Bloat

I'm sharing this as bloat doesn't always present in an obvious pattern, in fact had Dollar not already bloated on previous occasions I doubt I would have picked up on todays episode quite as quickly. Dollar had her breakfast as normal, we waited an hour or so before loading into the van for our walk. Arrived for the walk and all dogs were very pleased to be out and were behaving as I would expect and all toileted normally, including Dollar. About 25 mins into our walk Dollar suddenly dropped behind me, she started pacing as opposed to her normal poodley trot and had an anxious look about her. I immediately felt her stomach, it didn't look any bigger than normal but was very tense, I checked her gums and they were looking redder than normal. We carried on a little way to see if it was a cramp or something that she would walk off, but nothing changed so we cut the walk short and came straight home. Arriving home I gave her a slippery elm tablet and some windeeze tablets whilst I called the emergency vets. Whilst waiting for the vet to return my call Dollar stood pushing into me, she stood with her chest dropped and her hindquarters raised, she was panting and trembling, however when Graham came downstairs to drive us to the vets Dollar got very excited and started jumping around as though nothing was wrong and Graham doubted my decision to take her to the vets. On arrival at the surgery she was xrayed, which showed she was indeed well on the way to bloating. Again she was stomach tubed (fully conscious, omg this dog is just so good to work with!) and a load of gas was released, her relief was obvious and instant. We have now been home just over an hour and she appears to be settled and comfortable although her gums are still not normal, we will obviously be on high alert for the next 24hrs or so. Dollar is and has always been raw fed, she is fed small meals 2 x daily, is never exercised within an hour of feeding and after her serious episode of bloating in January this year she has had a gastro pexy.

just pics

I have 7 standard poodle, a breed that was originally used for retrieving waterfowl, of the 7 only Tiffany will go out for the stick, the others just mug her.

Bob has made a full recovery and has now been spayed.

All the kittens are in rude health :)

The adult cats have been making the most of the  recent warm weather. As always, Fawlty has his happy face on :)

A quick update

The kittens are now happily eating solids and I can breathe a sigh of relief. In fact they are extremely enthusiastic about their food, listen for the growls as they eat! The little black and white boy was still pretty full from his last meal and was more interested in getting my attention.

Eliza has now had about 10 agility lessons, and although she is still not keen on the tunnel, the rest is all falling into place nicely.

Cash is also doing quite nicely with his agility, never in too much of a hurry but we both have fun.

Ticking along

Somebody is feeling much better, 3 weeks after kittening and 2 1/2 weeks after being taken seriously ill, Bob is in the mood for love again. Sorry Bob, not a cat in hells chance of that happening! Listen out for the splash as Beetle falls in the bath that I had just run for myself.

Her tummy is all but healed now, which considering how bad it was just 19 days ago is pretty close to miraculous

Sadly Bob has no interest in her kittens now, but Tibbs continues to do a grand job with them, keeping them clean and providing top up feeds between the bottle feeds that I give them. They will be 4 weeks old tomorrow (10th August) and seem to be developing pretty much normally. 

Beetle continues to be a complete nutter - 

And of course the dogs are still going on their fabulous daily walks :)