Middle of the night scare

I'm not usually a deep sleeper, thank goodness, and last night something about the way Timber was acting woke me up around 3:30. He was licking his nose in that "I'm getting ready to throw up" way and grunting. I threw on some clothes and took them out. He peed immediately, but that was all.

So we came back in and he kept licking and grunting/groaning, couldn't seem to settle down, and had his back humped a bit. Having lost two dogs to bloat and torsion, that's the very first thing I thought of. I checked him, and his stomach felt a little bit tight and hard to me.

Fortunately, since Stella died, I found this site: http://www.danebytes.com/ladyR/BLOAT-SIMETHICONE.htm I printed out her emergency page and hung it on the wall in the kitchen, and got 2 bottles of Phazyme Extra Strength Gel Caps. I keep one in the van and one in the kitchen.

So last night after sitting worrying about him a few minutes, I gave him some Phazyme. After a few minutes he started to chew on his favorite antler, and a few minutes after that he jumped up on the bed and lay down. A few minutes after that, I went back to bed, and eventually back to sleep. This morning he seems okay. Needless to say, I'll be keeping a very close eye on him.

I can't say it strongly enough--if you have a dog, even if he or she isn't a classic bloat breed (or mix)--that is, Great Dane, Irish Setter, German Shepherd, Doberman, or other large, deep-chested, relatively narrow-bodied breed (and a few smaller ones like dachsies and basset hounds)--please check out the LadyR page on bloat. Bloat is terrible. I wouldn't want anyone to go through what Stella and I went through when she died. There are many other sites out there with information about this, also called gastric dilation and volvulus. Read as much as you can, do what you can to help prevent it, and be ready to act immediately if you think it's happening. Remember, it's a medical EMERGENCY!

And don't forget to hug your dogs every day and tell them how much you love them.