I AM Crazy!*UPDATE* PICS!!! Welcome Home Draco!!!!

[redhen]

Was it a money issue Dragoneggs?? Not trying to be nosy.. ..but.. if it was.. I KNOW what you went through..

we just went through that here..
My mothers pup got very sick.. and was in respitory(sp?) distress.. and of course it was a Sunday..so off to the emergency vets...
they did a quick exam and said it was going to cost us..1,600 to 2,200 dollars to treat her.. and they wouldnt treat her until we paid them the low estimate RIGHT THEN.. so we had to scramble for 1,600... they wouldnt even wait until friday when my husband got paid... nothing... it was just their policy.
ugh.. that ticked me off...
but we had to do it.. or they would have sent us home with her and she WOULD have died...

I dread anything major happening to any of my animals.. i simply cant come up with thousands of dollars in a moments notice... i'd HAVE to put them down..

 

[redhen]

Quote:
http://www.globalspan.net/bloat.htm
Heres some info on it..
I had my Saints stomach 'tacked' .. to help prevent it twisting and dying... in case he ever gets bloat...
I've known several Saints to die from bloat.. my friends alone.. had 2 of their Saints die of it.. so they are very prone to it..

 

[ranchhand]

Not going to address the emotional issues, bad enough as it is.

I lost a standard poodle at 3 years old to bloat/torsion. I discovered it quite early on and dragged my vet out of his girlfriend's bed at 3 a.m. We did the surgery right away, untwisted and tacked. I assisted, since I've worked in clinics. But the short time of torsion was enough to tax his heart and Alekai died at 10 a.m. There was nothing that could be done.

 

[australorpchick]

Quote:

I'm not a perfect person either, so I understand how you feel and where you're coming from.

Before we adopted our last dog, I tried contacting the specific breed rescues. One rescue didn't respond for me for over a week, and once I finally found someone from the organization locally, I found out the dog had been adopted that day. Another rescue flat out called me a liar when I relayed a message given to me from an affiliated rescue. Both of these organizations were several hours away from me and I was more than willing to make the trip. Needless to say, when it comes time that we need/want another dog, we will not even consider either of those rescues. I finally adopted our mutt from a nearby resue, but that wasn't without it's hassles as well. I had everything prepared according to what was required and posted on their website, only to find out more stuff was needed, on a Saturday, when my vet was closed.

There are good vets, there are bad vets and then there are those that shouldn't be vets. We had a vet like that, who intentionally inflicted pain on one of my cats. They are no longer our vet. Our current vet is awesome. He's a country vet, who will see my chickens and didn't even think I was crazy when I brought my NN in to be put down and was sobbing in his waiting room. His prices are very reasonable and he doesn't try to push any unnecessary treatments.

 

[Ema]

thank you redhen for that link. I didn't know about this at all...

 

[Orchid]

Quote:

 

[welsummerchicks]

Any large breed, as well as any deep chested breed, can be a victim of bloat. Technically speaking, ANY dog can bloat, but the big dogs and the deep chested narrow chested ones are especially vulnerable, such as the greyhound like breeds. Ema, your St. Bernard is one of the breeds that is considered to be more vulnerable.

Having had big dog breeds and talked to the breeder a lot about this problem and read through a lot of vet reports and articles, I set down a set of guidelines I would follow to avoid bloat. Since this list is a little old, there may be new factors that others can add to the list.

Tack up a list of bloat symptoms and give any sitters strict instructions to transport the dog to the vet emergency clinic immediately if the signs show up. Better safe than sorry.

Keep the dog very physically fit and trim, but not underweight, bony or starving (where it might go looking for something bad to eat).

Do not feed within 2 hrs before exercise or sooner than 2 hrs after exercise, 'cool out' the dog like a horse after exercise, with sips of water, bathing with cool water if it's hot, and walking.

Try to avoid heat stress, exercising the dog in summer in the early morning. Other types of stress - moving to a new home or kennel, going for breeding, etc...can be associated with bloat.

Before giving medication, ask the vet if the medication is associated with bloat.

Work to reduce nervousness and aggressiveness, which are associated with bloat.

Keep meals small, stick to a food the breeder recommends and has been successful with.

Do not provide a large drink of water before meals.

Do not provide elevated food dishes.

Do not feed dried foods with citric acid as a preservative, especially those the owner is supposed to moisten.

Do not feed foods with fats among the first four ingredients.

Change feed to another brand or version of the brand, only very gradually over a few weeks, and try to avoid any switching anyway.

Do not allow anyone to feed the dog leftovers or their 'great dog food you must try'. No 'holiday treats'.

Keep water available at all times.

Keep simethicone or mylanta on hand if the dog gets gas, this can buy time in getting the dog to the vet.

Of course these are just guidelines. Some dogs are more prone to bloat than others, and not all cases can be avoided.

Buying a dog from a breeder who is proud of their line's very low stats on bloat really helps.

 

[Ema]

Quote:
My dog was a rescue, he is King Shepperd/st. Bernard mix and at no fault of my own, he is skinny, he is not fixed, I will not tell you the ridiculous amount of cash they want to fix him but I will tell you its a lot more than 600 bucks!!!!!!!! I took him to the vet regarding his underweight conditions and vet said that pretty much he is staying trim cause he wants to mate or is more interested in mating. The vet also told me to just keep doing what I do with him, which is food is available always and same with water at ground level. they come out to the back fields with me all the time and I have to admit he is a super yappy dog who is still super nervous around all kinds of people, Sadly that is how he has been since I brought him home, but he is super confident around other dogs!!! LOL I wish my vet had told me about this, seeing I have 2 golden labs, a lab/boxer mix, and my KS/St. Bernard and a husky/lab all clients of theirs, thank goodness for BYC members!!!!

