Gastric Dilation

Re: Gastric Dilation

Bronwyn Hayward — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 21:56:41 GMT

Drinking excessively, restlessness and panting sounds like Cushings (hyperadrenocorticism). We've seen a few cases where the first presenting complaint was the dog waking the owner up panting in the night/early morning.

I think it's far more common in small dogs so it may not have been forefront in your vet's mind. I'd request more bloods sooner (in spite of the stress - poor thing!) and make sure they include ALP.

Good luck :)

Re: Gastric Dilation

SmegSlayer — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:16:28 GMT

got a vet friend who had a bassett with bloat after he broke into his food cupboard and ate a load of his dry dog bics and then had a drink. all bics swelled in his stomach causing a bloat

Re: Gastric Dilation

Karen S — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 08:05:13 GMT

I plan to redo his bloods again in Feb. Just want him over this before taking him back to the vets which freaks him out. The increased water thing was only over this bloat episode, wasnt there before and has now calmed down to normal intake.

He was on Royal Canin Mobility for breakfast and meat, veg, rice for dinner (no gravy). But for the past 4 days he has been on chicken and rice (no gravy).

I am open to food ideas. I dont want him on dry dog food anymore, and am willing to prepare raw/cooked food for him.

I also want to speak to the vet about his panting. I know we live in a hot climate but his panting in the early mornings sometimes wakes me up. Although today it is fairly cold so he is not panting, so it probably is just heat related due to his hellish thich coat. I am having him shaved today to help with the heat, and to watch his tummy. His undercoat is so thick. My other dogs do not pant like he does, but they dont have the thick undercoat.

Either way, i am going to book an appointment with an internal medicine specilaist vet and go through it all. Will cost me an arm, but i cannot put a price on my dogs care.

Re: Gastric Dilation

Selena Carnell — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:43:45 GMT

Have you had his bloods done again? i really would follow this up.

Also what food is he on? and what do you call a home cooked dinner? are you meaning like we would eat with gravy? gravy is full of salt which would be really bad for him at this age.

with him having a didgy tummy which GSDs are prone to i would advise sticking to one food and staying on it, if you changeor give him scraps that could trigger another bloat.

Avoid exercising him an hour before and after food as this is one of the common causes.

is he on an older dog formula?

It must be hard.

but i would speak to your vet, increased thirst and drinking is not normal

Re: Gastric Dilation

Karen S — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 07:15:35 GMT

He is back to normal today. I, however, am not. I just cannot shake this and it is like having a family member who has had a heart attack and survived, and you constantly fear the next attack.

I find when he is stressed, he drinks ton loads. Like when he was castrated as a youngster, he got home from the vets and just drank and drank until he vomited it up and so on. Back then i was not clued up on anything veterinary so didnt know the difference.

When he bloated on Wednesday morning, he got stressed so started drinking. When he got home on Thursday he was still incredibly stressed so he drank a lot. Then i took his water away and offered 100ml every hour for almost 2 days. From Saturday evening he was regulating his own intake of water. Sunday (yesterday) he was fine with his water and i was able to leave it down. Now he is drinking normally. I am glad as his water intake was worrying me, but now i realise it was a massive stress reaction.

I am feeding him every 3 hours now, just a tiny amount. He is on half a kilo of food (was on just over 1kg until this mess), but i divide that up over the day into 5 tiny meals. Am i doing the right thing? He just seems so hungry and it was his hunger on Tuesday that got him into this mess as i allowed him to eat when in fact i should have said no to him.

So for today he is on half a kilo, and i will raise that to about 800 grams and leave him on that for a while. He was on dry food in the mornings and a home cooked dinner at night, but now im taking out all dry food and i will do his meals, hence the 800 gram thing.

Am i doing the right thing?

Re: Gastric Dilation

Sophie Bedford RVN CertVNECC — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:44:38 GMT

Even though you had blood work done in November I would definitely reassess it. We have a dog in at the moment that showed normal bloods in September but now they are off the scale - this is not a similar case in terms of clinical signs but it does show that blood levels can change very quickly.

I agree that you might want to look at possibly testing for pancreatitis and glucose in case there is an underlying issue that is now rearing it's head.

Best of luck to you and I hope everything vets resolved!

Re: Gastric Dilation

Alana Dent — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 15:17:22 GMT

What is it that you feed your dog? Pain in the abdoman could be a sign of pancreatitis?!

If your dog did happen to bloat, it is true that it is likely to happen again. If he needed to have surgery a Gastroplexy should be performed which lowers the risk of bloating again by a substantial amount.
Try a bland diet, electrolytes, and lots of TLC!

Re: Gastric Dilation

karen2010 — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:46:58 GMT

hiya,

We’ve recently seen a case in a Gordon setter which would bloat after meals, no vomiting but all the other signs. We admitted her for x-rays and barium study, but whilst under ga she bloated again! So in the end the vet referred her to the vet school for further tests, can't remember the outcome but will check and get back to you!

Re: Gastric Dilation

Karen S — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:34:27 GMT

Ok good point, I didnt realise that.

He did have blood work done in mid November 2010 and all was fine. There was a slightly raised BUN level which i think is more his diet than anything else. I have done blood work on him a number of times over the years, and his BUN was always slight elevated due to a mostly natural diet (so i believe). His glucose checked out ok in November as well.

They didnt test for anything but lactate during this dilation episode. Even still, i am wondering if gastric dilation was the correct diagnosis, but i guess the xrays were the confirmation of it. I am just clutching at straws i think, just never thought my boy would succumb to this :(

Re: Gastric Dilation

Selena Carnell — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:13:43 GMT

I'd be inclined to ask for a copy of the blood results or get them sent to your own vet to check liver and kidney function, especially with his age too, drinking lots can be a sign of kidney problems and may have been increased with his recent episode.

Did they think ther was a problem with his glucose levels?

Re: Gastric Dilation

Karen S — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 13:06:23 GMT

He was pacing, panting and unsettled and he was also refusing to sit or lie down. Hence my decision to take him in at 3am. Only thing he didnt have was the vomiting. He also kept coming to me and pushing his head into me and i knew something was very wrong.

I dont leave food down and he didnt go out that day, so it was only what i fed him that day and he had an extra portion of food. Its never been an issue before, but i guess this just tipped it over and caused this :(

Not sure what other blood work they did except for the lactate.

I still cannot leave water down as he just drinks too much of it. So am offering every hour.

Thanks for your reply :)

Re: Gastric Dilation

Selena Carnell — Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:26:57 GMT

doesn't sound like classic bloat, usually they are pacing, unsettled, dry wretching if its true dilatation they can't vomit.. otherwise they wouldn't have the bloat problem. the abdomen can be distended and tympanic depending on what stage they are at.

Did he manage to get to food any where else? for a GSD to be full of food it would have had to eat a substantial amount of food. i know we had a dog in that ate dry sugar beet that then expanded internally, we had to operate to remove it as it was basically dry and compacted.

Did the routine bloods show anything else?

I'd just offer food little and often, water ad lib.

oher than that i can't offer any other advice.