I want to take this opportunity to let you know of a severe

I want to take this opportunity to let you know of a severe, life-threatening syndrome that affects large breed dogs and a recent advance in preventative surgery for the condition.
Laparoscopic guided gastropexy

If your dog is a large or giant breed, specifically large “deep-chested” breeds you may have heard of gastric dilatation volvulus complex, also referred to as “bloat” or “GDV.” (We have even seen it a couple of Dachshunds.) The stomach dilates with gas and food and then begins an abnormal rotation (illustrated on the image to the left). This can happen very rapidly, often in hours, and if untreated results in obstruction of the stomach and death. Treatment consists of aggressive fluid therapy and prompt surgical correction. The success of treatment ranges from 60 to 80%, thus unfortunately, some of the patients die despite our best efforts. Cost of the surgery and aftercare, excluding the obvious emotional cost, can range from $1,500 to $5,000.
Although this syndrome is not encountered every day in predisposed breeds, the severity of the condition has impelled us to explore the latest surgical techniques to and prevent it.
In the past the surgical procedure to prevent this syndrome (called a gastropexy) had to be performed in a more traditional surgical approach with a recovery time of 7 to 10 days and a 6 to 12 inch abdominal incision. Recently, our hospital has invested in laparoscopic equipment and advanced surgical training for our doctors to enable us to perform the gastropexy with minimal incision size and recovery time. The surgery can now be performed with two small incisions (less than 1 inch in many cases) with a recovery time of 2 to 4 days.