Pal Update

I have just received a phone call from the vet who performed Pal's latest bloat surgery. It's now been just over 24 hours since she had the surgery. I am so pleased to say that her blood pressure is good, she is alert and bright and the only thing they are checking now is whether her kidneys are functioning well. If that all checks out I will be able to take her home later this afternoon.

Some may have questioned why I would subject my 9 year old girl to another bloat surgery when she just went through this same thing 7 weeks ago. Well, I questioned myself too and believe me while I was driving to the clinic and then bringing her through the doors I wondered what the right decision would be. Had Pal been a feeble 9 year old who was arthritic and showed signs of not have a quality of life my decision would have been different. But the day Pal bloated - that afternoon she was running and playing and giving me body slams and acting like a 5 year old. Pal, despite now surviving two bloat/torsion episodes has really never been ill otherwise - with the exception of pyometra (for which she was emergency spayed).

So anyway people - bloat is scary but dogs can survive it. Obviously, the sooner the dog receives medical attention the more positive the outcome. I have even known dogs who's stomachs are black and dead who have survived (the surgeon cuts away the dead parts of the stomach).

This is now my 6th time dealing with bloat and only once did I have to euthanize the dog because the toxins were too much for her organs to handle.

Most notable signs of bloat (in my experience) - UNPRODUCTIVE vomiting. If you see your dog retching and gagging and cannot vomit this is a classic sign of bloat with torsion. The stomach will also be distended and hard like a drum. The dog will be restless and cannot find a comfortable position. They will drool and they cannot swallow. Check the gums - white gums indicate shock. This is because as the stomach bloats and expands it cuts off blood supply. Get to a vet immediately - the dog must be stabilized with fluids and the gas released by either tubing (which usually means no torsion) or a puncture with a needle to the stomach to release the gas. This is so the blood flow can resume. If there is torsion surgery must be done. Tacking will prevent the stomach from flipping over on its axis, however, as with my experience with Pal, it will not stop the stomach from folding in the middle.

So - even though your dog may have been tacked - note the signs that the dog can still bloat and the stomach can still fold.

Same Nightmare - Different Night

Once again my beloved old girl Pal bloated. She woke me up with her retching sounds at 12:40 am - trying to vomit but it was unproductive. Her stomach was somewhat distended and hard. I tried tubing her myself - hoping that I could get the tube into her stomach to relieve the build-up of gas. I thought I heard gas escaping but stomach did not appear to decompress. I tried several more times. Since Pal went through bloat and surgery 7 weeks ago and had her stomach tacked at that time, I just couldn't believe that she would have torsioned. She remained restless and again tried vomiting without success. I checked her gums and noticed they were almost white - this indicates shock. No more fooling around at home - this was an Emergency with a capital "E". I got her to the Western College of Vet Med (WCVM) at 3:30 am (again avoiding the deer).

Xrays showed that while her stomach was still "in place" she had a heavy build-up of gas in her stomach and intestines and she had heart arrhythmia. Tubing was unsuccessful, so she was decompressed with a needle puncture to the stomach. She also had severe increase of lactate acid in her blood. She was stabilized with fluids, but due to the arrhythmia and high lactate her prognosis of survival was put at 60 percent - many dogs will die of heart failure at this point.

As I write this blog, Pal has survived the surgery and the blood acids are down to normal levels now. Her arrhythmia has stopped, but she is having some difficulty breathing and her plasma levels are low. She is on oxygen and is being given more plasma. The next 24 hours are critical and will determine whether she will survive.

Despite the tack from the previous surgery, Pal's stomach, while not torsioned, had folded over in the middle - cutting off blood supply. They have put another tack on the other side in hopes that this will not reoccur. Her stomach looked healthy and didn't show any necrotic tissue (but this can happen later). Her intestines were good and they saw no signs of tumors on her major organs. The surgeon was much more optimistic when he spoke with me the last time.

Pal is a fighter. She's 9 years old. I am hoping I will have her home in the next couple of days.

Pal Is Home

I was able to bring Pal home yesterday. She ate out of my hand at the clinic demonstrating her "princess status" for everyone to see. She also exhibited her "drama queen" inclinations by whining, hooting and hollering when she saw me. I am supposed to keep her as quiet as possible since her incision is very long and there is always a risk of her tearing it open should she be too active. I have been successful up until an hour ago of keeping her off the couch and bed - but an hour ago she snuck into the bedroom and I discovered her happily sleeping curled up on the bed. Rather than make her get off, I will simply restrict access to the bedroom once she decides it's time to get up.

I am so happy to have my sweet girl back home.

Hellish Night - Addendum

I forgot to mention that when one goes for emergency services and surgery such as bloat, due to the extremely high nature of the bill, you are asked to put down at least 1/2 of the costs up front. I handed over my credit card only to have it declined. Luckily, my husband was able to use his card (over the phone).

I get a call today from the bank fraud centre asking me to call them. I guess my spending patterns for the last day were suspicious so when I tried to put down the money for the vet bill they froze my credit card (gives you an idea of what kind of money we talking about). I was able to get my account reactivated - I still have some big bills to pay today.

I couple of years ago I had my purse stolen and of course all the contents (credit cards) too. Since that time all my cards are flagged and I guess this activity last night triggered that feature. Good to know that it works. I now have it so that if this "flagging" is activated again, they will call me on my cell phone to verify it's me.