Speaker 1: You're listening to Petlifradio dot Com.
Speaker 2: Well, well, well, good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to pet
Life Radio's own Ask the Best with Doctor Jeff. I
am your host for the next thirty minutes, Doctor Jeff Warber,
here sitting and I know you're gonna hate to hear
it again. Very sunny southern California. I think we're hitting
eighty today. In fact, it's one of those weird days
that they expect midday, which is kind of around now,
it's gonna be at eighty degrees, but this evening is
gonna go up to eighty four.
Speaker 3: That's pretty unusual.
Speaker 2: Very rarely do we get warmer at in the evening
than we are midday. So but the good news is
for those of us listening in the West that Mammoth
has now about a seventy inch base, which is way
better than the thirty five inchespace I was up there
a couple of weeks ago. So we're finally starting to
get some pretty good snow up there, and they're expecting
snow over this weekend too, which.
Speaker 3: Makes me very happy.
Speaker 2: Anyway, just one it once again as we are sitting
here at a beautiful one o'clock here in mid afternoon
in Los Angeles on the West.
Speaker 3: Coast, four o'clock back east.
Speaker 2: I feel for you watching the news this morning and
seeing what are they saying ten inches an hour, some
insane amount of snow. So I feel for anyone having
to battle that in the East, but I'm certainly glad
that I don't live there anymore. And I want to
thank our sponsors. We are working with Pet Health Network.
We are working with pro Sense Pet Products, a great
line of products that are basically veterinary quality products that
you can find at the mass market level stores like Target,
stores like Walmart, a lot of your drug stores as well,
even some Kroger's. So if you really want to help
do your pets a favor, do your wallet of favor,
go check out some pro Sense products. So I want
to hear from you. That's why I'm sitting here. I'm
sitting here waiting to hear your phone calls. Get your
messages here online at petlifradio dot com. You can call
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eight two and I'm here to answer your questions, so
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Go ahead and click and join the conversation. Just enter
in as a guest, and we will love you to
be here with us and kind of check us out
and talk to us. Now, we had a really interesting
case yesterday, and it brings to mind that which I
will probably see you will all see a little bit
more often. Come well whenever the weather does get better.
But dog's running, dogs playing, dogs exercising. So one of
my patients, a rather large pitbull, was at a dog
park and he was playing with some other dogs, as
they are prone to do at the dog parks. Hopefully
you have dog friendly dogs if you're going to take
your dog to a dog park. And the owner saw
the dog with a one of these. They weren't many
tennis balls. They were probably two thirds the size of
a regular tennis ball. And he sees this tennis ball
in his mouth, and he's talking to a friend, and
the dog's running and playing with the ball, and he
says to his friend, oh my god, hold.
Speaker 3: On, I'm right back. I just got to get the
ball out of his mouth.
Speaker 2: In that minute, not even minute, in that second that
he turned to look at his friend to say, I'll
be right back. When he turned back around to walk
towards his dog, No tennis ball gone finito, he says,
oh my gosh, no, tell me, dog's name is Timber.
Tell me you didn't eat the tennis ball. And sure
enough he goes. He's looking all over the ground, he's
looking maybe the dog kicked it. Maybe playbe the dog
ran by and grabbed it. No tennis ball, So the
dog's acting totally fine. So he brings the dog in
and with that history that I think my dog may
have swallowed this tennis ball. To swallow a tennis ball
hole is actually a pretty good talent. So I put
the dog on the X ray table and sure enough,
sure enough, what do you see clear his day on
this X ray is a tennis ball. I mean, the
only thing that I've ever seen more clearly couple of
things actually is once a dog that swallowed.
Speaker 3: And it's so funny.
Speaker 2: The detail was so clear that you could see it
thirty six cents. You could see the quarter, you could
see the dime, and you could see the penny just
by size, and like subtle pictures, that's how amazingly clear.
And the X ray was then I had a dog
once who thought, I guess, by looking at too many
commercials and watching the ever ready bunny, he thought it
would do him some good to swallow two batteries.
Speaker 3: And he did.
Speaker 2: He swallowed two double A batteries. And boy, there is
nothing that shows up more clearly on an X.
Speaker 3: Ray than a battery.
Speaker 2: And you can see these two batteries sitting right in
the stomach as if they were placed there purposely to
give this dog an extra charge. But then came yesterday's
tennis ball. Not actually pretty clear picture. You could see
the ball part right the rubber, You could see the
fuzz outside of the circumference of the ball, and it
was sitting there. And it's one of those things where
we said to the owner, you know, we have really
only one choice.
Speaker 3: Here's the problem.
