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seeh2o

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    She Bloated Last Night

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    We all napped for a bit. After an accident on the carpet, thus learning the hard (ish) way, I set up an ex pen in the dining room (hard wood floors) with the dog bed and blanket. Clean up is sooo much easier there. It is right next to the living room, so I can see her just as well.

     

    Ed's going to have triple cow when he comes home, he has 3 dogs and while he's been away there has had a mad pee-er among 1 or all of them. I've been trying to clean it all up as soon as I see it, some little dog or dogs have been very busy while papa has been away. Clearly, it wasn't Carl, he's not a dainty pee-er and we all know where Sheila has been the last day and a half!

    She Bloated Last Night

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by ckruzan

    Houston, we have POOP, BLESSED STINKY POOP! :confetti:catscat:confetti

     

     

    I just brought Sheila home, well, to Ed's! :clap We will drive back to LA tomorrow. She still has food in her belly, but it doesn't seem to be gassy. They did another x ray last night and were satisfied that her GI tract was working. They told me she slept most of the night after I left from visiting her. They also did blood work to check her pancreas last night, they were afraid that all this may have caused a problem with her pancreas....her pancreas is apparently as tough as she is!

     

    The vet revealed to me before I left that she lost her last two cases of bloat and when I brought Sheila in she didn't think she would make it either, though she felt better about her recovery when she realized that the stomach hadn't turned. I'd told her that I watch Carl like a hawk for bloat since he is a GH. She told me that recently they'd had a healthy 2 year old male GH come in with bloat. The owners caught it so early that the vet couldn't detect it by physical exam, only by x ray (those are some astute owners). They did the surgery, he came out of it fine and went home. She found out that a few days later he'd died of a blood clot. Ugh, how horrible to survive the bloat and surgery only to lose him to a blood clot. FYI, Carl is my grey, Sheila, his partner in crime is a Shiba Inu/Chow mix.

     

    I put down a bed with a blanket over it for her to lay on, she went to the carpeted living room, where she is sleeping right now and Carl decided that Sheila's bed looked good to him. I told him I was going to go get her when I left, when I pulled up he was at the gate and was crying. I think he must have known she was with me, he never cries like that when I pull up.

     

    I'm going to head downstairs to be near her (she was just crying, I ran down to see what was going on...nothing, she just wanted to know where I was), I'm going to camp out near her on the couch and maybe we can both nap. I have a feeling that she's going to milk this for all it's worth...get me this, scratch that, pet me here. LOL Gladly!

     

    I just want to thank everyone here on GT for the amazing outpouring of support for Sheila, Carl and me on this. Clearly, all the prayers for poop have paid off in spades (LOL cheap joke as I'm here in Las Vegas!). It has been quite a roller coaster ride the last 32 hours. I really didn't think she would be coming home with me. We'll be making the 4 hour drive to our tomorrow. Time for rest, we're all exhausted.

    She Bloated Last Night

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by ckruzan

    I went to visit her tonight, I brought a stinky shirt of mine and some of her dog food. I would have brought her a dead rat (that's what she always brought me when I was down or sick), but I'm not such a skilled hunter as she was! The vet wants to get her started eating and drinking again. They took me to the space where she was, they had lots of soft comforters, etc. for her to lay on, so I laid down beside her. I think they were a little surprised by that, but what-ev. She wasn't as excited to see me this evening as she was earlier in the afternoon, I think it was because she was doped up from the sedation. She did sniff at the food I brought her, but wouldn't eat any of it. Obviously NOT like my silly girl and she wouldn't drink yet either. The vet decided to turn off the sedation IV while I was there. I was hoping to stick around for another half hour or so to see how she was doing off of it, but they very kindly and gently indicated that I should leave. They said the vet was concerned that when the sedation wore off she might get too mobile and restless. They were having numerous emergencies come in and I think it was of concern to them that they had a civilian back there! Two little Poms were in from a pit bull attack and another dog was being brought in, sadly, to be put to sleep.

     

    She did have some big D, but hadn't yet pooped since I was there in the afternoon. I think they are waiting for the "big evacuation", as am I. Her belly wasn't nearly as big as it was this afternoon and I could feel her ribs again. The vet that was on tonight was the one who saw her last night when she came in, she was also the vet who has been the more positive of the two :) (no talk of spleenectomys from her... :wacko:) and had done some research on "food bloat". She said that dogs with food bloat, meaning they've eaten way too much and bloat because of the food bloating in their tummies, have less of a chance of the stomach twisting because the stomach weighs too much to move. If your dog is going to have bloat, I guess this is the one to get.

