The Tramadol keeps her sleepy so she can rest, which is good for her recovery . She walked slowly with me to the mailbox and I couldn't believe her 'where-are-those-deer-face' when she scanned the road. That made me very happy. It is so sweet to care for her. She adores the pampering. She keeps licking my face when I hold her when she is resting next to me, those sweet looking into my soul eyes; I consider it a thank you. Contrary to her previous vet visits, she has been very loving towards all the staff. I wonder if she knew in how bad of a shape she was when I brought her in.

 

Oh my! I'm so glad Deja is ok and home recovering. I can't even imagine being in your shoes, good thing you're very attentive to your dogs. Sorry you guys had to go through this.

 

Wow that had to be scarey! So glad you acted fast and she is at home with you!

 

I never thought about how much grass they could consume, our dogs have ate the grass and threw up a small amount and I thought that was probably all they ate!

 

Oh my goodness!! So glad you trusted your instincts!! Hope she recovers quickly!

 

Update: she is doing really well. I cringed when I saw the ingredients on the Hills i/d bag and it is hard to understand that this stuff is healthy :
Brewers Rice, Whole Grain Corn, Chicken Meal, Pea Protein, Egg Product, Pork Fat, Corn Gluten Meal, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dried Beet Pulp, Lactic Acid, Pork Liver Flavor, Soybean Oil, Potassium Chloride, Iodized Salt, Dicalcium Phosphate, vitamins (Vitamin E Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (source of Vitamin C), Niacin Supplement, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Biotin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), Calcium Carbonate, Psyllium Seed Husk, Choline Chloride, L-Tryptophan, Taurine, minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), Mixed Tocopherols for freshness, Natural Flavors, Beta-Carotene.

She needs to eat this food for her healing colon so I just give it to her for ten more days including Purina canned for the same cause. Totally opposite what her system has been used to. My regular vet called me about her and told me that it will take a while to get her good gut flora restored. I was happy that she valued that.

 

I'm so glad she's home and doing well. And I absolutely agree with you about trusting your gut. No matter how minor the symptoms seem, we know best when something is just not right with our pets. If you have a vet that trusts and respects you enough to act on your concerns and not blow you off, treasure them. If not, it's up to us to insist. It just may mean the difference between life or death.

 

So sorry to hear about Deja. Have been off the forum for awhile. Glad your instinct kicked in, who knows a dog better than the person who loves them? Don't get caught up on the ingredients on the food you have been given. Having had a dog who was prone to bloat, these foods settled her down. Wishing Deja a speedy recovery x

 

I had this happen with my male. I had read an article earlier that week on "Bloat" or twisted gut (torsion). My husband called me at suppertime while I was at a football game for our middle-schooler and told me that Max was acting strangely: Max had asked to go outside but then couldn't go to the bathroom, paced, tried unsuccessfully to throw up, and then lay down on his side in obvious pain. My husband was comforting him and trying to figure out what was wrong and happened to put his hand on Max' side. He found it to be rock hard. He called me in concern, and I told him to rush Max to the emergency vet, as I recognized the symptoms from the article. They told him that Max would have died in agony within 45 min had we not brought him in. They did immediate surgery. It turned out that the twist had flipped back on its own at some point, but the twist blocks the passage through the gut and causes toxins to collect, and the infusion of toxins all at once when the twist is released can also kill the dog They called at 11 PM to say that he had passed the "crisis point". Very scary. Best to understand the symptoms and be prepared to act immediately. Do read up on this situation so that you recognize it quickly and can react.

We were told that deep-chested dogs are most at risk, particularly Standard Poodles and Great Danes. There is also a procedure called gastroplexy (tacking the stomach) which can prevent bloating by making it impossible for the stomach to flip. You'd have to ask a vet about this, as we didn't do it. Some do it while neutering dogs which are at high risk.

 

How is corn supposed to health the gut? Wouldn't a high quality food and a probiotic do a better job?

 

She also gets canned pumpkin, probiotics, white rice and cooked chicken. Her poops are good. She wil survive two weeks on this poor diet. The main thing is that her gut heals. I don't know enough about these issues regarding a diet for a situation, so dire, that I am questioning a vet that I trust.

Update: she is doing awesome, is in the company of Griff several hours a day, told him "OFF" when he was curious about her scar, which he respected deeply :grin2:
She is super cuddly and I love her even more now she is a torsion-survivor.

 

So glad your girl was OK, mine had a similar issue a year ago and is now diagnosed with IBS-ish issues. Curious - did they call it mesenteric torsion? They suspected that with Aria but just found big pockets of gas. We'll be following your story and hope she gets better soon!