Speaker 2: The problem is with a ball like that, or any
foreign object in a stomach, that it's easier to get
into the stomach than to get out in order. For example,
if you have a single solitary object that is of
substantial size, it's usually not helpful to try to induce
vomiting just for that, because the object in the stomach
has to line up exactly with the esophageal opening called
the cardia, where the esophagus comes down into the stomach
in order for it to come back up again.
Speaker 3: And also some of the things that dogs are prone
to liqu or chew.
Speaker 2: Or swallow got down, that's great, but to get them
back up might actually cause some of the irritation. That's
why we say, if a dog gets into chicken bones,
for example, do not absolutely do not induce vomiting, because
you're lucky enough the thing got in there hole or however,
didn't what the esophac is, didn't scratch the esophagus hopefully,
but to make it come back up again the wrong way,
you're looking for trouble to reach in. So that's why interestingly,
when we have a single like a solitary object that
we think we can get to come out, we usually
advise that owners will feed their dogs a bunch of
stuff like bulk, like give them a half a loaf
of bread or something for a big dog, and hopefully
the object will get sort of intertwined within the bread
and then if you induce vomiting, then maybe it'll come up.
And also the bread will act as a bit of
a protectant But the other problem is that on the
other end we have something called the pylorus. The pylorus
is that part of the stomach. It's the outflow from
the stomach itself to the do adenum, and that's an
area where we've got to be very careful with because
the pancreatic ducts right that supply the digestive juices from
the execrine pancreas, the digestive part, the digestive enzyme part
of the pancreas into the duodenum to help their digestive process,
and the bio ducts all come into that area. So
you got to be very careful because you don't want
anything to happen to that area. Very difficult area to
surgically repair, and you got to be very cautious because
of those ducks. So you always have to ask yourself,
if you're going to get something that's going to cause
you the need to go in, would you rather take
it out somewhere of in the intestine where it make
it stuck in a very very challenging spot, or take
it out of the stomach, which is less technically challenging
by the way. So the only other option we could
try to give them was going in with an endoscope
and trying to grab the ball out. But the problem
is the device that we use.
Speaker 3: There are little grabbers. They look like little claws that.
Speaker 2: When you couldn't possibly get them around this ball, but
they don't have the strength to As soon as you're
going to try to pull that ball out backwards in
through the esophagus and you have to go through that
muscular ring at the cardia of the stomach, that the
ball is going to fall right out of the grabbers.
So that's going to be an exercise in futility. So
bottom line, today went into Timber's stomach sure enough took
out this very very, very whole, undigested tennis ball. As
I was telling the owners when they picked out, sorry,
we know we did the surgery yesterday. He went home
today and we told the owners that when they picked
up this morning that that was probably one of the
most expensive tennis balls.
Speaker 3: They're ever going to find.
Speaker 2: And that I asked them as we were discussing diet
and certain things that we can do as for the
next couple of weeks, and I totally advised them to
take tennis balls out of the diet. I think that
would be a wise thing, because one they certainly did
not and do not want to go.
Speaker 3: To this again.
Speaker 2: Now one we did one more thing when we were
in the stomach, and I'm going to recommend this as
a definite as a gimme to anyone out there listening,
especially if you have a female of one of these
breeds we're going to talk about. Might be a little
more challenging for male, and I'll give you tell you
why in obvious reasons. But if you have a large breed,
deep chested dog, and that could be anything from your
very large like your new Fees, your Pyrenees, your Great
day your Irish wolfhounds, to your large breeds, your Shepherd's,
your Rottweilers, your Adobe's, your labradors, your Golden Retrievers, et cetera.
There is a condition that if it's never happened to
one of your dogs, you're lucky. But it does happen
quite frequently, and that is called gastric torsion. The stomach
bloats up and because of movement, because of many factors
that were not even aware of, the stomach now turns
three hundred and sixty degrees on its own axis.
Speaker 3: And this is.
Speaker 2: Very very dangerous. It is a deadly situation. It is
a definite, true immediate emergency. Typically, well not typically, I
would practice one hundred percent. If the dog doesn't pass
on its own, it is a surgical emergency. There's really
no way to de rotate the stomach. Many have tried
different things, So the key really is you need to
go in and what happens when the stomach gets turned
on itself. The cascade of new problems and complications that
occur with this are really frightening. Spleen gets engorged, blood
supply to the stomach is affected, can be cut off,
actually requiring depending on severity, The needs to remove part
of the stomach, often to remove part of the spleen,
if not all of I mean remove the spleen.
Speaker 3: It's just a disaster.
Speaker 2: So what we did with Timber yesterday, what I highly
highly advise that anyone who's even having one of these
breeds Spade so they're already under anesthesia in surgery, have
that ventral midline incision having the dog fixed. That you
opt if you are asked, and if you're not asked,
you should ask for it. And that is g Doc
while she is in surgery with her abdomen opened and
you're doing the spae. Please PEXI the stomach, it's called
a gastro PEXI. What we do typically, what we do
is to the right side. We take that portion of
the stomach as it's moving into the due denum due
denum small intestine.
