Nearly one month ago, during a typical boarding stay in VCA Hollywood's Boarding Kennel, retired Ft. Lauderdale K9 Officer Boris' life was saved by our attentive Boarding Staff.Boris is a 14 1/2 year old Belgium Malinois that retired afer a career of service with the Ft. Lauderdale K9 Unit. When he arrived with his former handler and now pet parent for his mid-week reservation, he was set up for a regular stay and made comfortable in his regular spot. However, this visit would be far from regular. As a boarder in our facility, both pre and post retirement, Boris is a regular visitor. His health and medical history is well know to our Doctors and his personality and preferences are well known to our staff.
Two days into his visit, as our 24 staff was monitoring the patients in our care, Boarding Attendant Dillon, notices Boris was not himself. He was salivating excessively and retching it seemed from the salivation. His abdomen appeared larger then normal and Dillon knew something was wrong. Dillon brought Boris to our ICU and our Emergency Doctor immediately performed a physical exam. Boris' abdomen was very tense. Xrays were performed and revealed a Gastric Dilation and Volvulus (GDV) Emergency surgical derotation was recommended. Gastric Dilation and Volvulus (GDV) is also known as a twisted stomach or gastric torsion. This medical condition affects dogs in which the stomach becomes overstretched and rotated by excessive gas content. GDV is a life threatening condition and requires prompt treatment. The word Bloat is often used to refer to a GDV but that general term really means gas distention without the twisting or torsion of the stomach.
Historically, GDV held a guard prognosis but more recent studies have determined that with prompt treatment and pre-operative stabilization success rate significant in crease. For Boris, immediate stabilization was begun and his long time Partner/ Parent approved surgery to untwist his stomach. Surgery went without incident and while under anesthesia, a gastropexy was also performed to secure his stomach by suture to the inner side of his body wall thus, preventing this from ever happening again. Boris recovered from anesthesia without incident and spent the next several days in our Intensive Care Unit. Post-operatively, Boris experienced some significant hind end weakness, an immediate unwillingness to eat and mild anxiety and tachycardia (increased heart rate). However, with 24 hour care and monitoring, all of these symptoms resolved and he was prepared for discharge.
Today, Boris is back to his business as usual. We are proud of the trust his family placed in us to care for Boris and proud of the work our team did to ensure he gets to enjoy his retirement.
