How to prevent bloat in dogs Reddit

You may remember "back in the day" we used to think we (as humans) had to wait 30 minutes to go swimming after eating, or else we'd cramp up and drown.

There's a similar notion about dogs bloating - that if they exercise too much before or after eating, they might bloat. An hour is a common rest time recommendation.

Like the eat/swim/drown theory in people, the eat/exercise/bloat hasn't held up at all in research.

Purdue University has produced some very good research in this area, and actual bloat risk factors are:

Breed predisposition

Having a first degree relative who has bloated

Nervous temperament (especially when paired with a stressful event)

Advancing age

Eating one meal per day

Being deep chested

Eating dry food with a rendered fat as one of the first four ingredients, or containing citric acid (food with rendered meat and bone as a primary ingredient reduced risk)

Eating out of a raised bowl

Several popular theories regarding bloat were not substantiated during the study. There was no correlation of bloat risk to exercise before or after eating, as most dogs bloated in the middle of the night with an empty, gas-filled stomach. There was also no correlation to vaccinations, to the brand of dog food consumed, or to the timing or volume of water intake before or after eating.

The term "bloat" usually refers to "gastric dilation and torsion" - the stomach fills with gas (bloats), and then flips over, essentially tying it off at both ends (torsions).

Emergency bloat surgery involves opening the dog up, flipping the stomach back to the correct position, then anchoring it in place (using one of several techniques) so it cannot torsion again. The anchoring is called a "gastropexy," or "stomach tacking."

I wish more owners knew you can have a PROPHYLACTIC gastropexy performed on your high risk dog.

Prophylactic pexies can be done using a laparoscopic approach (so three, 1" incisions, vs one very large incision used in emergencies).

Even pexied dogs can bloat - but as long as the tacking holds, they cannot torsion. Meaning, their stomach can fill with air, but it cannot flip over.

My dog who had a prophylactic tacking is almost 9 and bloated last year. It was terrifying. His stomach was huge and taut and REALLY trying to flip over - he had DENTS in the side of his abdomen where his stomach was pulling against the anchoring.

But because he's tacked, I was able to give him gas-x and he was fully recovered in under half an hour.

I can't recommend prophylactic stomach tacking enough - it's given me so much peace of mind over the years, and saved my dog's life at least once.

Hey all. I just wanted to stop in and raise awareness of something many people don't know exists, despite it being the #2 cause of death for all dogs: bloat.

Bloat is a condition that causes gas that is so severe it can flip the stomach of your poor companion, cutting off blood flow to the heart and eventually, if not treated quickly, lead to cardiac arrest.

My pit bull Fish passed away last night. She wasn't even two years old yet. I wish I would've known that her symptoms were deadly, but I thought she'd just eaten something nasty outside and gotten a little sick. She didn't even seem that sick in the early stages. I comforted her and then went to sleep. When I woke up in the morning, she was dead.

Please, read about bloat. Know the risk factors and symptoms, so your dog doesn't have to go as soon as my poor puppy did. Take the necessary precautions if your dog fits the bill.

http://www.critterchatter.com/health/142-bloat.html

Okay so do I have his food and water elevated or not? I have a lab and he eats soooo fast so I have a busy bowl but I’m reading different things online about elevated bowls vs not.

Anything helps :)

If you have a dog, please look up bloat and learn how to detect it. It's random, extremely painful and fatal if not treated quick.

Last night my 13 year old catahoula started pacing, dry heaving, and whimpering. She was unable to lay down. We took her to the only open vet 30 miles away. She was whimpering horribly the whole way there, and not responding well. Then we had to decide wether to go for surgery or not. My dad was the one who would be paying the 4000-6000 surgery an we both knew it was probably not worth it since she is 13 years old. However, we went for it and the surgery went well... She's still at the vet being monitored. I still don't know if it was the right decision given her age. She has bad hips but other than that she's healthy though.

