Blacknewfs
New member
Has anyone had experience with a dog recovering from early stages of bloat on their own? If so, did you x-ray and were there signs of gas in the stomach still?
I had a real scare with Neptune (8 yr old male). At dinner time last night instead of coming for dinner he ran outside and was frantically eating snow -- big mouthfuls, gulping it down. I called him back into the house and he came in and was very agitated, racing from door to door trying to get back outside. When I let him out he again would gulp huge mouthfuls of snow again. I brought him back in and he started retching and gagging, almost like he was having a hard time swallowing. I checked his mouth and his tongue and gums were grey. I felt his abdomen and it was rock hard, light a tight drum. He was very distressed, wide eyed, freaking out. I shoved 2 gas-x down his throat, called the vet and told her what was happening. She told me to pull him by his front legs up onto my shoulders to try to move the gas through, and to meet her at the clinic.
I pulled him up on my shoulders, did not get a burp, and just ran him out to the Jeep and headed off to the vet -- a 45 min drive (which I did in 30). He was crying and seemed to be in great distress/pain while I was driving, then about 10 minutes into our drive he went totally quiet and was not responding to me talking to him. I was alone, so just kept driving as fast as I could figuring there was no time to waste. It was dark so I could not see him. By the time I got to the vet I was sure he was gone - I hadn't heard a peep from the back of the Jeep in 20 minutes. I jumped out and opened the tail gate, and there he was, tail wagging, ready to plant a kiss on me. We were rushed into the clinic, they had everything prepped for emergency surgery. Did a preliminary exam, and his stomach had softened up quite a bit, his colour in his gums was back to normal, temp fine, heart rate good just slightly elevated, he was happy, tail wagging, etc. He let out a huge burp. We did multiple x-rays -- stomach looked good. His intestines however were absolutely full of gas. Loaded. We stayed at the clinic a while and the vet did a more thorough assessment of him. By that time his abdomen was completely back to it's normal tightness and his heart rate was down to completely normal, but his intestines still felt full.
So we are not sure what was going on. My vet said in her 20 years as a vet she has never seen a dog who started bloating, stop bloating without lingering signs of bloat. Even if lifting him by his front legs had worked and moved the gas along from his stomach into his intestines, there still apparently would have been evidence of gas in his stomach, which there was not. Unless the gas-x resolved this? So it is possible this was not bloat, but we don't know what else would have had all of those symptoms.. She said everything I described is classic bloat symptoms but the frantic behaviour and pica behaviour (snow eating) can be seen from other types of abdominal distress.
I have no idea what to think, but it scared the hell out me. He has been fine since (almost 24 hours now) but still has not pooped. Based on the amount of gas in his intestines the vet warned us that he woudl likely have bad diarrhea. He hasn't.
He does have a family history of bloat so I know this is something we need to be aware of with him.
Has anyone experienced this type of behaviour before with anything other than bloat? Or , back to my original question, have you seen a bloat recovery without lingering gas in the stomach?
I had a real scare with Neptune (8 yr old male). At dinner time last night instead of coming for dinner he ran outside and was frantically eating snow -- big mouthfuls, gulping it down. I called him back into the house and he came in and was very agitated, racing from door to door trying to get back outside. When I let him out he again would gulp huge mouthfuls of snow again. I brought him back in and he started retching and gagging, almost like he was having a hard time swallowing. I checked his mouth and his tongue and gums were grey. I felt his abdomen and it was rock hard, light a tight drum. He was very distressed, wide eyed, freaking out. I shoved 2 gas-x down his throat, called the vet and told her what was happening. She told me to pull him by his front legs up onto my shoulders to try to move the gas through, and to meet her at the clinic.
I pulled him up on my shoulders, did not get a burp, and just ran him out to the Jeep and headed off to the vet -- a 45 min drive (which I did in 30). He was crying and seemed to be in great distress/pain while I was driving, then about 10 minutes into our drive he went totally quiet and was not responding to me talking to him. I was alone, so just kept driving as fast as I could figuring there was no time to waste. It was dark so I could not see him. By the time I got to the vet I was sure he was gone - I hadn't heard a peep from the back of the Jeep in 20 minutes. I jumped out and opened the tail gate, and there he was, tail wagging, ready to plant a kiss on me. We were rushed into the clinic, they had everything prepped for emergency surgery. Did a preliminary exam, and his stomach had softened up quite a bit, his colour in his gums was back to normal, temp fine, heart rate good just slightly elevated, he was happy, tail wagging, etc. He let out a huge burp. We did multiple x-rays -- stomach looked good. His intestines however were absolutely full of gas. Loaded. We stayed at the clinic a while and the vet did a more thorough assessment of him. By that time his abdomen was completely back to it's normal tightness and his heart rate was down to completely normal, but his intestines still felt full.
So we are not sure what was going on. My vet said in her 20 years as a vet she has never seen a dog who started bloating, stop bloating without lingering signs of bloat. Even if lifting him by his front legs had worked and moved the gas along from his stomach into his intestines, there still apparently would have been evidence of gas in his stomach, which there was not. Unless the gas-x resolved this? So it is possible this was not bloat, but we don't know what else would have had all of those symptoms.. She said everything I described is classic bloat symptoms but the frantic behaviour and pica behaviour (snow eating) can be seen from other types of abdominal distress.
I have no idea what to think, but it scared the hell out me. He has been fine since (almost 24 hours now) but still has not pooped. Based on the amount of gas in his intestines the vet warned us that he woudl likely have bad diarrhea. He hasn't.
He does have a family history of bloat so I know this is something we need to be aware of with him.
Has anyone experienced this type of behaviour before with anything other than bloat? Or , back to my original question, have you seen a bloat recovery without lingering gas in the stomach?
