as peritonitis & gastric necrosis (stomach tissue death) were still possible.
We asked the vet how this happened...the basic explanation is you get the wrong combination of food, water, gas, etc...in the tummy combined with enough motion to make the stomach (which swings kind of like a pendulum in dogs) flip over on itself, effectively sealed on both ends. The stomach contents start to produce bacteria that produces gas, which causes the twisted stomach to bloat...which usually ends in the dogs stomach rupturing before they get treatment. It's more common in large, deep-chested dogs because their stomach has more room to 'swing' & because those dogs tend to get fed one large meal a day (a major contributing factor in most cases), so take more air into their tummy. Again, I had heard of bloat before so made sure Bandit got 2-3 meals a day..but even wth precautions, it can still sometimes just happen.
Fast forward to today....so far, so good. Bandit's acting as if nothing happened & doesn't understand why he can't go out & play yet. He shows signs of improvement daily...the vet says he feels too good for his own good
because he's gotten all of his playfulness back. So far there's no sign of infection or necrosis and if all continues to go well, his stitches come out next week. Still no stairs to be safe until the stitches are out, but we've been able to slowly increase his food & water intake. We still have to walk him on a leash out to potty, then right back in. His bandage came off Friday, so we have to make sure he doesn't lick or scratch at them - we have an e-collar in case that becomes an issue. Once the stitches are out, we can do a little happy dance - finally! - and stairs will be okay. But we have to keep him on a very consistent feeding schedule & can't 'roughhouse' with him anymore to lower his chances of rebloating in the future. No more playing where he jumps in the air to play fetch or with the hose (he loves to get squirted with the hose!). We don't have to treat him like he's made of glass, but we do have to do some things differently from now on. The biggest is to give a rest period of 1-2 hours after he eats before taking him outside to play or for a walk and no more gulping water after a good run..small amounts at a time only.
That's my experience with GDV...I hope what we went through can help some of you avoid it or at least recognize it in time to save your dog's life. We've been incredibly blessed throughout this ordeal - most people don't catch this until it's too late & their beloved friend has died an excrutiating death. We got another reminder of how close we came when we asked why Bandit had so many small spots shaved on his body (odd spots on his neck & back legs) - our vet said that likely his veins had already started to collapse so the ER staff had to try multiple spots to find a good one for the IV.
I couldn't possibly tell you all the signs or preventative measures for GDV...do a web search for 'Canine GDV' or 'Canine gastric torsion' and that will pull up a wealth of sites for you to review. But above all, know your pet..if you get that 'feeling' that something's not right, get medical help right away - know where your local animal ER is in case something happens outside of your normal vet's office hours. It's better to get a $50-75 bill for nothing than to think they'll just shake it off & end up being wrong. Which almost happened to us.
Now for what most people want to know... so far this has cost us just under $3000. Money was never a consideration for us...we're not rich by any means, but we couldn't let dollars make our decision. If I have to eat tuna for a year, I won't ever regret it..and Bandit's already repaid us with 3000 sloppy dog kisses.
Large Dogs & GDV - Know the Signs!!! 
Five more days of boredom to give his incision a little extra time to heal, then life can start to normalize for him. We can start taking him on short walks to build his muscles back up so he doesn't go lame from running too soon & within a couple of weeks he can go for short runs, gradually increasing the time. He has to stay on a regular feeding schedule & must rest for at least two hours after a meal before going outside to help prevent the possibility of him rebloating. No more playing with the hose or rope or anything that can make him jump & twist a bunch. We don't have to treat him as if he's made of glass, but there are some restrictions on play from now on. He can have the occasional dog treat, but no table scraps ever again (not that he got a lot of those to begin with). 
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