# Neuter and Gastropexy



## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Lucky is scheduled to get his neutering done at the end of April. I had thought about getting gastropexy done at the same time since his breeder said his structure is almost all poodle with the deep narrow chest. Lucky is also prone to stress and upset stomach although he does eat pretty slowly. 

I've read through almost everything on this forum ever written about gastropexy and also talked to my vet. He said that Poodles like Great Danes are indeed prone to getting their stomach's twisted during bloat but he said during his 30 years as a vet he has seen hundreds of Danes and only maybe two of them actually had a twisted stomach. 

My husband said to me that he is concerned that a grown spurt might happen even though Lucky is one year old. The reason he mentioned this is because he said a woman at the dog park had a Great Dane die because she had the surgery done too early. Should I get the surgery done with the neuter? I am not concerned about the cost at all so maybe I should wait until Lucky is 2 years old and there is certainty that he has finished growing. Maybe I am being a hypochondriac and that an invasive surgery like this isn't necessary.


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## Caddy (Nov 23, 2014)

DH and I were in two different camps on this one, his thought was "if it's not broken don't fix it", mine was prevention. The girls both had a gastropexy, Abbey at 9 months because she needed eye surgery and Dolly at 11 months because she needed rock surgery, and there hasn't been a problem. Anyone I've heard about that had a dog with a twisted stomach say they wouldn't take that chance again, which is what made my decision. Maybe the Dane did A LOT of growing after the pexy.


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## Verve (Oct 31, 2016)

Lucky looks smaller to me, like a mini-cross? If so, I don't think I would tack. Bloat is overwhelmingly a standard poodle issue. 

did your vet mean that only two Great Danes had bloated, or only two had had torsion? I wouldn't go by his numbers in either case--Great Danes are the poster dogs for bloat. An e-vet once told me that regular vets underestimate the incidence of bloat because it frequently occurs at night, and are seen at emergency vets.


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Verve said:


> Lucky looks smaller to me, like a mini-cross? If so, I don't think I would tack. Bloat is overwhelmingly a standard poodle issue.
> 
> did your vet mean that only two Great Danes had bloated, or only two had had torsion? I wouldn't go by his numbers in either case--Great Danes are the poster dogs for bloat. An e-vet once told me that regular vets underestimate the incidence of bloat because it frequently occurs at night, and are seen at emergency vets.


Did you mean you would tack? And yes my vet meant two had torsions. Sorry for the confusion. That is a really good point about emergency vets because that is an immediate case. Here is the weird thing about Lucky. The vet thought he was going to be 70lbs because of his ginormous paws. He is 49.7lb the last time we weighed him, which was last weekend. His mom is 57lbs first generation Goldendoodle and his dad was 30 ish pound poodle. I have never met the dad because he went back to his original breeder but his mom is a lot wider and bigger than Lucky. In his litter, he is the same height as everyone but the lowest in weight because everyone's dog was 55+ lbs. The reunion was all males so this was a good comparison. I suspect Lucky is going to stay around 50lbs.


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## Verve (Oct 31, 2016)

OK, I didn't realize from the picture that he was that large. Hmmm. I think maybe I would think about his chest conformation and his temperament as far as assessing his risk of bloat. As I understand it, it is the *combination* of depth and *narrowness* of chest that raises bloat risk. My first poodle bloated, and the e-vet noted it was the most extreme chest he'd ever seen--very deep, and narrowed to like a blade at the bottom. My sense of goldens is that they have broader chests that are flatter at the bottom. 

And as for temperament, some research suggests that more excitable or fearful dogs are at higher risk of bloat. 

Ahhh, upon re-reading your OP, I see you addressed both issues. As far as age for gastropexy, I think one year is old enough, but two would definitely be better. My dogs are from very slow-maturing lines, and I am amazed at how much they continue to mature and fill out during that second year.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

If and when you do the gastropexy I would do the neuter at the same time. One surgery, one anesthesia event, one recovery event. I think it is much easier on the dog to do it all at once. IMHO

Cathy


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

I think my reaction is very similar to Caddy's so I had scheduled for him to get neutered and the gastropexy on the 26th. Prevention and feeling good going into the future is important to me.


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## Viking Queen (Nov 12, 2014)

snow0160 said:


> I think my reaction is very similar to Caddy's so I had scheduled for him to get neutered and the gastropexy on the 26th. Prevention and feeling good going into the future is important to me.


I need to tell you Poppy just had her spay/gastro surgery, plus tail tip repair and dew claw removal on 28th of March.

She was pretty out of it when I brought her home and for the rest of the day. The next day and thereafter it was very difficult keeping her quiet for 2+ weeks. After 2 weeks her tummy staples came out, she never messed with it, and her dew claw removal sutures came out (dew claw removed at birth grew back weird), bandage was removed from tail (bone was coming out through the skin) and we had to wait 3 more days for those sutures to come out. THOSE WERE THE LONGEST 3 days of our lives. Tried to eat her tail, every second of the day and night, in spite of cone, bitter stuff, etc. 

I would say for what you have scheduled, he should recover quickly and without incident, as he is not having tail worked on.

Let us know how that goes. Be thinking about you both, cathy and Poppy


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Thank you for sharing your experience with poppy Ahh...Time for cone of shame... I remembered using that after spaying Nibbler to prevent licking. It was only used for the first day. I do remember that the cone freaked out the other dogs. They didn't understand it and just barked at it and ran awaylol 


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Do you guys remember if the gastropexy was done laparoscopically? Lucky's vet would be using a non-laparoscopic method so it is more invasive. I am a bit worried since it is not a spay. So far I am keeping the gastropexy for the neuter but if there is a reason not to I'd cancel it for a later date.


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I have had it done on two dogs not laparoscopically (one was preventative with a spay and the other was during an emergency bloat procedure). I've had my other dogs done laparoscopically. The laparoscopic procedure is considerably quicker and easier recovery-wise. If I didn't have access to a vet who could do the laparoscopic procedure, I wouldn't hesitate to still do it the traditional way, but I prefer the ease of recovery with the lap procedure since that is an option available to me.


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## snow0160 (Sep 20, 2016)

Thank you for that input I really needed to hear that. 


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