[kjc]

Last weekend I was at the PC, up late as usual, the fluffmuffins all in bed. Normally, one or two wander out of the bedroom and come find me; they just want picked up and a few hugs and back to bed they go.

So Finny comes out and stands behind my chair. Normally she pushes past my legs and growls and puts her front feet in my lap. That night she stayed behind my chair. Odd I thought, so I turned around to look at her and she was standing, but something wasn't right.

My brain jumped into panic mode... what is wrong with her? Did she fall out of bed and have an injury to her back? I hesitated picking her up...I didn't want to make matters worse. I decide to watch her when she starts to fall over... loss of balance or passing out, I didn't know. OMG, I'm thinking, she's dying right in front of me! Oh no!

So I grab her up to try to figure out what's going on and I put her on my ironing board/grooming stand. It's a half hour to the ER and I didn't think she'd make it. I checked her gums, they were nice and pink, but a bit moist. I had my hands around her chest to get a heartrate, and that was fine. She's recovered a bit and sits in front of me, her eyes bulging a little and a bit red, panting and drooling slightly... then she lets out this horrible smelly belch. It was bad!

She appears even better, so I decide to watch her a bit longer. I grab my stethoscope to listen to her tummy for normal gut sounds, and they are there, but her tummy is a little bit swollen, but not really what I would call hard or firm. And less firm than it was before she belched, so this is good. I decided to stay up and watch her, and she belched 3 more times in the next 30 minutes, and they weren't half as stinky as that first belch, which is also a good sign.

She's a Biewer, and she's more deep-chested than my Yorkies, which makes her more prone to bloat, where gas builds up in the tummy from undigested food, and if it gets bad enough, the stomach can twist and turn over on itself (cutting off the blood flow) which would then require emergency surgery to repair. It occurs most frequently in Great Danes... big dogs.

So I resolved to staying up at least 3 more hours to be sure she was okay and no more gas was forming in her gut. She wanted to get down and go potty, then she went under the kitchen table and fell promptly asleep. I kept checking her tummy for gas, but all seemed good.

Normally, after she eats, she burps. I read some article a while back, that sometimes gas can get behind the food and become trapped, and being upright can help the gas escape. Finny would never go right to the door after eating, so I started picking her up and carrying her out to potty. Most times when I picked her up, a burp would come out. Being upright makes it easier for gas to escape, so with her build (deep chested), I decided to do this all the time after her meals, in case she needed a little help.

The next morning she woke up, eyes bright, tail wagging, wanting me to hold her. When I put her down, she ran all over the house in high gear... zooming. I decided she was okay, but I would still keep an eye on her for the next few days (for the rest of her life, lol), especially around meal times. She's been fine.