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Thanks for all of the advice! Yes, paranoid I am, I admit it. I talked with my vet and she suggested 8mos. as the earliest. I will wait and see, Melissaandcrew (a side question to you… was the female you lost to bloat tacked?!). She has HUGE paws, and our veterinarian thinks she’ll be at least 80lbs. In the meantime, I am following all of the guidelines I can find: a special bowl to slow down “gulp eating”, not letting her have free access to all the water she can drink, no exercise an hour before or after eating, and the “raised bowl” issue… most seem to be coming down on the side of NOT using a raised bowl. Also, soaking her kibble and adding wet canned. This site was so helpful in choosing a puppy food.
Dori, I didn’t know about this procedure, either until we got our chocolate lab puppy last year and were ready to have her spayed. You can imagine how happy I was to hear about this preventative measure…I swear I was dancing around the vet’s office!
Hi, Dori and InkedMarie… no such thing as an “ignorant” question. Gastropexy is when they suture the stomach of the dog to the abdomen wall. It is to prevent “bloat” or gastric torsion, or, it’s official name, gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV). Torsion is when the dog’s stomach twists on itself, cutting off blood flow to various organs, causing the death of tissue, and it can be fatal. The reason I am so fanatical about this is because I’ve lost 3 dogs in my lifetime to this. By the looks of some of your pets (and how cute are they?!), I don’t think it is something for you to worry about! It mostly affects deep chested dogs, such as GSD, Labradors, Dobermans, Great Danes, etc. It is a swift acting disorder without any true cause pinpointed, from what I can gather. The gastropexy prevents the stomach being able to twist.
Mellisaandcrew, 2 of the 3 we lost were Dobies. 🙁 The third was a Chow. All males, btw. Yes, you have hit my conundrum. It would be an invasive procedure, since they spayed her so young (which would be another question altogether!). Is it worth putting her through that as a preventative measure? I need some outside advice because I know I am clearly coming from a biased perspective. I know she is going to be a large breed (I’d attach a picture if I knew how).
Thanks for the input!
