<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 8.00.6001.18865">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Our first basset, Bess, bloated 4-5 times while we
had her. I can clearly remember 4, but think there was a fifth in
there. I will tell you about those, and whether a couple of them were true
bloats, I don't know.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>The first time, we had no experience, or ever
heard of bloat, our neighbor was watching the 2 hounds for the day
while we went to Disney. We got home and the water bowl was
empty...neighbor had not filled it for them, and Bess drank and
drank and drank. I didn't think to stop her as I figured she would stop
like a reasonable dog would. Wrong. I finally realized she was not
stopping after her belly was the size of a basketball. She sat
there, and me not knowing there could be a problem, watch her as the water
pretty much made its way back up and out her mouth, not throwing up,
just oozing out as there was no room in her belly. Fortunately,
after about an hour, she was back to normal. I never thought
it was bloat until she bloated a second time. Our first waddle was the
BHRG Bash in Atlanta, back in 2001 or 2? Bessie bloated big
time, her stomach twisted and she spent the entire weekend at the ER
vet. They tacked her stomach and assured me she would never twist
again, but also said that once a dog bloats, they are prone to it. I
guess that is true as she bloated 2 more times. One of those
times, On the way to the ER, I had the radio off so I could listen to
her, and about half way there, I heard a sound that was like the air being
released from a balloon. I pulled over and her belly had gone
down, she seemed fine and we turned around and headed back home. Once
home, I found she had thrown up in between the seats, it was all grass and
foam. The last time I remember, we were on the way to a play,
when it was apparent she was bloating and I ended up heading her to the ER,
where they did keep her and watch her. I ended up going to the play and
picked her up later. I probably would not have done this, but at the
ER, one of our vets was on duty who I really like, (they have a coop
here for the ER clinics) so felt fine leaving her there with Dr
Cassidy. They gave her some meds and she was fine.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>I always thought her eating fast had a lot to do
with her bouts. We changed eating habits to feeding 3x a day, and a
few snacks in between. And also, we tried some different methods to
get her to eat slower.....nothing much worked unless we fed her by hand.
</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>Sorry for this being so long. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>drool to all in need, we have plenty
here.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=2 face=Arial>wen and the Bounders</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>