 

[DragonEggs]

Whew what a day this was! Went shelter hopping again today (to the ones I liked anyway and helped them clean a bit)

Redhen, I think I am calm enough now to explain the situation.

Barley was 14 months old and we were well aware of the dangers of bloat and had planned to have his stomach stapledatthe sametime he was neutered and dewclaws removed (At 18 months was the plan). In the meantime wetook all the precautions to prevent bloat, but apparently something went wrong.

It was about 11pm when I noticed his stomach began to swell and get hard and it wasnt long after he started to cry in pain. I called my regular vet who is an hour and a half away but they had no emergency staff. I hit the web and the phone book looking for an emergency vet and found 2. I rushed him to the nearest one and got there about 11:45. I paid the $100 emergency fee and waited another 30 minutes before they came to me with the diagnosis I already knew. I had already been through this discussion with my regular vet who said sometimes you can put a tube down their throat to untwist it inan emergency. These vets insisted it was too severe but would not show me the radiographs they claimed they took and charged me for. The 2 vets on staff said it would have to be immediate surgery to save my dog but neither one knew how to do the required surgery. THey offered to call in a specialist who wanted $6000 to do it and wanted $2000 cash upfront. I had gotten paid friday but it was a holiday weekend and the banks hadn't been open that day (it was monday) so my check still hadnt deposited. I wrote them a check but they wouldn't accept it. I called some family members begging for their help but none of them could get me that kind of cash in the next couple of hours and offered to pay them with a credit card over the phone and they refused that.

I asked them if they would just start the surgery and at 9am when the bank opened I would go withdraw the cash for them but they wouldn't start the surgery and would only hold my dog until 7:30 am with a $500 deposit (and would do no treatment while they held him). I finally decided I wanted to get my dog out of there and take him to the other emergency vet and they refused to release the dog to me. They insisted that euthanasia was my only option but I refused and walked out. I sat in my car making phone calls to family looking for anyone who could help me (it was about 2am at this point) but no one could get me that kind of cash at that hour, not until the banks opened. The vet came outside and told me if I did not come inside and sign the euthanasia papers she would call the police on me. I rudely told her I would rather go to jail than consent to the death of my dog who could be saved. They just plain refused to do anything to help, to save him. I even offered to give them the title to my car and all of my jewelry if they just started the surgery and waited till the bank opened for payment. They wouldn't budge. My boyfriend showed up and he is listed as the dog's co owner so they convinced him to sign the papers. The whole time I was there I could hear one of the vets whining about how he was suppose to go home at 11pm but stayed to help her with the surgery then complained because we didn't do the surgery that they told me they weren't qualified to perform. Adding insult to injury they had the nerve to send me a letter telling me I was no longer welcome back at that facility (Like I was gonna go back anyway!). About a week later I made several phone calls to vets accross the country and several lawyers. Everyone was apalled and I learned of several more similar incidents with this vet. I also learned that many other vets charge between $700-$1200 for the same surgery even in an emergency situation.

You whats one of the worst parts? I didn't even get to say goodbye. They took Barley from me(oh great now I'm crying)into that back room and I promised him that mommy would see him in just a few minutes. They couldn't even afford me the chance to say goodbye, to be there with him when they did it. They just plain didn't care. They were cold emotionless jerks throughout the whole ordeal. I was so upset through it all and crying so much that I became physically ill and was throwing up in their waiting room. I had to call into work for the next 2 days because I had made myself so weak I couldn't stand, I couldn't drive or even see, my face and eyes were so swollen, I couldn't even take out my contacts. I broke out in hives over the next few days and suffered severe migranes.

So now you know why I wasn't around for over a month.

But the point still remains that these people I am attempting to adopt from are being very unreasonable.

I don'tknow how many of you people believe in the unexplainable, but I have a friend who has a psychic friend. Out of the blue a few days after the death he contacts me.No way of knowing at all about my dogs death. He said he was informed of a deep hurting that I was feeling from a great loss. He said she told him that the spirit was not yet gone and it had moved on to be found again. I responded with what happened and he e-mailed me back saying she was advising me to keep my eyes open for the big red dog and not to take no for an answer. At the time nobody knew what that meant but I'm inclined to believe that this situation is what that was all about.

Also, I have been in contact with the Saint Bernard Rescue of FL. They were one of the breed specific rescues I contacted that informed me they did not feel they had a dog that would suit me.Their list includes a few dogs under a year old and quite a few under 2 years old. All of the dogs I had listed as choice got along well with cats and dogs. We have 2 indoor cats that keep to themselves and we pretty much never see and 2 dogs, a young beagle and a very young basset hound. All of the animals are well trained and social. Also there are 4 adults with dog experience in my home, all are family, and there are no children. I work for a private breeder who lives on 5 fenced acres and has given me permission to bring any of my dogs to work anytime I want. I also own a large car that I bought specifically for traveling with my previous saint bernard.

Now please inform me of what part of me or my life is not qualified. WOuld you like me to take a picture of my fence for you and show you just how safe it is? It keeps the beagle and the basset in just fine and my Jersey Giants help keep everything else out.

 

[redhen]

You ARE qualified.. they're just idiots and in my opinion they are letting a dog sit in a shelter for NO reason.. when he could have a good loving home...
How cruel and sick...
And THATS why i will never ever adopt from a shelter... and thats not just me either... many people feel the same way that i do...