Caring for a Three Legged Dog or Cat
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So, I've read a number of posts here warning about bloat and torsion, and I've heard about it elsewhere, and I just took a first aid for pets course, which went over it! So, I was already aware that feeding two or more meals rather than one is an important preventative measure, and that if your dog is inhaling their food you should definitely take steps to discourage that (put something in the dish for them to eat around, maybe add water to kibble, etc). BUT what I didn't take seriously enough was making sure Gerry could not possibly get into one of his food bags and pig out! A few times prior to tonight he got greedy and snuck into the kitchen and got a few bites out of one of the food bags. Tonight was the first night he got a significant amount and he got way more than I initially guessed, based on how much was left! I could have saved almost $200 bucks (and a lot of fear and worry!) if I had taken action after those first minor tastings.
Gerry was lucky, he only got "food bloat," no torsion (turning/flipping of the stomach) and for the most part his body has been able to take care of itself. He has vomited four times and based on his x-rays, the vet recommended monitoring him throughout the night, walking him every two hours, and encouraging him to drink about every two hours as well, but not too much at a time. For those not familiar with bloat, it is (according to my First Aid for Pets book): "A potentially deadly form of indigestion in dog... occurs when the animal eats too fast and gulps air. This causes the stomach to swell and it puts pressure on other internal organs." Oftentimes a dog with bloat will need surgery ASAP! So, yes, I feel very very lucky tonight.
But this could have been avoided if I just kept all the dog food bags out of reach of the dogs. From now on, that rule is going to be strictly followed in my house!
I also highly recommend taking a First Aid for Dogs course, if you can find one. And I especially love having the handouts and book that came from the class - cause there's way too much worth knowing to expect yourself to remember, unless you have the time to really study it. If such resources aren't available, hopefully an emergency vet clinic is - cause mine is great and they're willing to answer questions to help you determine if you need to come in or not.
Gerry has been a tripawd since 12/16/2009.
He was a shelter dog with a mysterious past and an irrepairable knee injury.
Videos and pics of Gerry's pawesomeness can be found at: http://gerry.tripawds.com
Oh, and I took the opportunity to give the emergency vet clinic a copy of "Tripawd Heroes" to share with clients. 
(Glad I had my copies in the car, haha).
Gerry has been a tripawd since 12/16/2009.
He was a shelter dog with a mysterious past and an irrepairable knee injury.
Videos and pics of Gerry's pawesomeness can be found at: http://gerry.tripawds.com
Ohhhhhh my gosh! Admin just told me you were talking about poor Gerry in the chat. This is SO scary! We are just glad he's OK.
Please don't beat yourself up, everything worked out and now it's a lesson learned that you passed along to everypawdy here. Thank you for sharing this awful experience, we'll be sure to pay attention and get the food away from the dawgs. Even if our dogs aren't food-motivated, you just never know.
Poor Gerry! Thank DOG you are OK!!!
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Scary scary scary!!!!!! I'm so glad he's going to be fine!
I've always kept our dog food bag in an air tight container that has wheels and that has a snap lid. But I didn't used to!
Thanks for the information! Big hug to Gerry!
Comet - 1999 to 2011
She departed us unexpectedly January 23, 2011 at the age of 12 1/2.
She was born with a deformed front leg and a tripawd all of her life.
So glad it all turned out ok for you - we had a experience a few months ago (I should have known better) that didn't end too well, so know how scary it is when something like this happens. It is incrediably hard to learn a lesson the hard way but at least it has turned out well, and you can help make sure it doen't happen to anybody else.
I think I will be making sure our food is out of reach from now on too 🙂
bless you, you have no doubt saved a life by posting this!! so glad gerry is going to be ok!!! so often we are just too 'multi-tasky' or just not 'seeing' what's there, and that's when an accident can happen. you've definitely shown us the importance of slowing down and opening our eyes. hugs to gerry (but no treats...)
charon & gayle
Life is good, so very, very good!!! Gayle enjoyed each and every moment of each and every wonderful day (naps included). She left this world December 12, 2011 – off on a new adventure.
Love Never Ends
I'm glad Gerry is okay!!! How scary!!! A pet first aid course is such a great idea!!! I will have to look into that.
