Hi Manny
I am glad Athena seems ok so far. I'd read that gastric torsion is a life-threatening, critical emergency. I haven't read or heard much about the recovery process since I'm not really sure I have ever heard of anyone actually catching gastric torsion in time enough to save their dog. It sounds as if it is still hit and miss, so my prayers and hopes are with Athena.
We lost one of our Pyrs to the 'bloat' about 10 years ago. We had three Newfs, a Bouvier and a Pyr. My husband and I went on a long run and came home to find our 8-year old Pyr crawled in his dog house to die. We later find out the cause.The mistake we made was allowing our dogs to self-feed.
Back then we had only a peripheral understanding about bloat. To this day I cannot believe how niave we were. I consider myself knowledgeable on the subject now. From then on eating became a focused and structured activity at our house. I prepare our dogs meals and of course our subsequent Pyrs had to eat separately anyway. It is the quirkiest habit; I know, but to this day I burp my dogs after they eat. Now we just have our 20-month old pup Kodiak and he is used to it.
Take care Manny and love to Athena
Christine
PS I have seen those emergency bloat kits and they are pretty daunting. They are more for gastric-dilation volvulus (not torsion) and believe there is a rubber hose, a bore needle and some other things. I think it takes a practiced and skilled person to use one so I really just keep in mind the preventative measures.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Amy Bailey" <amy.bailey@myfairpoint.net>
To: pyrnet-l@pyrnet.org
Sent: Thursday, November 5, 2009 1:04:13 PM
Subject: RE: [pyrnet] Scary Medical Emergency
Thank goodness you noticed something was different. It is so easy to be tired and just not observe a small change â Athenaâs guardian angel was watching! Please let us all know how her recovery proceeds and thanks for the info so we all consider bloat if we see a change.