Gastropexy- any downside? Experiences please?? - Page 3

Makes sense, Nan. Knock on wood, no issues with bloat-type stuff. She's always been the picture of health. 

I lost my 10 year old female a 3 years ago to GDV.  It was heartbreaking and I never want to go through that again.  I opted to have my current 2.5 year old undergo the gastropexy at the same time as she was spayed last week.  We are 7 days post op and she's back to her normal self.  Days 3-5 were the roughest and I probably drove my vet crazy.  He did the Belt Loop procedure for the gastropexy.  The incision was quite large from the spay and gastropexy but is healing nicely.  

Hope your girl is doing well after her emergency surgery.

My 10 yr old female bloated with torsion a year ago.  I left her to go out to dinner and she was fine, came back an hour later and she was in extreme distress.  I'm very close to this dog, she never gets kenneled or crated she is always right next to me, and it was pure torment, i could tell she was in a lot of pain - and the way she looked at me all the way to the vet!  It was like, why can't you stop this?  I swear, if I had been in a place that was 3 hours away from a vet I would have easily put a bullet in her head to end the pain.  I've never seen a dog in pain like that before.  2/3rds of her stomach was dead, the vet sectioned it out, sewed it back together and did the gastropexy (Wilson Vet in MI is just freakin' awesome). She's alive and kicking today, still happily running around killing as many vermin as she can find around the farm.  She hasn't bloated again but then she had never bloated before either.  She hadnt eaten for 24 hours when she bloated.  I haven't noticed any ill effects from the gastropexy.  She is always ravenous post-surgery where before she was a picky eater, but that's probably because she only has 1/3 of her original stomach.  If it was my 8 yr old going in for spay, I would do the gastropexy.  You don't ever want to see a dog you love with torsion.  Obviously she will die eventually of something, but torsion is a terrible, terrible way for them to go.  

Best of luck with your dog whatever you decide to do.  

Valerie, don't forget to give her a Gas-X with every meal. She can still boat, the gastropexy will prevent her stomach from twisting. My female has never bloated, she is soon 7, but she had some relatives that did, so I opted to have her tacked when she was spayed and feed her a Gas-X with every meal. I'm glad your dog is doing well. I've assisted with a number of bloat surgeries and they are very serious operations.