A Little Excitement With Our Furry "Child"

Friday evening, as we put Judah down for the night, we noticed that our yellow lab, Cassidy, was panting a lot and her stomach looked really bloated. Over the next couple of hours I kept a close eye on her and began to worry that it was something a bit more serious than a little "gas problem." I got online to read about bloating in dogs and quickly found out that bloat in dogs is pretty much lethal unless caught early enough. Basically, the stomach twists and blocks the entry and exit of food, water, gas, etc. So, after making a call to the emergency animal hospital, we loaded Cassidy into the Jeep and headed across the Mississippi to the vet. After a quick exam and some x-rays the vet came out to tell us that Cassidy had what they call "food bloat." Thankfully, food bloat is not lethal, just really uncomfortable. The x-rays showed us that Cassidy's stomach was 4-5 times its normal size due to an enormous amount of food! I guess she must have been feeling like most of us feel after Thanksgiving dinner! :) The vet gave Cassidy some medication that caused her to "expel" the contents of her stomach so that she would at least be more comfortable. We left the vet scratching our heads and wondering how in the world she could have ingested so much food since we give her controlled portions. After returning home to my parents house, Steve remembered that Cassidy had accidentally gotten left in the garage for a few minutes...where her tub of food is located. Suddenly, we had our answer. She had somehow managed to pop the lid of her food tub open and ate and ate and ate...
She probably would have kept eating if the tub had not been nearly empty when she began. Thank God for small miracles! Cassidy is doing fine but is scheduled for surgery tomorrow morning to remove a rapidly-growing growth on her face. I know she's "just a dog" but please pray that the growth would be benign and/or not have spread if it is malignant. Thanks for your prayers!