Two weeks ago, our beloved 65 lb, 9 year old standard poodle became very ill, very suddenly - listless, tired, gagging, stomach gurgling. We did not waste time, and rushed him to the vet on call. As my husband suspected, our boy had torsion of the stomach, confirmed by x-ray. Sadly, we lost him; as I understand it, he died after anesthesia was given, in preparation for surgery. The total time from when he showed signs of illness, to his death, was less than 3 hours.
We are heartbroken and are trying to understand what we could have done to prevent this, as we also have a 45 lb, 8 year old female standard (half-sibling). We want to do whatever we can to avoid having the same thing happen to her. I have read up on stomach torsion and have read that administering Gas-X as emergency treatment may help buy some time while getting to the vet. Is this correct and if so, what would be the correct dosage for a female of this size?
Something my husband always did with our male was lay on the couch with him. The dog would lay on its back and stretch right out while he got his belly scratched. Now my husband wonders if having him lay on his back stretched out like that might have made him more prone to this stomach problem. Is this possible?