When Charley was about 5 months old (he's a lab and labs are very "mouthy" pups) I was on the phone, turned around to see him swallow a sock (an adult no-show below the ankle kind) that must have fallen out of the laundry basket. I called the animal emergency hospital panic stricken and was told to pour hydrogen peroxide in his mouth to make him vomit. After a few minutes, the wretching began and he vomited up the sock. Now, I always have an bottle of hydrogen peroxide on hand.
Thank God that Charley grew out of the puppy-phase and he no longer tries to eat non-edible objects!!!
Please give Gerry some hugs from me and chocolate kisses from Charley!!!
Hugs and chocolate kisses,
Ellen & Charley
Charley's Blog: CHOCOLATE KISSES
DOB: 3-29-08, male chocolate lab
Dx: OSA L proximal humerus 10-19-10
Amputation: L front leg & scapula 10-28-10
Chemo: 5 rounds of Carboplatin
Video (12 weeks post amp):Tripaw Charley Playing
♥♥♥ Lots of supplements and love!!! ♥♥♥
That sure is very scary for that to happen to Gerry! I am so glad that he is ok!!!! When Valentina was only 2 weeks old her mother had gastric torsion and almost died. She had to be rushed to a vet an hour away to save her life. Her owner had to feed the puppies by hand until Maggie was healed enough to feed the puppies again. I did lots of research before I brought Valentina home also and after that happening to Valentina's mom and from reading what I did about large breed Dogs I decide to have a preventative surgery done for Valentina. It was called a Gastropexy. During the time that Valentina had surgery to be spayed the vet also did the Gastropexy where they stitched her stomach to he chest wall or something like that. This would prevent her stomach from being able to flip over. I am so glad that I had that surgery done. It only cost about an extra $100 and I really think that she would have had a high chance of that happening to her because she was so wild as a puppy and she definitely wolfed down her food and then wanted to run around and play Dog wrestling with the other Dogs. I still tried to keep her quiet and calm after eating though. I don't think that the gastropexy surgery is a normal common thing that they do but for the Xlarge breeds I do think that it is a good preventative measure and something that gave me peace of mind about Valentina developing gastric torsion. Also we have always put our Dog food in buckets with snap on lids so the Dogs could never get into it because I know that they would have. And we also have a baby lock on the trash can so they can't get into that. Thank goodness Gerry is ok!!! And I hope that he is back to his normal self soon. And thank for posting about this subject because this really could happen to anyone and everyone should be reminded to keep all food, Dog and people food out of the reach of Dogs. 
glad Gerry is ok sighthounds such as greyhounds lurchers etc are prone to bloat, whenever i do a home check for the charity i volunteer for it is one of the questions i have to ask if the potential owners are aware of it and advise to feed their sighthound from a raised feeder.
Dizzy diagnosed with osteosarcoma 24 may 2011 amputated same day doing fine hopping around on three legs giving the neighbourhood cats what for
Gerry's doing very well. He's like 99.9% back to normal. It was a long night though, so I'm sooo sleepy. I think though, despite the discomfort, Gerry thought last night was kind of awesome, haha. He loved the the doctor's orders - a walk every two hours! He's really going to miss that now. He certainly seemed to know what he needed too. He was going to the door for walks before it was clear to me that he needed to be seen by the vet. Also, he drank water after every walk (which was recommended by the vet) without any prompting from me. Though he did seem to want to drink a little too much a little too fast, so I made him stop and sit for a few seconds, then let him continue, off and on like that. Fortunately, my interruptions didn't discourage him from hydrating.
Here's a pic of Gerry from last night, on his way to a full recovery:
Gerry has been a tripawd since 12/16/2009.
He was a shelter dog with a mysterious past and an irrepairable knee injury.
Videos and pics of Gerry's pawesomeness can be found at: http://gerry.tripawds.com
Ohhh that sweet boy. I'm so glad you posted, I was just going to ask how he was doing. Whew! What a relief that he's OK.
He definitely looks like he's recovering from some kind of food orgy though! Give him gentle belly rubs from us.
Tripawds Founders Jim and Rene
tripawds.com | tripawds.org | bemoredog.net | triday.pet
Charley's Mom said:
I called the animal emergency hospital panic stricken and was told to pour hydrogen peroxide in his mouth to make him vomit. After a few minutes, the wretching began and he vomited up the sock. Now, I always have an bottle of hydrogen peroxide on hand.
