Meet Brutus; he is a 4 year old loveable, 50kg Dogue de Bordeaux. Brutus presented to the hospital in early September with a suddenly swollen abdomen. He was noticed to be a bit quiet and lethargic in the morning and appeared to be deteriorating rapidly at home.
Brutus was now in extreme shock, with a very low blood pressure, very low body temperature and he had collapsed. An x-ray of Brutus's abdomen revealed our worse concerns. He had a large gas filled stomach which had rotated about 270deg; - otherwise known as a Gastric Dilation and Volvulus (GDV) This is an extremely severe condition that affects large breed dogs. Because of the rotation of the stomach, the stomach wall can lose its blood supply and start to die, and they can have problems with their spleen and also their breathing.
Brutus was initially treated for his shock, and low blood pressure and as soon as he could cope with was given an anesthetic and taken to surgery. Brutus required his spleen to be removed, as well as about half of his stomach wall because of the damage to the wall. Brutus survived his surgery, but was still extremely critically ill due to the internal damage and toxins in his system.
Brutus was in hospital for 9 days, and received multiple blood and plasma transfusions as well as many other medications to help support his body whilst he recovered. For 4 long days Brutus required a nurse to be with him at all times, but eventually he started to improve as his body started to mend.
Brutus has made a fantastic recovery, and is well on the way to being back in full and complete health. The team here at Adelaide Animal Hospital, is very, very proud of Brutus's will to survive and his perseverance to over come such a serious and life threatening condition.
