This morning, I caught my dog, Nicholas, with symptoms of bloat/twisted stomach (GDV). I rushed him to the vet, and the good people at Veterinary Emergency Group immediately received him. After X-rays, they confirmed that his stomach had rotated a full 360 degrees. They sent him to the operating table for the major task of untwisting and reorganizing most of his major organs. Luckily, surgery was successful because I caught it early!

GDV is very scary and not something you can easily prepare for. It occurs in about 20% of large/giant breeds and can be even more common in American Akitas like Nicholas. After surgery, the surgeon informed me that just their emergency clinic alone has had quite a few cases recently, and sadly, those owners caught it too late. If I was only 30 minutes later, then Nicholas could have died.

Maggie and I are so grateful for any help that you are able to provide. As you can suspect, such a major, unexpected surgery was very expensive.

Thank you to everyone who helps out in advance.