Hydrogen Peroxide is in my 1st aid kit! Bob let Monkeybutt Samson lick the last part of a popsicle , Sam grabbed the whole thing..including the stick, and swallowed it. I went into panic mode, called the vet and he said just give him a couple of tsp until it comes out. It only took 4 teaspoons. 
Spirit Samson was Spirit Tripawd Daisys four legged "brother" and ruled as the self proclaimed head of the Monkeybutt Federations East Coast Division. Lady Chunky Monkey stayed from Oct 2011 and left for the bridge in Apr 2012. Miss Perdy is left and has some big pawprints to fill.
Do you have what it takes to be a Monkeybutt? Find out more at the Monkeybutt Federation
So glad to hear that Gerry's almost back to "normal." Thank you for recommending a first aid course for dogs--that's a very good idea, indeed! Hope was able to open the lid on our dog bin on wheels--hopefully Gerry won't try to do that.
Dogs can be REALLY sneaky when it comes to eating inedible things. My husband was putting in a new toilet and sat down the wax ring and turned his back...you guessed it, Hope ate the whole thing before he knew it! And then there was the time that she OPENED a new bag of Missing Link and ate it... Dogs are like toddlers--anything and everything goes in their mouth! We've done the hydrogen peroxide thing before too--it works REALLY fast!
Gerry, you stay out of mischief--it will give your pawrents gray hair!
Barb and Spirit Hope
Speaking of first aid for dogs, I've dug up a couple links, if people are interested, to my local Red Cross website, which has a first aid for dogs guide with DVD ( http://arcbadge.....pr=Store_8 ) and also a pet first aid kit ( http://arcbadge.....ce_Store_2 ). I think I put those links in the right order... I believe the kit is meant to work for pets in general, and there is a guide book with DVD specific to cats too.
Gerry has been a tripawd since 12/16/2009.
He was a shelter dog with a mysterious past and an irrepairable knee injury.
Videos and pics of Gerry's pawesomeness can be found at: http://gerry.tripawds.com
A couple years ago we had some discussions on these forums about bloat. What follows is an edited version of what I posted then.
We now have a treatement program that has reduced our need for trips to the vet. Early on it appeared part of Smokey's problem was a motility issue, so we give him metoclopramide before every meal. At the first sign of a problem, which is indicated by apparent discomfort and eating dust bunnies off the floor (the first severe bloat he consumed a lot of grass that clogged up the system for days) we start by giving liquid simethicone. We keep giving it until we see some result, which can take an hour or more. Metoclopramide is also given to help the motility. If he is very stressed I have also given him some acepromazine to help calm him down and reduce the anxiety. I typically give Smokey the simethicone is about 120 mg doses, and I will give as many doses as are needed (typically three or four). My understanding, that needs further confirmation from a vet is that simethicone cannot cause an overdose or subsequent negative reaction.
At one point we were using the simethicone for babies that you can get at the drug store in a small bottle with an eye dropper. I also found a product called "Bloat Buster" that is liquid simethicone and costs significantly less per dose. We started the dogs on Dogzymes, a digestive enzyme supplement, and it appears to make a difference in the digestion of the dogs. It appears food is more thoroughly digested. Both the Dogzymes and the Bloat Buster are available from Nature's Farmacy. They have other digestive enhancers that sound interesting.
Regarding vomiting when a dog is bloating; one of the symptoms of bloat is typically that the dog cannot vomit. That happens to Smokey when he bloats. Even without torsion he is unable to vomit when he bloats.
Other steps we took to help with Smokey and limit bloat; We feed in a Brake-fast Bowl to slow eating; We make home brew food that we fed exclusively for awhile. It got to be too much so we now feed a combination of the home brew mixed with a high quality kibble and we continue to give the Dogzymes. At this point we have gone several months without a bloat incident, but we know it could occur at anytime and watch for the symptoms.
As I said earlier, bloat is a complex problem that you need to be aware of. Learn about the symptoms so you can react quickly if it is happening. You cannot react fast enough when it starts. Bloat is treatable, but you cannot delay getting treatment when it occurs.
Ralph
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