[jeffeulogy]

my english mastiff bianca gave me quite a scare the other night. instead of calmly lying near me like she usually does she was pacing, drinking large amounts of water and generally acting out of sorts. i had read a few sites about bloat when i got her and immediately got scared so i called the emergency vet. by the time we got there she looked like she had swallowed two basketballs. they did emergency surgery and her outlook looks good at this point. the vet said normally they suction the contents of the stomach but in her case there was a congealed mass of hard white material preventing it. they had to manually empty my little girl's belly.

the culprit was a purina brand busy bone. the vet is almost positive this is what caused her bloat. i'm not sure if i have any legal remedies against purina as google came up with nothing as far as similar cases but i wanted to warn everyone with a bloat prone breed that these bones are potential killers.

on a positive note, bianca is making a great recovery. the vet says this is the best turn around he's ever seen in a bloat case. she's still on her pain medicines so she's somewhat sedated but she seems like she'll be back to 100% when her sutures come out and she can return to her normal diet.

[mastiffmama27]

Thanks for the heads up. I usually buy huge real bones or really big rawhide bones for my Neo. It's sooo funny when our 8 lb rat terrier takes them from her and I have to give her another one. The bones are bigger than he isLOL

[poodleholic]

I'm SO glad Bianca is recovering. Bloat is a fear in my dogs' breed as well. But, even breeds where this isn't a concern, items like rawhide chews, greenies, and the like are really not digestible, and can cause bowl obstructions resulting in death, even if (very expensive) emergency surgery is done.

Again, I'm glad that all is well with your Bianca!

[Ginny01OT]

Wow, thanks for the information. As poodleholic said, bloat is too common in certain breeds and although I would never give my dog purine busy bones I am going to pass the word on. I am glad Bianca will be okay, what a scare--also, good thing you had the common sense and knowledge to call the emergency vet--you probably saved her life!!!

[Anela]

I would say you were just plain blessed that this came out the way it did.

I have heard that bloat is almost always fatal.

Anela

[GreatDaneMom]

anela... bloat can be treated and isnt always fatal if you know what youre looking for. i recommend ANYONE getting a large or especially giant breed dog to be well educated about bloat. jeffu- thank god you knew what to do! im so happy to hear things are going well right now. also thank you for letting us know about the busy bone. im always looking to try new treats for my girls because they are danes and plow through just about anything, and rawhide makes them puke lol. i did try a busy bone once, it lasted for about 5 minutes... if that. and it left and aweful gooey crap all over. i wasnt going to buy them anymore, but thats great to know, and ill let others know!