09/07/2025
Bloat/GDV/Gastric Dilation-volvulus.
0 stars.
HIGHLY DO NOT RECOMMEND!
Started off our fall Trial season with a bang, but not the good kind! Planning to leave Friday at noon to head out, I got to bed "early"(midnight) Thursday night. Thank God for Jennifer Shaffer being a night owl, recognizing something was wrong with Rocky and that she needed to wake me up at 3 am.
She came in and said I really didn't want to wake you, but some thing is wrong with Rocky, he's whining, crying, agitated and won't lay down. I went down and got him out, immediately noting a "bubble" on the left side of his abdomen. Fearing what it was, I slid my hands down over his abdomen to his belly and sure enough, he was distended.
I noted he hadn't eaten his biscuit, which in itself was concerning and when I offered it to him, he turned his head. Ruh roh. I walked him outside to have more room and see if he'd take water and that was a big nada. At this point I started lightly palpating his abdomen to see if he responded and sure enough, he let me know he was in discomfort. He wasn't in distress yet, wasn't wretching, but it was clear he was bloating.
A 3:30 am call to my AWESOME Veterinary clinic, LaVale Veterinary Hospital and both Dr. Raley and Jen were on their way to the hospital. By 5 am he'd had x-rays, was prepped and was on the table. Good news was, we caught it VERY early, but had it gone a couple more hours, he might not still be with us. Yes, Bloat IS that serious! Thankfully, by Saturday afternoon, LVH had called his owner Matt McCluskey and said come get him, he's bouncing off the walls and ready to be at home!
Now for some interesting observations. Rocky had eaten his full meal at 8 pm. When Jen had let him out for his final potty run of the night at 1 am, he was fine going out and seemed fine coming back in at 1:30 give or take. He started fussing around 2:30 am. Based on his sloshing stomach sounds when she was taking him to load him up to head to LVH, it sounded like he had drank a great deal of water, which may have potentially been the ultimate cause of his stomach flipping and twisting. So in roughly an hour and a half, he had went from a perfectly healthy and happy dog, to a dog that was heading in to crisis.
He never presented with some of the most commonly known signs, with wretching, or trying to drink but throwing up the water immediately. He hadn't run/exercised hard after having just eaten, it was almost 5 to 5 1/2 hours after eating. Nothing that would typically make you think "bloat".
I can't stress enough, get to absolutely know and understand what Bloat/GDV is and how to recognize it IMMEDIATELY. Listen to your dog. If they're telling you something is wrong, don't dismiss it, trust them that SOME THING IS WRONG!
This ended with a "happy" ending, because Jen listened to Rocky and because I knew what I was looking at. His Fall Trial Season is over before it started, but 12 weeks from now, he'll begin working to get back in shape and will see next Spring.
The dark shadow in the x-rays is his stomach.