     

    I'm about to call and check on her. I'm am "supposed" to pick her up tomorrow morning at 7am!!!

     

    Imagine it's not a cat patoot! :hope:catscat:candle:catscat:clover:catscat:goodluck

     

    (edited to say that I've got to find some humor in this situation about this or I'll collapse and be absolutely worthless...I do have hope)

    She Bloated Last Night

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Well, I am back from the vet, I'm going to go back later tonight around 8 when last night's vet comes in. They brought Sheila to me in a room, she had just been walked, so I visited with her instead. They said on that walk she'd had lots of gas and some diarrhea, so they cleaned her up before bringing her out. The brought a blanket, so I laid down with her on it on the exam room floor. As soon as she heard my voice I could see her face brighten up. The medications she is on are causing her to pant heavily, probably the discomfort, too. She looks so much better than last night, her belly and sides are soft (she felt tight like a drum and she looked like a Macy's Day parade balloon, it was horrible). They showed me her xrays from today vs last night, her stomach has gone down by at least 2/3 and you can see where the food is moving into her intestines...and that her intestines are working. Slowly, but they are working. As I type this I am recalling that she has always had a fairly slow digestive tract, she can throw up and it may well be something from a day or so before. Blech!

     

    Anyway, the vet did show me that there is still gas in her stomach. She was torn on what to advise me to do. Either continue on and let things work out, the gas would work out with the food, or to give her more diazepam and tube her again. I asked her what she would do if she were her dog, she seemed stumped when I said that :blink: She told me that if we let it work it's way through that she still runs the risk of having her stomach twist, that we are not out of the woods yet. I immediately said I wanted them to tube her again, I do not want to run the risk of her stomach twisting. She is too old to be put through surgery and I won't do that to her, so cut the risk down by tubing her. She said the risk of tubing her was the possibility of perforating her stomach which could also have deadly consequences. I thought to myself, you went to school for this, you can do this without a stomach perf!

     

    I sat/laid with her for about 45 min. just petting her and loving her, she relaxed at one point so much so that I think she slept a little bit. I asked if they were ready, they were waiting on me! They told me I could wait while they did the procedure. The vet came out and said it went well, gas came out and some "food sludge, too", but not as much as she, the vet, would have liked. She has said repeatedly that she is worried about some sort of blockage, that I should follow up with an ultra sound with my regular vet. Sheila has never had any problem pooping, granted she never has had her stomach blow up like this before either so I guess it could reveal something lurking there. My gut tells me that she's a dog with a slow digestive tract and she's 13, so it will come out on Sheila time, not my time or the vet's time. The vet is still saying that she's not out of the woods yet, but is guarded about the outcome. One really good thing is that

    Sheila's vital signs have been absolutely stable through this whole ordeal. She's a tough nut, my girl.

     

    I'm going back again this evening, I'm going to bring a shirt with me so she can have it in her crate when I leave.

     

    When I got home I could see how worried Carl was, he could smell Sheila all over me and just keeps looking at me like, "Where is Sheila?".

     

    Thanks again to everyone for your prayers and good thoughts. Please keep praying and hoping for good poo and lots of it.

    She Bloated Last Night

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by ckruzan

    I'll call them in an hour, they should be doing or processing the new xrays right now. I'm going to ask about visiting her, but I haven't yet because I don't want it to upset her, I want her to focus on "the business" at hand.

     

    Who thought I'd ever be praying for poop? And a lot of poop, at that.

     

    Thanks so much to you guys for your prayers and good thoughts. It helps all three of us.

     

    Carl knows something is wrong, he is following me around and looks very worried. He has also been "busy" after his adventure yesterday. With as much of his poo that I've cleaned up today I'm lucky I don't have two of them in the ER right now. He is getting very very light meals today, he probably ate enough for at least two days, since that is what I've cleaned up since last night.

    She Bloated Last Night

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted · Edited by ckruzan

    I just got off the phone with the vet, she said there hasn't been any change yet since I talked to them at 8am. She said that in older dogs things tend to move slower, so I don't think they are surprised that she hasn't pooped much yet. She said that the good thing is that her stomach is not getting bigger again like it had been. She thought things were going well, but she said she wouldn't say she is out of the woods yet. They are still planning to do another set of xrays at 1. They hope to see the food moving through her, if it hasn't then we have another problem.

     

    My poor silly girl.

