Bloat

We've only had a few cases of  bloat, but we sure know what it looks like when we see it!  This is River, yesterday, when she arrived at the vet's office.  Distended left side (sounds like a hollow watermelon when you tap on it) indicating a rumen filled with unexpelled gas. 

Our vet is simply the best, but he's not always going to be available when we need him.  Soooo, this time we used the experience as both a "fix" for River and a teaching moment for us.  That silver thing is called a Frick speculum.  It's going to be inserted into River's mouth to keep her from biting down. We don't want her to bite the rubber tubing and swallow bits of it - and - heaven forbid - make things worse.

The rubber tube gets a little bit of lubricant on the end to make it easier to swallow (whole!).

 

The tube is in ......  listening for escaping gas.........

Mixing some mineral oil (to defoam any froth in the rumen) with some water.  And yes, that is a stomach pump.

 

Mineral oil and water being pumped into her rumen

All the parts come out for a while so that the mineral oil can do the job

Back in again, whereupon huge amounts of not so sweet smelling gas comes boiling out of the tube

Presto (and the picture didn't come out)!  River was her svelte self again and appeared to immediately feel better.  She deflated very fast when Chris hit the pocket of air.

When we all got home, I ordered the speculum and some tubing for our house.  Stomach pumps can be improvised with a large syringe.  We could probably come up with something for the speculum as well, but we liked the smooth rounded edges - no further damage to our girls.

All in all, we learned a lot and we're so happy for a vet who is always willing to teach us how to help ourselves.  Thanks Dr. Harty.