BLOAT

[mastiffmommy]

Hi all,

For years I have had giant breeds, and as I am sure many of you have done, I have also followed the do's and dont's when it come to bloat and what they think may cause it. Granted they come out with different information about every other year. What they said 25 years ago, has been changed several times since then. But I thought it could be interesting to hear what you all have read, heard or if you have had any personal experiences with bloat.

Marit

[Carolyn]

Probably the same info you have, no exercise before/after eating about 1hour, moisten kibble, no elevated dishes. Any other tips would be great. Someone I know lost a dog to bloat, she never heard of it.Took my guys for shots last night & there was an emergency bloat surgery being done I don't know the outcome.
Carolyn

[mastiffmommy]

Oh I hope that dog is okay. Yes it is scary how fast it can go. I actually had a close call with one of my danes years ago. She didnt act right and I straight away thought of bloat, so took her to our vet. and they x-rayed and said they saw gas and there was a risk of turning. I let them keep her to make sure she was okay, but she wasnt doing any better the next morning, so to not take any risks we went ahead and did the surgery before she had a bad case of bloat.

One thing that is funny, is how they changed the elevated dish issue, a few years back. Before then they said it was real important to feed from elevated. Also like you said no running around before or after meal. Something I have heard can trigger is stress, but still I am sure it has a lot to do with genetics, some lines tend to have more problems with it than others. And the deep chested breeds have bigger problems than others.

Something that I thought was interesting was a study about bloat I read. They said that 80% of all dogs that come in to the vet with bloat have an empty stomach. And if you think about it, that makes sense. They have always said that one reason they get bloat is that, they eat a lot, maybe too much each meal, so their stomachs get heavy, this makes the muscles that "hang up" the stomach strech out and when the stomach shrink the muscles get slack.

In Sweden where I come from, most people feed their giant breed dogs three times a day, here it seems to be most common to feed two. Since I am used to the three times a day, I have stuck to that, and well I also keep my fingers crossed and try to keep myself fairly updated on whats new in the bloat discussion. But it changes so often, it is hard to know what to do sometimes.

Marit

[billybooker]

I recently took a dog first aid/CPR course and learned a few things about bloat.
Although they are not exactly sure what causes bloat, there are a few things that you can be prepared for to save your dog's life incase it does happen. (Every dog owner should have at least one of these in their pet first aid kit-especially those of us with deep-chested dogs like danes and dobes)
The first and probably the best is a 14 gauge or more needle to stab into the dog's stomach from side (in front on flank) to relieve gas pressure. You can get one from your vet to have on hand. You'll want to drive it in and hold, the stomach will pull away from the needle. Put it into whichever side is biggest. If the needle blocks off blow into it. I got one of these needles for $1.00 from my vet. The second thing that you can keep on hand is a long siphon tube. You'll have to put this down the dog's throat until it reaches the stomach. (The tube must be long enough to reach the 13th rib) This is a difficult thing to do, so get an explaination from your vet or just use the needle. Don't worry about the hole you make in the dog from the needle, a secondary infection if much easier to deal with than bloat, as it is immediately life-threatening. You always want to get the dog to the vet as quick as possible.
You can also try to relieve bloat by gently changing the dog's position. Stand them on their hind legs, and jiggle or shake the dog, with the front feet on your shoulders, lie the dog on the right side, and the roll to the left side.  Some symptoms of bloat include:
-Unproductive attempts to belch or gag
-Labored breathing
-Rapid heart rate
-Obvious bloating or distention of rib cage and flanks (dog looks inflated)
-Weakness, distress and pain
-Shock

Hope this helps.

[newflvr]

Hey Marit, the three times a day thing makes sense.  How do you fit it in to your day though?  Can you do it like first thing in the morning, late in the afternoon and then right before bed?

[shangrila]

The literature on bloat in so conflicted that it is confusing to be a big dog owner. When the vet suggested that I consider doing a gastro-pexy on zoey with her spay, I spent an entire day researching bloat to make my decision. For every article I found saying to feed elevated, feed more meals, or wet food, I found one saying not to feed elevated, to feed less meals, and to feed dry, etc. The one thing that seemed to be consistent was that dogs shouldn't run around for an hour after eating. This is the first time I have heard that they shouldn't run before though.

In the end, one of the main reasons I decided to do the gastro pexy was that all the literature was so conflicted that at least I would have that one safe gaurd. I feed elevated because I think it's more confortable for zoey to stand normally, and I feed two meals a day because I could not feed lunch at the same time everyday with work obligations and it's important to me that we stay consistent with her food.

[brigid67]

Bloat is definately scarey.....  I have also read tons and there is a lot of conflicting info.  The gastropexy does not prevent bloat but will help prevent torsion which is absolutely deadly...  My vet said that a raw diet does help lessen the chances of bloat.  Also you can give gas-x or phazyme as soon as you think there is an issue with bloat...  I do feed elevated.  I am going to get a bloat kit together and add a tube...i put tubes in people all the time...think I can do it with my dog....

[Lucysdad]

We went through "Bloat" a few months ago with Lucy. Call it dumb luck 'cuz for all the reading I've done, and having several friends that have lost thier big dogs to "bloat", I thoght she'd eaten something toxic and was getting sick. It was late on a Saturday evening when she started showing symtoms and I considered waiting 'till the next morning. She looked so uncomfortable I couldn't stand it............ .........  soooooooooooo. .............. . I rationalized that a Saturday night trip to the local vet emegency room wouldn't cost any more than a Sunday morning trip, and we loaded up. Not sure how many cities have a place like Dove Lewis ( www.dovelewis. org/ ) but I'm grateful to have them here in Portland. Being the idiot that shoulda known and got lucky I strongly urge erring on the side of caution.

Aside from the conflicting information on eating and such it seems there's an age issue too. Like Dementia and Cancer in people, the older our friends get the more certain they'll have to contend with this. I haven't yet known a dog younger than 8 getting bloat, I don't have a statisticly significant sample size to work with, hope I never do. Perhaps someone else knows more about the age issue.

[Icerotti]

Glad to hear every thing turned out fine.

[moonlitcroatia]

Greta's first trip to the vet for a case of bloat was $375.  Next time I was able to catch it before it progressed...i t began as a rock-solid stomach and she was extremely uncomfortable.  I always keep a package of Gas X and give her (2) pills at the first signs of stomach trouble.  So far for the five years following the first incident which required veterinary attention Gas X has eliminated the symptoms...alo ng with rest.