    She Bloated Last Night

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    I'm out of town with both my dogs at my s/o's. He's out of town, will be in on Mon. Yesterday morning, while I was trying to sleep in, Carl pulled some bags hanging from the door of the shed, Carl knows that's where Ed keeps his dog's food. He pulled the door open (it is blocked by a cement brick just for Carl - he's broken in before). The food is usually kept in a plastic dog food container which snaps shut, but as luck would have it there was a brand new bag of dog food sitting on top to be put into it. Carl tore open a corner. I discovered this when I came downstairs. The tear looked small and there was only a tiny amount of kibble around the opening, so I didn't think too much damage had been done. I didn't think that Sheila had been a participant in the feast.

     

    I fed the dogs as usual in the morning. Then again for their second feeding around 7. At 8 I ran to the market to pick up some human food for the rest of the weekend, I'm here until Tues. When I got back I noticed that Sheila looked a little round, but she does get round when she eats. I assumed she had got into another dog's food (there are 5 dogs here) when I wasn't looking. One of them is very very old and doesn't eat as often as we would like. I do keep an eye on them when they eat because they are all chow hounds, but I thought maybe she got into it when I was loading the dishwasher. Then I remembered Carl's big adventure in the morning and thought maybe I was wrong, maybe she HAD gotten into the food earlier in the day. She is VERY furry and people have always thought she was fat, but she has a thick coat.

     

    About 11 I noticed that she was trying to throw up, so I took her outside and watched her. She seemed better and we came in. It happened again and I noticed that her belly was getting visibly HUGE, I felt it and it was tight. I remembered reading about bloat here on GT, so I ran upstairs and did a quick search of the internet for signs & symptoms. She had most of the classic ones. Then I had to search the internet for a 24 hour animal hospital. I know where they are at home, but I'm in Las Vegas and though I am familiar with the city, didn't know where to go. I found a number, they directed me to one that, ironically, I'd driven by earlier in the evening.

     

    I called them and told her symptoms, they told me to bring her in. Sheila is 13, blind and willful, so she doesn't move quickly even on a good day. Getting her into the car without hurting her was a huge accomplishment. I had to put her front paws on the back seat and then reach around her back legs to put her in. I could feel how much bigger she had become since I'd noticed her distress a 1/2 hour earlier.

     

    They took her in the back immediately, the vet came out and gave me worse case scenario. I had already assumed that I would probably lose her to this because I didn't think she could handle being under or, if she did, the recuperation from surgery would be too much for her at her age.

     

    The vet came back with xrays, she had better news than what was originally thought. Sheila's stomach had not twisted, but it was FULL of food. She thought her chances of survival were now a whole lot better, she said that dogs with "food bloat" typically do better because their stomachs are too heavy to twist. They told me they would have a better idea how she would be in about 2 hours.

     

    I called them an hour and a half later, I couldn't wait 2 hours. They put her in IV Diazepam, then put a tube down her throat to release the gas. Gas was released, hasn't come back, but she hasn't pooped much. When the tube got to the food it was all moist and like paste, which the vet said was good. She has had the tube hit dry food in the middle of the stomach before, she said that is harder to deal with. She is quiet, but still panting. They told me they gave her an injection to "help push it through" so she can poop. I just called them, but the vet was with another patient, she's to give me a call back when she has a moment. They plan to do more xrays around 1.

     

    Please hold good thoughts for my sweet girl.

     

    Sorry if this reads in a disjointed way, I haven't had much sleep.

    I Need Help With A Foster Dog.

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    When the Santa Ana's blow here an it gets really dry, so does Carl's skin. In addition to salmon oil in his meal I sometimes give him a good rubdown with Aveeno moisturizer. I use the unscented one or the unscented baby version...Target sells it's own version of Aveeno which I use and seems to be identical. It absorbs right into his skin and really seems to help, it makes him very very soft and silky.

    Questions About Pannus

    in Health and Medical discussion

    Posted

    Carl was misdiagnosed with Pannus and another eye disease, but along the way he was given Tacrolimus. He had a terrible reaction to it, watery eyes, swollen lids, etc. I called the vet right away and was told to stop using it immediately (which I already had done). He also had a bad reaction to the Cyclosporine. I suspect that he was having a reaction to the agent that the medication was being delivered in, some sort of ointment. He has had no bad reaction to the Prednesone drops.

     

    Other people on GT have had luck with getting their Tacro and Cyclo from pharmacies that will compound the medications in a different delivery agent. Hopefully, they will post here.

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