*permission to cross-post*
As the temperature heats up this summer, this bares repeating as a friendly reminder
This was posted on another board with permission to cross post in the
hopes of saving another dog from having to go through this awful
experience.
============ ========= ========= =========
Hello Everyone,
I am writing this in hopes that some may learn from what I just went
through.
Well anyway it did not work out that way. After showing we went back to our
site/set up and got the dogs in their crates to cool off. After being back
about 30min. I noticed **** was low on water. I took a hand full of ice from
my cooler and put it in his bucket with more water. (Note: I use a small
Playmate cooler at ringside with ice water in it also. Have for over 15
years now) I use small 2qt. buckets in my crates. He had maybe ? a bucket
when I placed him in his crate after coming back from the ring. We all then
started to get all the dogs Ex'ed and food ready for them.
I have an 18 foot trailer with AC and set up, as a rolling kennel it fits 7-
42" crates, and MY express Van holds 1- 48", 1- 42", and 3- 36", crates. All
the crates in the van have 24 " box fans over them. I had **** in his 48'
crate in the van because that is the place he loves to be. He loves to be
able to see everyone and everything. After checking the dogs and thinking
they were cooled off enough we fed everyone. As we were walking around
removing the feed dishes from the crates, one of my friends stated that ****
seamed like he was choking. I went over and checked on him and he was dry
heaving and was drooling. I got him out of the crate to check him over and
noticed he had not eaten. He was in some distress. I checked him over from
head to toe and did not notice anything. I walked him around for about a
min. when I noticed that he was starting to Bloat. I did everything I was
taught to do in this case. I was not able to get him to burp, and we
gave him Phasezime.
We jumped on the golf cart to take him down to the Show vet to find out that
he did not have a bloat kit, He referred us to the clinic that was to be on
call, but we found out that the clinic was closed. After finding another
clinic that was open we rushed **** to that one. We called ahead and let
them know that we were on our way. They were set up and waiting for us and
they got **** stabilized very quickly. After **** was stable and out of
distress we transported **** to AVREC where he went into surgery to make
sure no damage was done to any of his vital organs. I am very happy to say
that **** is doing great, there was no damage to any vital organs, and he
still loves his food.
In surgery the doctor found that ***** stomach was in its normal anatomic
position. The Doctor and I went over the events of what happened up to the
point of **** Bloating. When I told him about the ice water he asked why I
gave him ice water, and have I always done this. I told him my history
behind this practice and his reply was "I have been very lucky for the past
15 years." The ice water I gave **** caused violent Muscle spasm in his
stomach which caused the bloating. Even though I figured his temp was down
enough to feed, and give him this ice water his internal temp was still
high. Dr. Vogf stated that giving dog's ice to chew or ice water is a
big NO, NO; there should be no reason for them to have ice/ice water. Normal
water (room Temp.), or cooling with cold towels on the inter thigh, is the
best way to help cool a dog. How Dr. Vogf explained it to me was like this:
If you, as a person fall into a frozen lake what happens to our muscles?
Think about that, then compare that to your dog's stomach.
I felt the need to share this with everyone, in the hopes that some may
learn from what I went through, I do not wish this on anyone. **** is home
now doing fine. He does not like the fact that he has to be walked on lead
in the yard to keep him from running. He hates not being able to go out and
rough house with the others, but is doing great. So please if you do use ice
and ice water, beware as what could happen.
*Shelley Palmer *
*Rescue Animal Transporter *
Bloat is a nasty thing I hope I never have to experience. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I've done a ton of research and want to point out one of the possible factors is letting your dog drink a lot of water just before or after eating kibble. Most kibble expands when you get it wet, this is a huge problem for our deep chested friends. Do a kibble test, folks. Drop a piece of your dog's kibble in a cup of water and see how big it gets. Then you know if you should restrict water around meal time.
Personally, I feed my girl RAW to avoid this problem as well as all the other problems related to kibble. Allergies, tainted food, etc. I got freaked out after the third dog food recall in a year and made the switch.
Quoting AngelaSue1979:
Bloat is a nasty thing I hope I never have to experience. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I've done a ton of research and want to point out one of the possible factors is letting your dog drink a lot of water just before or after eating kibble. Most kibble expands when you get it wet, this is a huge problem for our deep chested friends. Do a kibble test, folks. Drop a piece of your dog's kibble in a cup of water and see how big it gets. Then you know if you should restrict water around meal time.
Personally, I feed my girl RAW to avoid this problem as well as all the other problems related to kibble. Allergies, tainted food, etc. I got freaked out after the third dog food recall in a year and made the switch.
We lost Kam, our blue weim, at only 18 months from bloat. It's awful, awful, awful.... I've become obsessed with finding out the latest information and applying it in our house. Darby's chest is VERY deep, so I'm extremely paranoid with her.
We tried Darby on raw - but we found out she has two cracked carnassial molars and decided AGAINST raw for her. The benefit of the diet wasn't worth the major surgery to have those removed (then she'd have to have ground bones anyway). I know a lot of people, esp weim owners who LOVE raw. That's great that you're able to do it!
Yep, RAW is the true natural diet. My girl is intolerant to beef, so she gets about everything but that. And very little food truely goes to waste in our house, which is an added bonus. We tried swtiching to super high end kibble, but the cost of that stuff is so outrageous it ended up being less expensive to go RAW. Added benefits include reduced risk of bloat, clean clean clean teeth, better breath, less food related allergy problems, tons of calcium so super strong bones and teeth.
I'll admit there is a hurdle to get over when you start the diet. Fears of bones stuck in teeth and all that. You'll see information online steering you away from RAW, but I joined a few groups and that really helped me out. I tried grinding the bones for a while but that got super old super fast. It's been a year now and people are always commenting on how gorgeous my dog's teeth and coat are. We'll probably never buy kibble again.
Show us your babys !!!
- gonefeisin
on Jun. 29, 2009 at 10:45 AM