A tough time....Feb. 18th

We have had a rough couple of days lately with Sadie and the pups. Here is the long version of what has happened...

As most of you know, Sadie delivered 10 puppies on Wednesday and Thursday, Feb. 13th and 14th. one was stillborn, but 9 were healthy and were doing great. Sadie took to mothering well, and seemed to be in good health and doing a good job with nursing and watching over the pups.

On Monday morning, Sadie ate normally, and appeared in good spirits. Linda came home and fed Sadie at noon, and although she was not interested in her food, she seemed to be ok . The puppies had appointments at 3:00 pm to get tails bobbed and dew claws removed (something that should be done at about 3-4 days after birth). When I came home to get the pups, Sadie seemed very melancholy and sedate, but I attributed that to all the after-birth discharges and the fact that we were taking the pups away. She had to stay in the yard, away from the pups in the garage, and it seemed she was upset about that! (Note the tail bobbs!)

After dropping off the puppies with our vet, Dr. Christensen, I returned home and stayed out in the backyard with Sadie. She did not want to play, which was unusual for her, and instead went into the kennel and into her doghouse. She definitely was not acting normal, and at the same time seemed to be starting to swell in her abdomen area. Around 5:00 pm, Linda and I returned to pick up the puppies, and told Dr. Christensen about Sadie. He indicated there could be several things going on, some normal..some not, and that we should watch her and call after hours if we were worried. When we returned home with the pups, Sadie rejoined them in the garage and let them nurse, but did not seem to be her usual self with the puppies, and instead started to act disinterested. By 6:00 pm, Sadie was still nursing, but things did not look right. Although we didn't want to, we called Dr. Christensen and told him what was happening, and he told us to bring her in and he would check on her.

Sadie was rapidly getting worse at Dr. Christensen's office. She was having difficulty standing, and her swelling in the abdomen seemed to be getting bigger. After consultation with KSU Emergency Clinic doctors, x-rays and a vaginal exam to be sure that there were no further puppies still in Sadie, it was determined that Sadie had a condition called GDV . The technical name for GDV is "Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus". This occurs when a large-chested animal's stomach will rotate up to 360 degrees, closing both openings of the stomach, which forces the stomach to swell. (As we found out later, this condition is the 2nd leading killer of all dogs, only behind cancer, and can be fatal within 12-24 hours of onset. At this time, we still do not know what caused the twisting of the stomach. If you have any large breed dogs, please do some research on this, as it can be a very speedy killer. )

Dr. Christensen tried to pass a tube down to her stomach to release the trapped air. Because the twisted stomach openings were closed, he was not able to enter the stomach. He next took a hollow needle and open syringe and stabbed it into Sadie's abdomen and into the stomach to press out as much gas as possible. After all this, Sadie was still not doing well, and he recommended that we rush Sadie to Manhattan. He did not know if she would survive the trip, but she had no other options here. He gave Sadie a sedative and we returned home.

I packed up some clothes, took the seats out of the van (with Lee's help) and prepared an area for Sadie to ride close to me. During this time, Sadie was in the garage with the puppies and the rest of the family. She was shaking and unable to stand, and losing control of her bladder. We all said what we thought was our last goodbyes to her, and I rushed her to Manhattan. I broke a few speed limits that night, something I rarely do! Although she was very somber and stoic through the trip, her condition had not worsened by the time we got to Manhattan. (The KSU vets think the procedures that Dr. Christensen did allowed her the time to get to Manhattan.)

The doctor's at the KSU Emergency Clinic examined Sadie and determined she did indeed have GDV, and prepared her for emergency surgery. The surgery itself involves a long incision on the belly, then a de-rotation of the abdomen (Sadie's stomach was rotated 180 degrees, and had probably been even more before she got to Manhattan) , and finally a tacking or attaching of the stomach to the abdomen wall. While inside, Sadie was examined for any additional damage that occurs during GDV, such as damage to the spleen, blood vessels, abdominal cavity or heart. Sadie seemed to be in pretty good shape on these issues, and handled the surgery well.

While Sadie was in the vet hospital, Linda, Jenni and Lee took over feeding duties. They had to bottle feed the 9 puppies every 4 hours, and it took about 1.5 hours to feed them at each feeding. They also had to persuade the puppies to pee and poop, as they don't do this by themselves for the first week! It was quite a lot of work! (A sad note..one of the puppies passed away while Sadie was gone. We won't know for sure, but chances are she would not have made it even if Sadie had still been here.) Here are pictures of Jen, Linda, and Lee (behind the camera) as they worked hard with the pups!

Sadie checked out of the veterinary hospital Wednesday afternoon. We stayed in Manhattan for a while to be sure she was stable, then arrived in GC late Wednesday evening. The vet hospital would have normally kept her through Thursday, but with pups at home, the doctors wanted Sadie to return to the pups as soon as possible. They agreed to let me take Sadie home, as long as she was in direct supervision through Thursday, Feb. 21.



So far, Sadie is doing well with the pups, and has resumed her motherly role, which we hoped she would do. Her incision seems to be good after inspection this morning, and it does not appear that the feeding pups are causing any damage.




Thanks for all your prayers and good wishes while we have been gone....I know they made a difference. We want to especially thank Dr. Christensen and his staff in Garden City, and Dr. Gerald Sargent, Dr. Dirsko Von Pfeil, Dr. Karen Brenner and 4th year student Joan Talbott for their wonderful help and support!

I hope anyone with a large breed dog reads this blog and becomes educated about GDV and it's deadly potential...having the knowledge and being able to react quickly may save the life of your beloved pet.

Here is a video of Sadie reuniting with her pups after the GDV surgery!! (Note: The red tint is from the infared heat lamps we used to keep the pups warm.)