How We Almost Lost Maddie to Bloat this Weekend

[Harper]

We have two dogs, a 17 week-old Labradoodle puppy named Harper and a 13 and a half year-old Dalmatian named Maddie.  This weekend we almost lost Maddie to bloat and it was a terrifying experience.  The good news is that she is back from the animal hospital and is recovering well.

 

Everything was normal on Friday night and Maddie was scarfing up her food.  She stopped eating after awhile and started acting weird.  She was extremely restless and wouldn't calm down even when we took her to her bed.  She kept trying to throw up but was never successful, something I had never seen before.  Apparently this is the number one sign of bloat.  She kept trying to throw up every 5 minutes but nothing would happen.  She didn't have the typical bloated stomach yet, but I'm sure it would have gotten there.  Dalmatians almost never get bloat due to their body type, but the vet thinks it must have happened after she had a full stomach, fell over, and the food and water just sloshed the stomach until it flipped over.  

 

At the time we had no idea what was happening and we were waiting it out to see if it would get better.  If we had known it was bloat we would have rushed her to the vet immediately because it can apparently kill a dog within an hour (imagine how much this scared me when I found this out).  Our vet is only 2 miles away and is open 24 hours, so we were able to rush over there once we started to suspect it was serious.  She got an X-ray immediately that showed her flipped stomach and they operated right away.  Thank goodness we caught it in time and she was able to get the surgery to flip her stomach back the right way before anything serious happened to her organs.  The surgeon tacked her stomach to her insides with 5 stitches so we could be almost certain it would never happen again.  

 

I hope no one else has ever had to deal with bloat, but please keep an eye on your dogs (especially the larger ones) because it can happen to the ones you don't expect.  

[Joyce,David"Mochi,Latte,Popcorn"]

oh poor Maddie! and poor your guys too :(
I'm glad she's doing fine now, you guys saved her life! she's lucky to be in your family!

[Jennifer and Jack]

Oh great job of being so watchful and reacting so fast. I am so glad your baby is okay. I have been to the emergency vet with my baby and it is just so scary. Thankful she is okay...

[Bodie Bear]

I'm so glad she made it. Getting her to the vet quickly was certainly key. I hope her recovery goes smoothly.

I lost my 13 year Dalmation Alexandra on 3/4/07 to bloat. We had no idea what was wrong with her, and by the time we got to the emergency vet that Sunday night, it was too late - she wasn't stable enough to try surgery. It was devastating, because we didn't know the signs.

[Camilla and Darwin]

How terribly frightening, I'm glad Maddie is okay now!

[Susan and Sasha]

What a frightening thing to have happen!

I'm so glad that Maddie came through her surgery safely...and is doing well.

 

 

[Leslie and Halas]

I'm so glad you were able to get her to the vet so quickly.  Thank goodness she's going to be OK.

[cheryl & oliver]

Glad to hear that Maddie is ok, how scarey for all of you, thank goodness everything is ok...hugs to all of you....

[Amy]

Thanks posting the symptoms of bloat!  Glad Maddie is doing well :)

[Kathy Spyker]

I am so glad Maddie is OK. Thanks for posting, it will be fresh in our minds on some of the signs to look for.

[Adina P]

What a scary day...so glad Maddie made it through.  She's a beautiful dalmation!