Speaker 3: That's the right side.
Speaker 2: The stomach enters on the left to cut across the
body goes into the right side.
Speaker 3: That you actually attach.
Speaker 2: Permanently attach the stomach to the inside of the thorax,
the chest cavity on that right side. I will explain
why in just a minute, but we have to take
our break. I want to thank once again. Meanwhile, I
have not seen the phone ring eight seven seven three
eight five eight eight A two, So I want to
see that phone ring once again.
Speaker 3: Eight seven seven three eight five eight eight A two.
Speaker 2: If you were had a dog who bloated, had surgery,
didn't have surgery, didn't make it. Whatever I want to
hear from you, I'd love. We need to have our
listeners understand the importance and the how important prevention can
be with this condition. So stay tuned, don't go away.
We'll be back in a minute. Here on pet Life Radio,
ascibets with yours truly, Doctor Jack.
Speaker 4: We'll be right back right after these messages.
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Speaker 3: So welcome back.
Speaker 2: You're here with doctor Jeff Warber here on Ask the
Bets with Doctor Jeff on pet Life Radio and before
the break we were talking about a very very serious
condition that we unfortunately see all too commonly in the
large breed deep chested dogs, and that is called gastric
torsion GDV. It's called gas dilatation. That the stomach first
gets big and volvuless, it turns around on itself, and
it is severe because what it does is not only
blocks off The reason why it's so dangerous is that
when that stomach it is like taking a partially filled balloon.
Speaker 3: Have someone hold all both ends, and then someone in the.
Speaker 2: Middle twists it so you can see how it's blocking
off any entry or exit.
Speaker 3: So what happens.
Speaker 2: What is one of the byproducts of digestion and the
bacteria in our stomachs, it's gas. Well, typically that gas
can go in or out either way comes out one end,
it can go out the other end.
Speaker 3: But when it.
Speaker 2: Can't, it continues to be manufactured. And literally the stomach
is getting bigger and bigger and bigger as it does,
and the wall gets tighter and tighter, and the vessels
coursing through that twisted portion start getting constricted. So now
we lose blood supply, and the spleen gets engorged and
parts of the stomach geting gorged and then start getting blue,
and the stomach wall gets starts getting thin, and you
can actually have a stomach rupture and when it does,
or the spleen rupture, either way, it is a very
painful demise and something that when you see or if
you ever the classic, classic presentation is you go out
for dinner. Your dog's left home inside or even outside
the yard anywhere, and you come back and the dog
starts to try and you notice your pet dry heaving, vomiting,
trying him out, but nothing's coming out. And you kind
of look at him and you watch and feel his abdomen,
his lower abdomen, and it's getting bigger and bigger, almost
tight like a druma. And the dog is getting very weak.
His color is getting pale, we call it TACKI. His
mucous membranes are drying up. He continues to try to vomit,
nothing he's coming up. This is classic. This is get
my dog into the car to the veterinarian hospital immediately.
And it's such a problem when we see it. And
not every dog even that you get there on time,
that has surgery. It's not automatic, instant survival even with
successful surgery. There are conditions that we have for some
other clots that are possible. We have reperfusion concerns, and
that is where you have a blood supply that's been
shut off and then you rapidly reopen this blood supply.
That's called reperfusion. All of a sudden, these tissues are
extremely rapidly being replenished with oxygen that we can get
the release of what's called free radicals, which is why
obviously we know a lot of us, maybe even some
of your pets, take antioxidants to gobble up these free radicals.
But we can get a lot of free radical damage
to very very important tissues like the heart from this
reperfusion injury. We can also have the release of clots
from the repairing and re establishing the normal anatomy of
that stomach, sometimes having to take out the spleen in
the process. So it's amazing the cascade of problems that
follow from the GDV, from the gastric bloat and torsion.
So what I recommend, and we offer it more than
offer it, we kind of insist on it that when
we are doing space and we have that perfect sized
young dog on the table. It's of one of the
breeds at risk. We will tell the owner. You know what,
while we're in here, while we're doing the spay, we
really do recommend doing a pecksy. Let's attach the stomach
to the inside of the body wall at the right
side by the ribs, and by doing so that stomach
cannot tours. It could still bloat, but it can't tours,
it can't twist because now the stomach is anchored to
the body wall. And if you have any of these dogs,
the large breeds, and you have not been in for
a spae yet. A female, I would absolutely, as I
said before our fifteen minute break, that you need to
talk to the veterinarian about doing this procedure.
Speaker 3: Now.
