Gastropexy?

[Julie & Kirby]

We have been discussing the neutering procedure with our vet and she brought up as an option gastropexy (stomach tacking to prevent bloat).  She said she offers it to her large breed dogs and was asking if either of Kirby's parents were barrel chested - which his Dad (standard poodle) is.  I don't remember his mother being that way (didn't know to look for this), but I've emailed the breeder to ask if she would describe the labradoodle as large chested.

I look at my Kirby now and he certainly doesn't appear to be heading to barrel-chested growth, but he is not even 6 months old yet - so who knows how he will finally end up in his growth.

Has anyone else considered this procedure or had it performed?  I'm starting to look into it and thought I would ask here.  I tried to do a search on the site and found a lot of info on bloat, but nothing on gastropexy.

I thought I would start here as it appears to be an option during neutering/spaying more often, so I thought others may have had the conversation recently.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bonne Bouche]

I worry so much about bloat, but I have nothing much to add here. What additional costs (money and/or side effects) did he note? I once inquired about getting it done when taking BB to an Emergency Vet for x-rays after suspecting bloat, and he said he "highly recommended it" and it'd cost ~$1000. For other reasons, we never went back, lol.

[Julie & Kirby]

It will add about $5-600 to the neutering procedure and that is if we opt to do it laproscopically (sp?) - which I believe we would.  Since we already have sunk costs for the neutering, it is why we are considering the procedure in conjunction.

The downside is that we cannot do laser with the neutering - which I hadn't researched, but sounded like it is preferred for recovery?

If we did the laproscopic procedure, he could go home the same day.  Recovery time isn't much longer than the neutering at that point.

 

 

[Anna Lindsey]

When we had Lola spayed, we opted to do the gastropexy at the same time. Similar to your Kirby, Lola's poodle dad was barrel chested, and when we compared the cost of the gastropexy during the spay (about $200) vs. the cost of bloat surgery (thousands), it just seemed like the smart choice both financially and health-wise. Once the vet took her back, he assured us that this was the right choice, as Lola was already starting to develop a deep chest. Several months later, this is even more prominent, so we definitely feel good about our choice. She has taken on a lot more of the poodle body-type characteristics, being very lean and deep chested.

One thing to note though, is that if you choose to do the gastropexy, the incision will be longer. I didn't realize this, and was quite shocked to see just how long the incision was when we picked her up. We also gave Lola Cerenia after the surgery, and when we took her to her follow-up appointment, because she gets car sick and they didn't want her throwing up so soon after the gastropexy. It's my understanding that the gastropexy heals faster (about 3 days) than the spay or neuter itself, so the recovery process was quick and painless. Honestly, we had more trouble trying to keep her from jumping up on the couch and wanting to play too soon after the surgery.

I hope that helps!

[Anna Lindsey]

We did laproscopic as well, since they were already operating.

[Julie & Kirby]

Thanks, Anna.  That does help.  They did mention that he would be shaved a lot for the surgery and people were often surprised ... I took that to mean that the surgery area was large. 

I'm leaning towards doing it.  I just looked up our quote again as I remembered I had taken notes on my laptop and have it with me here at work.  The gastropexy itself is $250 and then it is $250 if we want it done laproscopic.  So, $500 additional for us.