Nika may need an intervention

Do not be fooled, this is not the face of an innocent dog.

Last night Mike and I went out to dinner to reward ourselves for doing a 15 mile training run, the longest run to date. When we got home, Mike got Nika her dinner and let her in. Instead of knocking him down to get to the food as usual, she walked over to it, sniffed it, ate two bites and walked away. Red flag! She then started wandering around the house, moaning and whimpering. She had never done anything like that so we were both immediately concerned.

She continued this odd behavior and when I got down to her level to see if I could find anything wrong, I immediately noticed her belly was very large and distended. She has lost weight since we took her to the vet and was looking really good and between the time we left and came back, it had gone back to its large size again. Now I was really concerned because bloat is a condition that large breed dogs can get where the stomach is distended from swallowed air and the stomach may or may not be twisted, obstructing veins in the abdomen, leading to low blood pressure, shock, and damage to internal organs. If you watched "Marley and Me" this is what Marley got and it is very serious and life threatening.

We called the emergency vet and they said to wait a little and if it continues to be a problem, take her in but she may have just eaten something that she shouldn't have. We couldn't think of anything she could have gotten into because we close the door to the garage so she is in the backyard when she is alone.

She then started heaving and threw up a little food, but continued to moan and groan. I was growing more concerned by the moment. She walked over to a pile of clothes that were on the floor because I was sorting my laundry and started digging, which was weird, so we watched her with confusion until she wretched on my clothes. Well at least she threw up on the dirty clothes! She threw up again and I went to inspect what she was throwing up and it was just dry dog food but she hadn't eaten since 7 that morning so I was confused. Then a light bulb went on for Mike and he told me that he let her out this afternoon while I was in the shower and she was out there for about half an hour and the door to the garage was open. This is significant because her dog food is kept on the ground in the garage very easy for her to get to.

We suspect that she got into it and binged till her little heart was content. After throwing up she stopped her whining and moaning, calmed down, she seemed to be feeling a little better. She also drank a lot of water though (which is typical of her) and if she had a large amount of dry food and then drank water, that food would have swelled up in her belly. She certainly didn't want to move much though and layed down to stretched her big belly:


This morning I gave her a little bit of food and she seemed eager to eat it as usual and when I let her outside, she immediately crouched down to poop, although I didn't actually see if she was successful so I will have to check later. If she isn't pooping then there is definitely a problem.

I think she dodged a bullet this time though, but we are definitely going to keep an eye on her to make sure she isn't continuing to have any symptoms. It scared the shit out of me though. Although we haven't had her for long she is my baby and I would be devestated if anything happened to her. I would like to think that she learned her lesson but I think if given the opportunity again, she would do the same thing. We are definitely going to be getting a container to out her food in so it doesn't happen again because much like a heroin adict, she cannot be trusted!