Hello Garrech and Canagan,
Welcome to this site! You will find all sorts of topics here, something for everyone.
I do hope your boy makes a full recovery.You will find many people here with a serious concern for the breed.
There is a new health data collection to be started soon in Britain, I just read the information in the Irish Setter Breeder's Club Newsletter. So maybe something is moving at last...
all the best
Susan

Welcome to the site I hope that you enjoy it here cant wait until you get some pictures on the site.
All the best Dee and the gang

Hello,
Welcome to this site1 I have been onto your website and I am .....lost for words......thank you for publishing it all...I hope this becomes known around the UK I also hope Fergus gets better soon

If you accept the invite to be on my friends'list I will be able to send you private messages.

Welcome to the site, hope you enjoy it here. I'm looking forward to seeing your photos.
Best wishes,
Michelle

Hi Peter and Elaine,
Sorry to hear about your dog being so sick. And yes, It's somethiing I'm concerned with.I will try to answer any question asked.
Greetings, Leen

Hi all, sorry to read about all the problems with your boy, bloat is a real worry for anybody with an irish, may I also suggest looking into a food called Orijen, you only need small amounts and this may help.
Thanks for sharing your story with us .
Regards Neil

Hi Peter and Elaine,
Just received your reply, thats our eldest Jake, he is 6, Oscar is now 2, read somewhere that old time vets always suggested milk of magnesia to help with a dog indegestion, never tried it with ours, good luck and keep in touch.
Regards Neil.

i am so very sorry to hear of your very ill dog and hope eventually you can get him back to better health.its so dreadful when these illnesses rear their ugly heads especially in dogs so young.ive also read your website on what its like from your dogs point of view.its so very sad. i lost my first irish to bloat she was 14 and its horrific to watch how distressed and in pain they are we now feed our dogs on tripe.
my layla who is 5 as the late onset of pra and she is totally blind now.theres still plenty of tears because as you say they should be running around doing things normal setters do.the only consolation i have is that its a painless disease and she is adapting pretty well to the situation
once again welcome to the site
lyn

Hi Peter and Elaine,
just thinking of you and the dogs! not that I have experienced bloat before....I did have a dog who lived to nearly 15 but tended to have a gurgly stomach in the morning....but that would be cured instantly by feeding him a little tit bit like a piece of cheese! I would like to hear about the specialist diagnosis next week.

hi pete and elaine i do hope you have some good news when you see the specialist with fergus next week

hi pete and elaine any news on fergus yet?

I agree with you that just stitching the stomach into place is only a gesture and a bad bloat would rip the stitches and off we would go again! So this procedure does sound more hopeful. But the reason I agreed to the operation was being told that partial torsions on their own can cause bloat so I thought we needed to reduce the number of different causes.
I think he will always get gassy when stressed or excited as indeed happened last night to a small degree. But that said I have to allow time for the stomach to recover!
Everyone agrees that the mother should not have been used again but the problem is getting all influences to agree and act accordingly.
Let me not mince words. The mother's registration was transferred from Mrs Williamson to Mrs Heron although in reality the mother stayed with Mrs Williamson during the pregnancy. I am told that Mrs Williamson and Mrs Heron are good friends. Both live locally to one another. Well a 20 minute drive! Mrs Heron sits on the committe of the ISAE and is a KC approved judge. So it's so much for those that should be setting an example doing what is best for breed health!
I've upset the ISAE and making myself a nuisance at the KC. Why so? Because I believe that people should be responsible for their actions and that a KC judge should apply the same standard of judgement to their personal decisions as they have to in the ring. I think that Mrs Heron should resign her position with the KC and the ISAE and write formally to all purchasers of "her puppies" from this last litter informing them of what has happened and suggesting all contact their vets for preventative treatment. And that doesn't force her into admitting that she knew about Canagan's problems for the second mating.
If both the ISAE and the KC actually stood up and proved they were genuinely trying to improve Breed Health by acknowledging that "actions do speak louder than words" then they could expect greater credibility and respect.

hi elaine and barry,hope fergus is getting over is operation and feeling better than he was

hi elaine and barry,
im so sorry you are still having these problems with fergus,its so very very sad that he continues to bloat and i hope he will eventually get sorted out and quite soon.its so hard seeing these beautiful dogs suffering especially when its close to home as it is in ferguses case.wish you all the best
lyn layla and lucy

I wish you all the best with Fergus' continued recovery. I had heard that suturing of the stomach in a way to prevent it from twisting again (a procedure called gastropexy) has a very high success rate. I can't find it at the moment, but I thought that the success rate for the gastropexy was about 90% to stop the twisting again. I will keep looking. regards

I just read your website. It is good to publish a story like that. My girl is an epileptic and her story is online too. Recently we found out that she has late onset MO. What makes me angry is that my Gingers breeder keeps on breeding without pup info. She produced at least 3 litters with epileptics.

I ve just finished reading your website.It is so painful.I can understand your situation because I spent several years with ill GS who suffered high score of HD. I loved him so much and your situation reminds me time when I was crying day by day ..My website has the same warning for people who wants to buy a puppy..
I am thinking of you all
Hugs
Reni

Delighted to have another setter friend. Bailey is our 2nd setter. (We lost our lovely Poppy to a splenic tumour in 2008). We were so fearful that Bailey's bloat was going to end up the same as Poppy's story. Emergency op but didn't survive the night. I dreaded phoning the vet the next morning just in case. Glad to say he's making a good recovery but he's still very gurgly after eating.

Red Ribbon

Canagan, I am thinking of you:) I am sure you can run and play happily and have a nice time with all our beloved friends there.
Hugs from Isis and Reni