Our sweet 3 year old Bella late on Christmas Eve started showing signs of distress. She was not only in distress but she was experiencing gastric dilatation and volvulus (GDV) or commonly known as "bloat". Her foster knew the warning signs and jumped into action to get Bella to an ER as quick as possible. Upon arriving at the ER, Bella was immediately triaged and stabilized. Her stomach had in fact rotated and she would need life saving surgery. She would receive surgery to de-rotate the stomach and a gastropexy was performed to tack it in the place. Gastropexy does not prevent this from happening again but it does give you time to get a dog to the ER and it should prevent the twist. Bella did very well during surgery. While in recovery Bella had frequent ventricular premature contractions. This would require treatment and close monitoring by the vet team. After 2 days of medication and monitoring, Bella improved enough to go home. She will require a follow up EKG in 2 weeks to determine if she is still experiencing problems with her heart. The hope is this will not be a lifelong issue but a result of the trauma to her body because of GDV and surgery.
Please consider making a year end donation to help offset the cost associated with Bella's lifesaving surgery and aftercare. Any amount, large or small, $5, $10, $25, $100 or more, will be greatly appreciated. All donations go directly to the Berners in our care. All donations are tax deductible as allowed by the IRS.
Thank you to the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital, Mandy Wallace, DVM, Small Animal Surgeon, Carolyn Chen, DVM Small Animal Surgery Resident and Jaime Certusi, Senior Veterinary Student for the above and beyond care you all gave Bella. Thank you for cooking her eggs so she would eat while at the hospital. Thank you for the constant phone calls to give us updates while she was in your care. Thank you for the phone calls once she was home to check on her and her recovery. See you in a week to start Bella's follow up appointments!
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