Warning...very long... First, a little history on my baby who passed away. Missy, an eight year old dobie who was to turn 9 in January belonged to my uncle in NY. Back in November of 2005 right before Thanksgiving, my uncle had passed away when he was home alone. His wife was in a rehabilitation center. Someone found his body a week later with Missy, his companion lying beside him. The police came in and threw Missy in a shelter. I was living in CA at the time and right away, I searched all of the shelters on line in that area to find Missy. I found her and called to see if she was still available. I jumped on a plane the day after Thanksgiving, rented a truck and drove to the shelter to get her. She was a mess. She was very thin and very scared. The owner at the shelter had told me that she wasn't eating the regular dog food they were giving her so they would give her table scraps. I took her back to my aunt's house and the next day jumped on a plane back to Cali. A couple of days after I returned, she was wheezing. I called my vet and took her in right away. She had kennel cough so we gave her some medicine and she was on the road to recovery. About a month or so later, she had bouts of diarrhea and blood in her stool. I took her in right away and ended up having to take her to the emergency hospital. Her platelets were low and they really didn't know what was going on with her so they kept her for a couple of days. They sent her home with prednisone and said that she had an auto immune disorder. She was fine for a few days and then the same thing happened. I took her to the hospital again and the doctor felt that her prognosis was poor. From what I can remember, he said that again, her platelets were low and that she had pancreatitis(sp?). Something else was going on but now I can't remember for the life of me. Anyway, she pulled through and after four days I took her home and gave her the prednisone and some chemo drug for a few months. I had bloodwork taken every two weeks and finally, there was light at the end of the tunnel. She seemed like a normal dog except for her nervous and timid temperment, which btw, I thought was odd for a dobie. She came around in those three years that I had her. She wasn't afraid of strangers, she started showing some affection, she jumped on the couch, learned to use the doogie doors and got along great with my two other dogs. She adjusted well. Starting about a year or so ago, she would have her days where she felt off. She wouldn't eat and would roam around looking uncomfortable. At least once a month, we would go downstairs in the morning and see bile on the rug. A few times I caught her outside vomiting bile and eating grass. The vet didn't really explain to me what he thought was going on. He told me that she might have acid stomach and that I should give her pepsid. So that's what I did. She showed the same signs as the ones I saw this past weekend. Walking around aimlessly, head down, tail down, trying to vomit, etc. She was also at the time not interested in dog food so I would bake chicken for her and mix it in with some dry kibble. Sometimes she got chopmeat but mostly chicken. I fed her chicken up until six months ago when my twins were born and I decided that she needed to get with the program. Now of course, I wish I hadn't changed the menu. So here's my story: On Saturday, November 1st, I had a vet appointment at 10am to take my Aussie Mix Buddy in for shots. Missy was up and in good spirits. My husband had fed her a small bowl of dry food and gave her two little biscuits. The water was out in the garage and she didn't really make it a habit to drink unless she was on her way to do her business outside. I returned around 11:30 and Missy was right there begging for my egg sandwich that I had picked up from dunkin donuts. She was acting totally normal. At around 12:30, my husband left to run some errands. I put the girls down for a nap at 1pm and on my way down the stairs, I saw Missy in the living room lying down. I thought it was a bit odd that she was lying on the living room floor, a place I had never really seen her and not on her favorite spot on the couch. Afterall, she was a total couch potato that loved her creature comforts. I immediately thought that she was throwing up as she has at least one bout of vomiting on our rug a month. I chased her into the garage and she started pacing around my truck and looking sneaky as if she were about to do something wrong. Up until a couple of weeks ago, she was peeing and pooping behind my truck so I thought she was up to no good. She walked back in the house through the doogie door and walked into her pop up tent in the laundry room. I thought this was a bit strange, but not out of the ordinary b/c when she wasn't feeling good, she used to go off somewhere for peace and quiet. I asked her if she wanted to go outside in the back and she followed me so I let her out. I glanced out a few times to see what she was up to. Our backyard is pretty big and she went over to the furthest corner of the fence and looked as if she was trying to vomit. I didn't have my glasses on and just thought she was vomiting bile. I kept looking out to see what was going on and she was in different spots of the yard lying down. She would lie down and then get up and lie down again. I didn't think anything of it. I let her in about a half hour later and she went into the laundry room. As she was walking into the room, I noticed that she had a little bit of white foam on her lip. I chalked it up to her eating grass. I've seen it before and wasn't too worried. Still, I had no reason to believe that she was in horrible pain. She was walking hunched over but she had a very nervous disposition and we had seen this walk before. My husband returned home about two and a half hours later. He walked over to the family room and while he was talking to me, Missy came over and jumped in her favorite spot on the couch, but then jumped off after a couple of seconds. I did not hear any panting, she was not drooling, not making any noise whatsoever. Since she jumped on the couch, I thought she was back to her old self. A little while later, she was roaming around the kitchen. My husband took her out in the garage to see if she wanted to go out. He then came in and told me that her stomach looked very distended and felt really hard. I ran out and felt her stomach and it looked abnormal. I didn't remember it looking like that earlier or maybe I just didn't notice it. I immediately called the emergency hospital b/c our vet closed at noon. They told me to bring her right in and that it sounded like it could be gastric torsion. I had no idea what that was. I went out in the garage and while my husband was getting ready to put her in the back of the truck, she walked over to him and her legs looked very unsteady. She then collapsed but was still with us. He picked her up and again, she did not make any noise like she was in pain. He drove off to the hospital. The hospital was about forty minutes away. I looked up gastric torsion on the internet and was horrified when I read that it was a deadly condition that needed immediate treatment. About a half hour later, he called to tell me that he made it to the hospital, but it was too late....our precious Missy was dead. I was in complete shock. I don't think I believed him until he came home without her. That was the day my heart broke in a million pieces. I felt like a part of me died with her. I am at a loss now. I don't know why this happened. She didn't eat alot nor did she drink any water. She jumped right back on the couch after she ate. Now I sit here and blame myself for her death. I keep rehashing everything that happened that afternoon. I saw signs, but the signs I saw were no different than the signs she showed when she had an upset stomach. I wish she had done something like pant, drool or yelp because then I would have known that something was very different and I could have taken action sooner. If I had acted sooner, then she may be alive today. Why didn't I watch her more closely or at least go over to her to see what was going on. I would say this all happened within a matter of 3.5 hours from the time I saw her pacing around. More than enough time to get her in the car and race to the vets. I've always been so on top of the dogs. I have been crying nonstop since it happened. Every time I think of her which is every minute of the day, I cry. I keep blaming myself. She was suffering and I did nothing. How could I not see that those were signs of pain? I feel awful. Not to mention, as soon as my twin girls were born six months ago, my attention went right to them and not the dogs. I feel like I neglected her and my other two and some days I wasn't so nice to them. When they barked, I told them to shut up because I didn't want them to wake the babies. That's horrible. How could I talk to my beloved animals like that? I wish she never left me. I can feel her presence and every time I look at her favorite spot on the couch, I lose it. It was so sudden. I can't believe she's gone. My husband is sad but he is worried about me. He keeps telling me that I have to snap out of it. I have my family to take care of and my two other dogs. I know that some day they will also leave me but hopefully not like this. Bloat is a terrible disease and I wish I had learned more about it before it took my precious baby away. Thank you all for listening to my story. I really appreciate it. My heart goes out to all of you who have lost a beloved pet or pets. It's an awful feeling and people don't understand what we are going through unless they are pet owners. I am so happy that I found this site. Kristin