 

Healthy Paws covers the bill!

 

Wow. Now I'm completely convinced to get my future puppy insurance.

 

Now, now! Let's not portray this breed as a health catastrophe. I have had only one GSD have a serious, expensive health issue. The rest had none or few minor issues. I would not be surprised if dog insurance had a lot of exclusions no different than that of human health insurance as well as caps. I have not looked at insurance for dogs in a long time but for what little was offered at those prices, especially with having to add additional expensive coverages such as cancer, IMO, the cost was prohibitive back then. Just put premiums aside in a special bank account or have a credit card just for your dog if you need it.

 

One big surgery can wipe out an entire savings account. ER surgeries are very expensive. I used to believe like you did until recently. My female rescue whom I got asked a puppy had a weird growth removed and then a few years later, cancer. My other dog has run up expenses I never had with any other dog before. I wish now I had bought insurance when I first got him. I now look at the cost of insurance, which is around $6000-7000 over a lifetime as a necessary expense with anything we might get back a bonues. I’m looking at plans now. Even if previous things aren’t covered, you never know when a dog will get injured. My friend’s German Shepherd was running on her very large property and collided with another one of her dogs and broke something. Things like that can happen. Another friend’s GSD had an infected salivary gland which had to be removed. They aren’t sure why but it may have been a stick or a twig that got into its mouth when it was running in bushes and punctured it from within. They didn’t know until the dog’s neck swelled so much it almost stopped breathing. That cost thousands to clean out and remove. Another friend just spent $5000 on her cat who had an unusual and unexpected condition. There is no way to plan for any of those things.

 

Most of the bills were not caused by poor breeding but by freak accidents.

 

:thumbup: Two of mine collided and we ended up with a root canal and crown. Including the initial vet visit that accident set us back over $2k. A short while later another collision cost us a tplo plus physical therapy $$$. All said and done both were over $6k.

We signed Remi up with healthy paws so we’ll see how this works out. Previously we used savings and then credit card. “Life” can happen in many ways to assault your finances. I was hesitant about the whole insurance thing, but decided to try it this time around.

 

USA vet care is crazy expensive. A friend who is a vet in Western Europe estimated this latest surgery to be 500 euros (conservative estimate!), compared to the entire bill here of $2600. No clue about the reasons, just the facts.

 

$2600 is low. A friend has a Cocker that needed a similar surgery and they were quoted $7,000 by a vet, not an ER. They went to a specialist and it turned out a surgical solution was not the best choice so they didn’t pay it, but they would have. It wasn’t twisted, it was something else and not an emergency surgery, but the surgery involved opening the abdomen to get to the intestines.

 

Good to hear she is on the mend.

 

Wow just read all of this! I am swamped at work but just wanted to take a moment to say I am SO glad she is ok!!

 

Yes, she seems completely back to her old self. Still has to be on leash and on a crappy I-G Hills diet for another week. Her colon is working great (good poop!) but the smell of that Hills poop is horrendous. I give her probiotics and rice and cooked chicken to make it tastier and to add something good.

 

Congratulations to Deja on her healthy recovery! She sounds to be doing very well after that scare. How old is she? How is her surgical scar healing?

Volvulus is a very scary condition and something I had always been concerned about it my late Lab.
Often times in dogs it may be sporadic due to the anatomy of the intestine and their posture, I haven't heard of grass being a risk factor for volvulus (or intussusception for that matter).


I have read is that raised feeding bowls is a risk factor as it promotes dogs to eat too quickly while simultaneously ingesting a lot of air.



Every owner should absolutely be informed to the signs and symptoms of volvulus / ileus, they are life threatening conditions!
A good/balanced diet and plenty of fibre promote good gut health.
Make sure to always check the poop! There is so much information in there (or lack thereof).



I will be picking up my first GSD this weekend and had not thought about insurance, but will definitely be looking into it!

 

She is almost 5 years old. Scar is healing nicely with invisible sutures. It is about 6 inches long as they had to do exploratory surgery

 

The sad truth is that they are not sure what causes GDV other than maybe a dog’s body structure. Every possible cause and suggestion is just an idea, it’s not proven by research. Deja did not bloat, it was something else, but the causes could be the same or similar.

 

Such good news to read. Only thing missing is a picture of your "survivor."



Aly

 

Got the 80% reimbursement check in the mail today from Healthy Paws, a week after the surgery!

 

Glad to hear she just keeps getting better!

 

Yes, indeed, it is such good news!