| Ginnie -
As the owner of a dane who has survived bloat I think it is invaluable to do research into the subject and for owners to be informed of the symptoms and the required treatment when a dog is bloating. Thanks for sharing all of these stories and information. |
| I' am following this series very carefully. GDV is one of my greatest concerns for my 3 Danes.
In October 2000, I lost Grace, a rescued 4 year old Dane, to complications following GDV. She had bloated, was rushed to the vet before she torsed, and had a gastropexy done 3 days later. She recovered very well from the surgery or so it seemed. Tragically she died before our eyes a few days later. Grace had been resting quietly, stood up and instantly fell, without another breath. We rushed her to the vet just in case but she was gone the moment she fell. There was no apparent reason for her to die so I am very interested in next week's installment on the aftermath of GDV. |
| Ginnie and community- I have been hit and miss of late checking dadane, so i dropped in coincidentally today. I was so grateful to see you devoting more space to bloat. Last year my girl, Lily, bloated and miraculuously recovered post-op. All the vets in the specialty surgery group i had access to said that she was nothing short of a miracle, given her exttemely slow recovery from surgery. She did not stand for 3 days after.
but the neat thing i have to share is how your work helped us. I had handed in my Master's thesis an hour before it's deadline one sunny Monday lin May 2002. I had about 16 hours sleep over a 4 or 5 day period, and was absolutely at my worst. I went out to dinner with a friend to celebrate our successes. I came home to a girl who looked wider than long (no small feat for a dane). I was in such bad emotional shape, i couldnt think straight. i was fairly versed on bloat symptoms and proceedures, but simply panicked and was unable to decide what i should do. I logged on to the internet, and the only place i could think to go was your link page. having skimmed a few articles, I was reminded that I had to act quickly, even though I was new to Chicago and unsure where I could find an emergency vet. We flew out the door, and I am certain, barely made it to the vet within an "actabke" amount of time. I had completely forgotten your role in Lily's survival until the article today. At this point, it should go without saying that I am enormously grateful for your commitment to providing not only wonderful dane humor, but also education. Thank you so much for doing this series. I think we all should have remedial coursework on Bloat. All the Best, Lara |
| After reading your articles, I wish I could add some positive experience. Unfortunately, we ended up putting down my good friend, Haley, last November following her third! episode of bloat. The first time (about four years earlier) Haley had the surgery for torsion. Her stomach had flipped completely. She seemed to do well for quite some time, but in June while we were on vacation, she boated yet again. That time we raced her to a vet and had her stomach pumped. She came out of that incident very lethargic, and it took three days before she seemed at all like herself. I began feeding her small amounts of food five times a day trying to keep it from happening again, but on my daughter's 18th birthday, Haley bloated a third time. The family had discussed our options and had decided before this third time that we could not keep putting the dog through the trauma, nor did we feel that we could operate again. Haley was ten years old, getting up there for a Dane. Her whole family was with her at the end.
I had read a lot about bloat and had attempted to do everything the "experts" say to do ever since that very first time. At no time was the dog allowed to race around after a meal, and that last time, she had only been given a small amount of food four hours before. All three times the bloat began after she had been lying down and resting after her dinner. I eventually decided there was something that wasn't working quite right in Haley's case that was causing the condition, and I was interested to read the idea that one of the reasons for bloat could be inherent in the contractions of the stomach itself. I have three other Danes--Haley's daughter and two grand-daughters, and so far (God be willing) have not had to go through this experience with any of them. |
| Ginnie, Thank you for the discussion of some of the maladies of our Danes. You mention the "change" in theory regarding the cause of bloat but, in reality , the old & new assumptions all seem to lead to the cause being related to stress. All of the items you mention seem to be different ways of stressing different individual Danes which tends to make me think there is probably a combination of those that may actually be the cause.
I think that even humans have a lot of different ways to cause ourselves stress & many of them will not affect another person the same way. Too often we tend to think that maladies that we can't explain must be genetic. That could be one of the ingredients for some individuals in that they are genetically more easily stressed. Keep up the good work & the fabulous portraits. Scot |
| Hi, My husband and I just lost a great dane(sampson) 8 years old. It was sooooo tragic......
I still cry sometimes. I found this site and I am so grateful for the information. We just got a 7week old puppy. Now I can at least recognize the symptoms of BLOAT . THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |