I don't have straight answer to whether Inka's stomach torsioned, but both vets have said in their medical opinion that Inka's stomach torsioned but then flipped back itself.
[[ EDIT: I just spoke with the breeder who is from Australia, quite renown, has shown successfully and is very active in the regional clubs. She suspects it's just a lot of gas, since Inka's belly remained normal sized (vs inflating like a ball). She has had danes that bloated before, but never under 6 y/o. She's had gassy danes, and recommended I keep giving gas-x. She also recommended waiting to do the pexy+spay together at 12-18 months, the later the better]]
I also realize (sadly) that the # of posters and posts on DOL have gone down, but hey, long time lurker, infrequent poster. I'll add whatever I can, and take as many comments/advice as I can.
- gender? Female
- age? 6.5 months
- color? Mantle/Boston
- known medical issues? None
- usual temperament (stressed, calm)? Calm, Mild + bouts of bouncy/zoomie puppy mania
- deep chest? Yes, I'd say so?
- type of food – raw or kibble (brand name)? Kibble - Science Diet + Kirkland Signature
- human food allowed? No
- recent diet change? Yes
- feedings per day (one, two, three)? Two
- feeding(s) at what time(s) of the day? 9:00 am / 7:00 PM
- fast or slow eater? Slow
- ground or raised feeder? Ground
- free access to water? Yes
- allowed to exercise/play right after meals? No
- if known, did sire/dam/littermates encounter this issue? No Info yet
- gastropexy - before/after the incident? Setting it up
- oncoming warning signs, if any? Pacing, heavy drooling, productive + unproductive wretching, hiccups, strong desire to chew everything up + eat grass
- how long after a meal did the incident occur? 5 hours
- time of incident? 11:15 PM
- sequence of events?
A normal night where we had retired up to the bedroom after dinner and hanging out with family. Inka started looking discomforted and indications of retching, so we let her into the bathroom and monitored her. She threw up all her dinner. It was 99.5% kibble, and a tiny fragment of a dog toy she must have swallowed. What worried us was even after throwing everything up (to bile), she was still clearly uncomfortable, whining and not settling down. She also was drooling (not substantially, but there was some drool). She also snapped at my husband when he palpated her belly. Absolutely has never done this before. We called all the e-vets we could find, and rushed her down.
Blood work came back ok, nothing out of the normal. However, x-rays showed that the stomach (which the vet said was a little larger than normal, but nothing alarming about that) and the entire intestinal tract were filled with gas. This she said was worrying, as if there was a blockage cuz of something she ate, we'd see gas up til the blockage, and then normal after. So she ruled it out. She also ruled out some gastro bugs because she said it would not have caused THIS much gas. So her conclusion was that Inka bloated, torsioned, and her stomach flipped back by herself.
For some reason, Inka started getting hives while at the vet. We weren't sure if it was a medical reaction to the anti-nausea medication.
She said as the stomach looked fine (currently), that no surgery was necessary, just constant monitoring, another x-ray to check on the gas situation, and scheduling the pexy soon.
- vet involvement? Yes, e-vet
- outcome? No surgery
- further comments?
Questions:
1) Do you think it's likely the stomach torsioned and flipped back itself? Or did she just experience bloat? Frankly, the outcome is the same-- we will get her, as we did our other danes, pexied, but I just wanna understand this. The reason I'm skeptical about the vets' diagnoses is because we live in a tiny southeast asian country with very few danes (apparently just <10 currently), so giant breeds are fairly rare.
2) Isn't 6.5 months too young to experience bloat? My two other danes (both since passed) were pexied at 1 and 3 years of age and neither bloated. I've been reading about the genetic component, but of course, have not heard back from the breeder yet. [[edit: have heard back]]
3) Two things: a) she is transitioning to new kibble slowly now, but vet discounted this as the reason. b) I was clipping her nails (she doesn't like it) an hour before. Could it be the stress or wriggling from nail clipping? She was trying, like all dogs, to evade the clippers. I'm trying to be reasonable with myself saying this is normal, but heck, was it me?
4) My plan was to spay and pexy at the same time to minimize the # of surgeries Inka will have to undergo. Do you think 9 or 10 months is the sweet spot, then?
PS: I have pictures of the x-rays of her abdomen I'd love to share with everyone in the event that is helpful, but i can't get this bloody thing to upload my bloody photos-- is the function broken or something? Need help!
[[ EDIT: I just spoke with the breeder who is from Australia, quite renown, has shown successfully and is very active in the regional clubs. She suspects it's just a lot of gas, since Inka's belly remained normal sized (vs inflating like a ball). She has had danes that bloated before, but never under 6 y/o. She's had gassy danes, and recommended I keep giving gas-x. She also recommended waiting to do the pexy+spay together at 12-18 months, the later the better]]
I also realize (sadly) that the # of posters and posts on DOL have gone down, but hey, long time lurker, infrequent poster. I'll add whatever I can, and take as many comments/advice as I can.
- gender? Female
- age? 6.5 months
- color? Mantle/Boston
- known medical issues? None
- usual temperament (stressed, calm)? Calm, Mild + bouts of bouncy/zoomie puppy mania
- deep chest? Yes, I'd say so?
- type of food – raw or kibble (brand name)? Kibble - Science Diet + Kirkland Signature
- human food allowed? No
- recent diet change? Yes
- feedings per day (one, two, three)? Two
- feeding(s) at what time(s) of the day? 9:00 am / 7:00 PM
- fast or slow eater? Slow
- ground or raised feeder? Ground
- free access to water? Yes
- allowed to exercise/play right after meals? No
- if known, did sire/dam/littermates encounter this issue? No Info yet
- gastropexy - before/after the incident? Setting it up
- oncoming warning signs, if any? Pacing, heavy drooling, productive + unproductive wretching, hiccups, strong desire to chew everything up + eat grass
- how long after a meal did the incident occur? 5 hours
- time of incident? 11:15 PM
- sequence of events?
A normal night where we had retired up to the bedroom after dinner and hanging out with family. Inka started looking discomforted and indications of retching, so we let her into the bathroom and monitored her. She threw up all her dinner. It was 99.5% kibble, and a tiny fragment of a dog toy she must have swallowed. What worried us was even after throwing everything up (to bile), she was still clearly uncomfortable, whining and not settling down. She also was drooling (not substantially, but there was some drool). She also snapped at my husband when he palpated her belly. Absolutely has never done this before. We called all the e-vets we could find, and rushed her down.
Blood work came back ok, nothing out of the normal. However, x-rays showed that the stomach (which the vet said was a little larger than normal, but nothing alarming about that) and the entire intestinal tract were filled with gas. This she said was worrying, as if there was a blockage cuz of something she ate, we'd see gas up til the blockage, and then normal after. So she ruled it out. She also ruled out some gastro bugs because she said it would not have caused THIS much gas. So her conclusion was that Inka bloated, torsioned, and her stomach flipped back by herself.
For some reason, Inka started getting hives while at the vet. We weren't sure if it was a medical reaction to the anti-nausea medication.
She said as the stomach looked fine (currently), that no surgery was necessary, just constant monitoring, another x-ray to check on the gas situation, and scheduling the pexy soon.
- vet involvement? Yes, e-vet
- outcome? No surgery
- further comments?
- Extreme lethargy since coming home. Inka will get up and walk to follow me, but she is only 10% of her normal self. A lot of deep sleeping (she is snoring as I type this), very little tail wagging (very unlike her).
Questions:
1) Do you think it's likely the stomach torsioned and flipped back itself? Or did she just experience bloat? Frankly, the outcome is the same-- we will get her, as we did our other danes, pexied, but I just wanna understand this. The reason I'm skeptical about the vets' diagnoses is because we live in a tiny southeast asian country with very few danes (apparently just <10 currently), so giant breeds are fairly rare.
2) Isn't 6.5 months too young to experience bloat? My two other danes (both since passed) were pexied at 1 and 3 years of age and neither bloated. I've been reading about the genetic component, but of course, have not heard back from the breeder yet. [[edit: have heard back]]
3) Two things: a) she is transitioning to new kibble slowly now, but vet discounted this as the reason. b) I was clipping her nails (she doesn't like it) an hour before. Could it be the stress or wriggling from nail clipping? She was trying, like all dogs, to evade the clippers. I'm trying to be reasonable with myself saying this is normal, but heck, was it me?
4) My plan was to spay and pexy at the same time to minimize the # of surgeries Inka will have to undergo. Do you think 9 or 10 months is the sweet spot, then?
PS: I have pictures of the x-rays of her abdomen I'd love to share with everyone in the event that is helpful, but i can't get this bloody thing to upload my bloody photos-- is the function broken or something? Need help!