Speaker 2: The reason I mentioned earlier in the segment about males
is that though of course you should do it as well,
but I do recognize the fact that in a male,
to do it while you're in for the neuter is
much more of a stretch. I mean, when you're doing
a neuter, especially if you're using laser as I am,
all the surgery is being done in the scrotum. You're
not even making any cuts in the body wall, and
when you're doing it a neuter the traditional way, your incision,
your scalpel incision is a pre scrotal incision. It's right
on the top of the previews way back, just in
front of the scrotum. Either way, you are nowhere near
the abdomen. You don't need to cut into the abdomen
to do a neuter. So to ask an owner at
that point, the only common link you have is the
fact that the dog is under anesesia. But other than that,
it's not really one and the same. At least with
a female, you're extending incision cranily, meaning forward just a
little bit, and you do your PECKSI so should you
do it with a male even though you know, even
though it's you're nowhere near. Yes, you got the anthesia
already paid for being done.
Speaker 3: Go ahead.
Speaker 2: And if you got one of these breeds and you
make the homolincision and just have your vet do it, it.
Speaker 3: Very much could save a life.
Speaker 2: Now, I don't know what your vet would charge for it,
and I don't think that makes a difference. All it
makes a difference is that whatever it costs you now
as a young healthy dog. To add on that gastropexy.
That's procedure that attaches the stomach to the body wall
pails in comparison to what trying to save a dog
from bloat would cost, because that one is going to
run you into the thousands of dollars to do everything,
I mean, from soup to nuts, the testing, the X rays,
the decompressing, the surgery, the post out of care, which
as I said, is very especially with the first seventy
two hours after surgery. You know, we're very worried about
the heart and the heart throwing what we call vpcs,
getting heart rhythm irregularities. So you're in for a long haul.
So to do something as a prophylactic procedure now when
you're already paying for anesesia, boy, it's a no brainer,
absolutely a no brainer. So again eight seven seven three
eight five eight eight eight two. I just want to
know if there's got to be knowing how sadly frequency
we see this, and you know, we even see it
in boarding animals. It's not always that the dog eats
a big meal and then drinks a bunch of water
and goes outside in place. I mean, it is true
that if you ever took your dog's dry food. Poured
the water that he would typically drink after eating onto
the dry food and let it sit there for an
hour or two. You would be amazed to see what
happens to the volume, the meaning the size that is taken.
Speaker 3: Up by that food. It probably triples.
Speaker 2: So when a dog gobbles their food dry faster than
they can chew, and then they take a couple of big, big,
big gulps of water, and then they sit and do
whatever they do, that ingestu that which is in the
stomach has grown by leaps and bounds, which then predisposes
them to bloat. And it could be something as easily
as line down. You know that when we have animals
here in the hospital. Let's say we're doing a procedure
and they're lying with their right side down and they
are whatever we're doing, we're doing teeth, we're taking a
minor tumor off, but their right side is down, and
now we want to flip them over to the left side. Now,
the much easier way to do it would be to
roll the dog on their backs from the right side
being down, flop them over, legs go up in the
air for a second, and then you put them to
their other side where there now the left side is down,
and we don't do that. Why because we get so
nervous that if that stomach has any volume, think about it,
the stomach may not turn with you. The stomach is said,
gravity is doing its thing inside that chest cavity, in
that abdominal cavity. That stomach is there. When you go
to roll the dog, you're basically the stomach is staying
stationary where it was and you've rolled everything else around
the stomach. So the concern is you actually could induce
a problem.
Speaker 3: So what we do is we always.
Speaker 2: Turn them chest down, so we take their feet, we
tuck them under, and we roll them so instead of
their back ever touching the table, it's from right side.
We lean them over to their left, the stomach rolls
over their chest and have them and kind of you know,
roll over around the table, and then we put them
to their left side down, And that way we don't
run the same risk of having a problem with bloat
or toursing with twisting the stomach. So anyway, that's a
lot to digest. Pardon the pun, as we're talking about
stomachs and bloats and eating. But if you have any questions,
why don't you send me a text that has ever
happened to you? If you've ever had a dog that bloated,
I'd like to know. We'll share your story. Anyone whose
story we use. Anyone who calls, anyone who writes in
you get free pro Sense products sent directly to you.
Speaker 3: So that's a cool thing. That's a good thing.
Speaker 2: Let us know, dog or cat, We'll send you something
out and this will hopefully prevent you from being so
bashful and not giving us a call. So thank you
for joining me here on Let's Talk Pets pet Life Radio.
Ask the bets with Doctor Jeff. I'm your host, Doctor
Jeff Werber, and we will be back here next Thursday,
same bat time, same bat chand see you then.
Speaker 4: Let's Talk Pets every week on demand only on Petlifradio
dot com.