Bloat with Torsion - Page 2

One of my dogs had her spleen removed a few years ago due to an injury. The spleen helps keep the stomach in place and now when it is removed it is pretty standard to tack down the stomach. However, before the specialist did the surgery he did talk to me about it. Some dogs have a very hard time with the tack down surgery. It feels very different etc. Some are also not able to eat one meal a day afterwards etc. Thankfully my dog did O.K. after surgery. It did feel very weird to her and she ended up lifting one back leg and holding it right under her for short periods (the back legs took turns!). After a bit she was all back to normal. She eats fine (one meal a day) etc. (just turned 10 in Jan). I would not do the surgery unless a vet/surgeon was already inside doing something else and this was an ádd on.

Those with dogs that are gulpers may want to feed using an angel food cake pan instead of a bowl. The shape of the pan should slow down even the most greedy eater.

There are two main varieties of torson: twisting of the stomache or intestines and a separate disorder of the twisting of the spleen. Torsion of the spleen is a well known occurence in American blood GSDs and less well known in West German GSDs. It probably occurs in higher frequency than commonly known but is often diagnosed only upon surgical intervention or autopsy, and thus not diagnoses at every fatal occurrence. Bloat is often the first cause of torsion, as the gut swell with gas and floats upward in the abdominal cavity, apparently breaking loose mysentery support (if much is left) and allowing the gut to twist enough to cut off the blood flow, resulting in shock and ultimately death. Sometimes "tubing" the dog (pushing a tube down into and through the gut) will alleve the gas pressure and stop the process, but it will not help torsion of the spleen. Many years ago some of the breeders that I knew well determined that certain dog foods with soy bean and a lot of grains trended to cause bloat leading to torsion. The deep chested dogs kept in runs and who tended to be hyperactive and did a lot of jumping and twisting off the end of the run seemed to have higher incidence. The trait for bloat and torsion seems to be genetically determined and aggravated by food and environmental factors. Apparently the top producer Scott Deodatus died of Torsion. At least for me, any dog I had that belched right after eating never had any bloat nor produced it, nor came from lines known for it. Some vets believe that a dog's inability to belch after eating can be a major constitutional and neurological factor (along with chest depth and poor ligamentation) and a major underlying immediate causes of bloat and it's subsequent torsion.

Hi All Great posts, just a couple of things I thought worth a mention... Always feed at a time when you will be around to see them for at least 2hrs after the feed. Never feed then go out or lock them away out of sight in a kennel etc. Also worth noting, on all four occasions of bloat and torsion affecting two of our males we had bitches in season!!!! We have experienced bloat & torsion only five times in 26yrs (with two males & one female.) the first time we experienced it the dog had bloat which the bumpy rush in the car to the vets caused the gas in the stomach to be released, hence by the time we arrived the vet could smell the gas but the distention in loin & ribs had subsided and the dog was fine (no surgery needed but injection given). Second time for same male came 3mths later only this time stomach had twisted, hence torsion. Due to his age (14yrs) and already suffering from CDRM we made decision not to subject him to surgery so opted to give him sleep. Our next experience was with an 8yrs old Male (no relation to the first male at all) his stomach torsion had twisted around the spleen, surgery required spleen damaged (luckily had not ruptured) the stomach remained undamaged (i.e the blood supply to the stomach had not been cut off long enough to cause damage to the stomach). Unfortunately the vet had not stitched the stomach to the muscle wall before closing and subsequently 12 days after having the surgery stitches removed he had a second torsion. Thankfully we got him there quick enough and stomach was ok but this time vet stitched stomach to muscle wall. This dog is now 11yrs old and still alive and well. No further problems with bloat or torsion. On all four occasions affecting these two males we had bitches in season. Our learning curve from this experience is as follows;- When a dog refuses food when bitches are in season, dont try to temp it to eat (a few days of not eating will not do the dog any harm) better that than the dog getting excited at the bitches scent on a full stomach!! As for the one bitch, she was 12yrs of age and got excited when visitors arrived only 30mins after feeding. Her spleen was also removed but once again because of the speed we got her to the vets her stomach & intestines were not damaged and therefore did not have to have any part of them removed. Her stomach was stitched to the muscle wall and she was given sleep at 13.5yrs suffering from acute arthritis. If you know what to look for and know your dog, the signs and symptoms are very easy to spot. Particulary the wreching & gulpin of air, wreching up of frothy foam and need to drink water.. extra advice is to ring vet en-route to give him as much advance warning as possible that you are arriving with a dog who is having possible torsion. With this problem EVERY SECOND counts and Immediate Surgery is required.. All the best Sue B

Claudia(SkyKat), send me an email. Your email address is not shown here. I suffered a computer crash about 3 weeks ago and lost ALL of my email addresses and a lot of other contact data. Blue skies! Stephen

Hello, I too lost my dog to this disease and my condolences goes out to all who have experienced it. It has been 6 months and it seems like yesterday. I will share my experience because it does not fall into the classic case, perhaps it will help someone. He was a 5 year old male german shepherd, not an anxious dog but he did eat very fast and I did only feed him once a day. He was fed the raw diet with very little access to kibble and vinegar was given to him daily in his food. He was having prostrate problems and much to my reluctance I followed the advice of my vet and had him neutered. 10 hours after the surgery he bloated, rushed to emergency but it was to late. He had no food on his stomach for 24 hours. So beware of anesthetic and stress that follows surgery. I feel confident with the research that I have done that he was probably predisposed to it and the stress of the surgery top it off. I had shepherds for 30 years and never experienced this. If I get the courage to own another shepherd, I will feed him twice a day, don't know what diet yet, of course follow all suggestions on food,water, and exercise, give digestive enzymes and probiotics, have a bloat kit in the house and learn how to tube a dog. I wish all best of luck.

I just started to supplement canned green tripe into my dogs food. The Solid Gold brochure said that the tripe is also used to help prevent bloat, because when the dogs get excited, it gulps air while barking, so the enzymes in the tripe help prevent the bloat from occuring. Don't know if it's true, but it might be worth investigating.

According to an article I read in Whole Dog Journal about a year ago, there seems to be a genetic predisposition to torsion. They recommended not breeding first generation relatives, i.e. parents and siblings. Do any breeders take this into account when breeding? I've never heard anyone even mention it when discussing breeding options. It would be interesting to note the history of torsion in top stud dogs. I've had two out of four shepherds bloat and torsion. One was 12 and bloated 10 minutes after she ate, the other 1 year old and hadn't eaten for over 12 hours.