CAN ANYONE HELP WITH THIS PROBLEM

[Dee Rance]

Some will already know that Saffy has had a problem.....just what it is, I don't know. and nor it seem do the vets.
She was at a 'working/training day' on the Sunday, had a good day, didn't do anything different than she would on a good day out, we came home and she ate half of her supper (she was at the time in the middle of a full blown phantom pregnancy) so she wasn't interested in food, after about an hour she started crying, and stretching, the crying got to be a real worry, so called the vet.
First question she asked was 'how long since her last season'..... answer 7-8 weeks. 'Ah its probably a Piametra, but you do know that it costs to bring a dog in at this time???
So I took her to the vet. She confirmed that she thought that it was a 'closed Piametra' she kept her in and put her on a drip with a pain killer in it.
At 11 pm I got another call saying that she thought that the Piametra was about to rupture, and that I needed to consent to a 'spay' I really didn't want to go down that road but if it meant that her life was saved then so be it. BUT if nothing was found to be wrong with the Uterus then it was to stay where it was......
She phoned at midnight and said that the operation was over and the Uterus was still where it was supposed to be, she had a wee bit of gas in her stomach. This was removed and she found that the Spleen was enlarged and was tucked behind the stomach.
The small bit of gas became a large amount of gas and a twist or partial twist when asking the next two vets that I dealt with. (?) Bloat......
Having seen many cases of Bloat I told them that I brought her in with a gut pain NOT with bloat if it had been bloat I would have been the first to say, this in my mind was definitely not bloat.
Why is it always assumed that Irish Setter + Gas = Bloat why can it not just be Gas???
But the question still arises What was it.
On the following Friday night she started shaking so she went back in for the day, they took a few ex-rays this time and it seems that none of her organs are in the correct place.
She was put on medicine for stomach ulcers and she has been progressing well on them but can anyone help as to what it may be???? At the end of the day she seems to have had an operation (with all that goes with it) for nothing!!!!!

[Dee Rance]

It might be a good idea if the next time that you go to the vet, that you discuss this problem of Bloat, and just sound them out as to their take on Bloat, it is always a good idea to discuss problems, other than the one you are at the vet for, I sound my vets out on all different types of things. Sometimes just to let them know that there is something new, to get them to go and read up on things, they mostly don't mind, most of them are willing to talk about things, but be prepared to be given all the ''proper'' words for things, and if you don't understand tell them so, you may have a grasp of the basics but not the technical terms, they are quite happy to talk in layman's terms. Give it a try.
As far as Frizbee's etc give them their usual exercise, but try and give a little and often view to water, you will just have to play that one by ear, has he ever had a problem after exercise + drinking before?? if not just keep going the same way, ''if it ant broke don't fix it'' it sounds like your dog has a wonderful life, don't stop him, or you from having fun...

[Michelle Webster]

Thinking of you Dee.Hope all is well and that Saffy improves quickly.

[Dee Rance]

Thanks for that, Michelle.
But she is fighting fit now...this happened about 6 months ago.....she was operated on for nothing, but it did mean that she had a diagnosis in the end of Gastritis, Colitis and an stomach ulcer which have now been taken under control, and kept that way, by the Bionic Biotic, she has never looked so good, in tip top health, but I think that the moral to all this story is.............make sure that you and your vet are working from the same hymn sheet.....Vets aren't gods they are fallible, they do make mistakes, the problem is that either, one thing can lead to another, or there is an operation done for no reason...plenty of money....(nearly £900) but the dog still has all bits that she was borne with, not sure if they are in the rite place, not opening her up to find out, but all intact, and hopefully will be used in a couple of months.....

[Michelle Webster]

Hi Dee,
I hadn't realised that this wasn'tnow! Sorry for that. I ALWAYS question everything my vet says and does, even the vet consultants that I have seen. I am probably their worst nightmare as I usually very well informed before I go, not counting dire emergencies of course and then I go home and hone up on whatever. Geordie having bloat was a classic example of this. As I said in that article, he didn't display any of the classic signs we are told to look for, but my instinct said otherwise. When I got to the vet, he said that it wasn't bloat, just gas, but he would have to open him up to remove the gas as he couldn't do it by tubing him. He also said that he didn't look as if he had bloat or torsion. He then phoned me whilst Geordie was still under anaesthetic to tell me that he'd had the shock of his life when he discovered that he had full torsion. If I HAD listened to him and gone home Georide would have died. I have never thought the vets or the doctors are Gods they are definitely fallible like the rest of us and it doesn't hurt to remind them of that!!

[Dee Rance]

Hi there Michelle
Sorry about the God thing, but there are some out there, not like us, that do think, because they have gone to Vet College they are gods, always question and then go with YOUR gut instinct, I think if we live with these animals we know them better than the vets, and we have experience, if we have had these dogs for a long time, we know what others have said regarding health problems, and we have unfortunately had problems in the past, of our own, and if there are new problems, there is the internet, its great for finding out about things, I have learned a lot recently, all knowledge is good, so long as it is for the rite reasons..and you understand what you have learnt, some people think that they know much more than they actually do....and this is dangerous, putting your own interpretation on a subject that you don't really understand..