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Torsion
Excerpt from Fred Lanting's Book "The Total Gsd"
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Torsion - Commonly
called bloat, sometimes described as gastric dilation/volvulus, this is
a terrifying and frequently fatal disorder that German Shepherds and
many other deep-chested dogs experience. A twisting of the entrance and
exit to the stomach traps the food and gas, and as the stomach swells,
the twist is more unlikely to be relieved with-out veterinary help.
Great strides in surgical treat-ment have been made, but the key to
reducing the high mortality is still time. Recognize the symptoms and
get the dog to a veterinary surgeon, preferably an emergency or trauma
oriented hospital. Simple dilation (swelling due to gas) may not be
serious as long as the dog is able to pass food into the duodenum, but
it has been estimated that 80 percent of all
dogs that experience simple dilation will someday also have torsion.
Symptoms of torsion include a swollen, turgid abdomen; the sluggish
action of the dog; his white, frothy, unsuccessful attempts at
vomiting; and perhaps his scratching in the dirt to make a cool hole in
which to lie down. Also, the spleen will feel like a hard lump. The
spleen is normally wrapped around some of the stomach and therefore
splenic torsion accompanies gastric torsion. When this happens, the
return of the blood
that flows through the spleen is shut off causing shock, the
"immediate" killer.
The first thing your vet is likely to do is attempt to push a tube down
the throat into the
stomach so the gas pressure can be relieved. If he cannot get past the
twisted part of the alimentary canal, he may opt for immediate surgery
so he can un-twist the organs. One emergency veterinary service in the
Detroit area uses a different kind
of lavage tube in their treatment of acute torsion. The large diameter,
stiff, black polyethylene pipe has a smaller, flexible tube inserted
into it. This smaller tube is for warm water so that the stomach
contents
can be flushed out of the larger one for about fifteen minutes. In
either case, once the dog has been stabilized, decisions can be made
about whether to operate, or untwist a stomach or spleen still in
volvulus.
Follow up surgical techniques are numerous, but the one with the
most success in preventing future torsion is a tube gastrostomy. In
this procedure, a rubber or vinyl tube is put into the stomach through
the abdominal wall, and in a week the stomach wall at that point
becomes attached with scar tissue to the peritoneum and abdominal wall.
The tube is then pulled out. The surgical opening seals off in
a few days, and since the stomach is fused to the abdominal wall,
it is prevented from again twisting out of position. Regular
gastroplexy, which is suturing the stomach to the abdominal cavity, is
also
widely performed. Because of these and other techniques, especially
the rise of emergency clinics, the mortality rate among those that
make it to the clinic while still alive has plummeted to about 15
percent. Another 15 percent or so die without being seen by the vet
first.
Groups of scientists at many locations have been studying bloat for a
long time, partly with help from such as Morris Animal Foundation, the
GSDCA, and many
others. So far, they have identified a number of likely causative
factors, including behavioural traits. Breed susceptibility is
pretty obvious, with 25 percent or more of Great Danes, Saint
Bernards, Weimaraners, and Irish Setters expected to suffer from
bloat sometime during their lives. German Shepherd Dogs, Standard
Poodles, Collies, and Gordon Setters are fairly high on the incidence
lists, also. Some of the characteristics seen most often in dogs
that had bloated include some stressful event, even minor, in
approximately the eight hours prior to the incident, a fearful
temperament, and
consumption of fairly large quantities of non food material. The only
dogs I've had direct contact with that bloated were of impeccable
character, but those may have been in the minority. Purdue researchers
found no pattern in pre soaking dry food or not, but a slight
correlation between several smaller meals and less bloat. Others found
no relation to soybean meal in the food, an early target of breeders
looking for a primary
cause. Adding vegetables and canned or meat scraps appears to help
lower incidence. Most dogs (60%) bloated not immediately after vigorous
exercise soon after a meal, but in mid- to late evening when resting
or sleeping.
There is a familial element in torsion/volvulus in many, similar to the
way cancer "runs in families", but most cases don't give a clue to
hereditary factors. As in
"toxic gut syndrome" which is also seen a lot in some GSD lines,
it is almost impossible to tell which came first, the presence
of abnormal bacterial populations and irritated intestinal or stomach
linings, or the bloat itself. Which is cause and which is
effect is not going to be easy or even possible to determine. Some
investigators suspect that breeders may be stuffing their small, young
puppies' stomachs too much, with results that show up only later in
life.
Work goes on.
Less likely are other types of torsion, but they can be as life
threatening. Splenic torsion can occur without gastric twisting,
and an even rarer disorder is mesenteric root torsion. The mesentery is
the white, fibrous, web-like or film like tissue that connects the
various sections of intestines to each other and to the abdominal wall.
Blood vessels travel through the
mesentery, and if there is a twisting there, regardless
of whether the intestine itself is closed off, the blood supply
can be halted and the intestinal tissue can become necrotic. Bloody
diarrhoea, vomiting, abdominal swelling and/or pain, and shock
or general collapse can be symptomatic. It may be the same as what some
call "twisted intestines". So few dogs survive that it is impossible to
prevent recurrence or conclusively predict whether those are at greater
risk for another attack than any other dog is.
COPYRIGHT 1999, Fred
Lanting May be reprinted with permission of
author, with this statement:
This is an excerpt
from Fred's revised "The Total German Shepherd Dog" (http://www.hoflin.com) Fred is
a long time breeder and judge with international exposure, and also
gives seminars on HD, as well as Gait & Structure.
Fred Lanting, Canine Consulting. mailto:mrgsd@hiwaay.net
Seminars: Canine HD & Other Orthopaedic
Disorders; Gait & Structure (Analytical
Approach); more
