Hi Way,

Since I feel I was your dog mentor for some of the journey with Redford…I thought I would share my experience tonight. I just got home after an ordeal with Ollie, and I’m sharing my drama so you can be extra careful with Red.

Ollie contracted bloat. I know that larger dogs, hounds and deep chested dogs are more prone to bloat, so I am militant about keeping him safe. Well tonight, I learned you can do everything…and they can still contract it. Fortunately, I caught it early (so they say) and his prognosis is good. But this is after $700 in the ER, followed by surgery and continued care which should run around $5,000 — not kidding!

It’s such a terrible state—my dog is crying in agony, even heavily sedated and they demand you pay thousands up front.

You don’t, and your dog will die.

I guess you could consider pet insurance, but read the fine print.

And while you really can’t control bloat, you can be extra careful that

• he doesn’t eat too fast,
• drink water too fast or
• run around until long after he has digested his food.

Here’s some additional info on bloat:
http://www.canismajor.com/dog/bloat.html

On a side note, a few weeks ago I entered Ollie in this cutest dog contest, a premonition perhaps. He has made it through a few rounds and on to semi-finals. Should you feel inclined please vote for Ollie daily and if you want to add it to ele — by all means!

http://www.cutestdogcompetition.com/vote.cfm?h=7F742AD82FC0600BA04C0B010B9385F5

Be Well,

Jen Sall
jen@unionxunion.com