Bloat Scare, But all is OK

At about noon today BB started acting a little funny. He came up to me and did a little lick-ey face thing, which isn't really typical, and the first sign of bloat. He had breakfast around 10, and aside from a quick potty break or two (nice firm poop, and normal pee), there was no major activity to instigate a bloat occurrence. I didn't think much of it till he had some weird coughing and attempted retching, nothing came up. I kept an eye on him, but didn't really think it was bloat. Then he started doing a very odd thing that he'd never done before. He was walking around my whole house licking the floor where it met the walls. He kept licking around all corners of my house licking up dirt particles, spider webs, and whatever he could find, and coughing occasionally. I tried to correct him and pull him away, but back he went, licking the walls and anything he could. It was so very strange.

We just moved, so we don't have a regular vet here. I called the one we hoped to take him to and they said the recommended we take him to another clinic as they had no openings today to take him in. So we had to go to the emergency clinic instead. Upon arriving at the clinic, BB quickly forgot all his symptoms, and was his typical " I LOVE PEOPLE, I LOVE STRANGERS"-self. While I'm standing there panicking he's going to die, he's loving up anyone and everyone in the waiting room. And I feel so silly thinking that he's going to die when he's just being the biggest sweetheart to all of the staff and jumping up and greeting everyone (still can't get him to stop jumping up).

After we get settled into our exam room, the Vet comes in and says that even though he is acting fine, he still could have bloat. He palpated his stomach and did a quick once over, said his stomach was not too big, but not small either. He said with signs of the two major bloat symptoms he recommended X-rays.

So off BB went to get his belly x-rayed. When he came back with the X-rays, diganoses showed no bloat (YAYYYY!) but instead that BB was "bloated" as in gassy. Yes. Gas. Vet said that he's not surprised he was showing symptoms of distress due to the gas, as apparently his entire small intestine was filled with gas.

(I guess all the black "holes" or spots on the x-ray are gas trapped in the intestines)

Rx? An enema and some Metoclopramide. Enema to help clear out the system to clear the gas, and metoclopramide to help speed up his digestion as a gut stimulant.

A half of a day of worry, $300, and all he is is gassy. I feel so silly, but I guess at the end of the day, we're better off safe than sorry.

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Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on August 1, 2011 at 3:02pm

Yes, the black bubbles are gas and yes there is a lot. But how could you know what it was beforehand? You did the right thing and I'm glad all is well.

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Permalink Reply by Bonne Bouche on August 1, 2011 at 3:06pm

Thank you, when I left, I kept thinking to myself, "I wonder if he is just telling me its gas to make me feel better about being so paranoid". I was hoping someone on here who is more familiar with these things might also recognize the gas bubbles.

:-] Thanks F

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Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on August 1, 2011 at 4:33pm

Actually, looking at the x-ray again, I think there may be gas in the large bowel too but not as much.

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Permalink Reply by Bonne Bouche on August 1, 2011 at 4:36pm

From my memory, the vet said something about:

"section 1 through section 9 of the small intestine is filled uniformly with gas. It also appears as if there is fecal matter in the colon" Something along the lines of him being "backed up" a little.

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Permalink Reply by F, Calla & Luca on August 1, 2011 at 5:24pm

I do see lots of "stuff" in the colon, which looks in this case just like the food in his stomach. On the right most side of the second xray you can see feces, the gas, then more feces leading to the rectum. See how the air in his lungs looks like the gas? See the big thing looking like a mushroom cap over his stomach and to the left, his liver. Not sure what the structure on the bottom of the top xray, to the right of the liver is. It must be his spleen I think but I have ti find the dog anatomy book I bought. Love looking at these xrays, very interesting to me. For sure I don't know the sections of a dog's small intestine.

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Permalink Reply by Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle on August 1, 2011 at 5:47pm

Very educational for us, too!

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Permalink Reply by Bonne Bouche on August 1, 2011 at 6:00pm

its fascinating, but frustrating not being able to "read" it myself... F, thank you for your interpretation. When you said the part about the lungs being black, it made so much sense, and was really cool to see.