I think if you catch bloat early enough the stomach doesn't twist and it can be corrected much cheaper. Hopefully you won't have to make the same decision.

It's been almost a year since my black lab died. He died due to bloat, which can be a common killer to larger dogs. Bloat is when a dog eats or drinks a large amount and then vigorously exercises, and their stomach flips over and knots up. This causes your dog to try to vomit to relieve stomach pains. However nothing will come up due to the stomach being flipped over. In short, your dog has several hours left. However if you take your dog to a pet hospital quickly, they have the opportunity to save your friend.

Please, anyone with a large dog, be mindful of bloat and know the signs. Also, know where a 24 hour pet hospital is. It may save the life of your best friend.

Last night my most awesome dog in the world died. He had "bloat" or GDV. For those of you, who like me, are unaware of what this is, it has symptoms of wretching (dry heaving), a hardened stomach, severe discomfort, and more. What I was also unaware of is that it kills pretty fast. So if you have a dog and they develop these symptoms, get them to a vet. Unfortunately, by the time I realized what it was, he only lived about another hour and I am more than 2 hours from the nearest e-vet. Unfortunately, he is so big they said they probably would have not had time to do the surgery anyway, even if I had brought him in a few hours earlier, but man, this shit was so fast. From the time we noticed until the time he died was a total of about 3 hours.

edit: my awesome dog

EDIT 2: Since some people may not go through a lot of comments, some important things added to this were:

A) Shoving a hose down your dog's throat should only be a LAST RESORT.

B) Never try to force food or water on a dog that seems uninterested in eating.

C) Elevating a food dish is apparently not going to stop your dog from getting bloat.

D) Bloat kills fast, and it's really painful. and I can tell you from watching Bear go down, it was worse than words can describe for him. If you cannot afford the surgery, at least have the animal put down by a vet for a couple hundred bucks. In case anyone is wondering, surgery cost depends on dog's size. Averages between 2-4K

E) You guys love dogs as much as I do.

edit 2: Thanks everyone. I appreciate it. Moreover, I hope that the educational aspect of this post will help us get the word out. I was so blindsided by this. Again, I appreciate it. Been up for like 36 hours now, going for nap.

Hi there!

CONTEXT: I've had my dog for over 2 years, no problems so far besides the occasional dumpster dive which has been remedied. Due to some personal circumstances, I developed health anxiety and it's affecting my ability to care for my dog without feeling anxious. So I guess I'm looking for some reassurance and advice, I've sought this out from multiple vets who dismiss me as I know this is a bit of a ridiculous problem...

My dog is 6.3kg, long and slender body similar to a greyhound physique and a shorter snouted shiba inu like face. Mixed breed and tests for her breed are not easy to get here. I have looked into her size and it says to feed her 3% of her body weight, which would be around 190grams of food. I feed her a mix of high quality kibble and wet food and check the packaging to ensure that I feed the recommended amount for her size. I feed her around 20g dry food, 30g wet food per meal, 4 times a day. So in total, 80g dry food and 120g wet food. My only issue right now is that I'm afraid of causing bloat in my dog, hence the 4 feedings, however with the last feeding every night I feel anxious thinking "this could be the tip to bloat... her stomach looks full.." even though I know it's full because she's eaten food and it's sitting in her intestines.

Question: So my first question is, 50 grams of food spaced 4 hours apart won't give her bloat right? Will 100 grams of food cause bloat? I'm just scared of causing bloat and I know it's irrational so I could use some rational reassurance if anyone had any to offer. I want to start feeding her 2 meals a day as I begin work and classes soon so I won't have enough time to stick to her feeding. (Also I make sure to wait 1 hour before and after feeding to play or exercise her, so her stomach isn't bothered)

TLDR: I have health anxiety and need some advice on feeding amount and reassurance on bloating in dogs. Deep chested dog fed 50g x 4 a day, want to switch to 100g x 2 a day, worried about bloat because she's so slender, any reassurance this is okay and she will be fine? Thank you!!