It will forever be known as “that Bloat night”

Oct 24, 2016 by Elizabeth 8 Comments

Saturday night last was horrendous for us. The Furlong dog was in danger of loosing his life!

I’ve heard of it, but never thought it could happen to a medium-sized Standard Yorkshire Terrier who eats natural food, exercises, has perfect teeth, and is our constant, carefully monitored pet.

Let me tell you what happened. Our little dog turned into a vastly swollen balloon very swiftly after his evening nosh. He was obviously in excruciating pain – we couldn’t touch him. His stomach was so distended, he could not walk or sit. He simply stood hunched over, head drooping, tail sagging, bunched up in a dark corner under our dining table.

This Furlong immediately fell apart in panic. I shook with fear, could hardly use the phone to get an emergency vet, and explain that we weren’t registered with any local vet because we’d only just moved here. But when I said the word the magic word “Bloat”, everything went professionally quickly. We were to get the dog to the surgery, which, fortunately, as with things in this town, was just around the corner. And they would set up the staff, theatre and vet to meet us there.

Mr Furlong was great. He drove. He knew where to go. And, he carried the dog (swaddled) to my lap, in the car. And he seemed much calmer than me.

Bloat is an emergency – absolute emergency. There is NO home remedy for Bloat. But with speedy attention, dogs can live through it. Bloat has a 95% death rate, except when swiftly medically, attended to. And even then, it is dangerous.

So, Bobby-the-Furlong-dog, ended up under general anaesthetic, was X-rayed, and had the gas drawn out via tube inserted via mouth into his stomach. The vet said luckily there was no stomach “twist” which often happens with Bloat. But there was still a lot of gas in the bowels. I’m sure I heard the cash register ringing loudly, with a theatre, a nurse and a vet doing an emergency operation late on Saturday Night. “Couple of hundred” I think the vet told us. We haven’t got the bill yet – the story continues…

Because of the weekend and the fact that no one could monitor the dog (which would normally have happened on an overnight stay) we were told to bring him home and “watch him” and phone if aught happened.

The dog didn’t sleep and nor did I. I “watched” him all night. Mr Furlong, on the other hand entertained us by snoring loudly in the bedroom.

The next morning, the stomach had blown up a little, and Bobby was having walking problems, still in discomfort. A second (Sunday morning) visit to emergency ensued. This time the vet tackled the problem from the other end, because he said “The X-rays show most gas in the bowel.” And a big pain-killing injection was helpful, I’m sure.

By  the afternoon, Bobby-the-dog was looking much better.

But we are feeding very tiny amounts of only meat (can’t ferment) and tiny amounts of water between the several mini meals he has had during the day. Oh – and pain killers.

Dogs can do the whole Bloat thing again, if you are not careful. We are being VERY careful. I’m sure the vet mouthed “Couple of hundred” to me as we left on Sunday morning!