Bloat - Page 2

Anyone want to elaborate on this water bloat thing???? This occurs in my dog constantly as we takes on a ton of water when he swims as he likes to keep his moth open and he consumes lots of water. then after a bit, his belly is full of it and he spends the rest of the day peeing everywhere outside and lots of belching.

I had my GSD tacked when she was spayed. She can still bloat, but her stomach shouldn't flip now. I also feed her a Gas-X with every meal. I don't exercise her for at least an hour before or after feeding time. I fee a grain free food, not sure if it containk citric acid of not. IMO there is a genetic component to bloat/torsion in the GSD; many times a 2nd or 3rd degree relative had also suffered from it.

Yes I'm sure the tacking helps;  at least it gives some reassurance,  It hasn't happened again, though

I've heard endless stories down the years of dogs in which bloat was recurrent, and finally killed them.

With Saxon I was given the choice of a tack;  by the time Taz bloated my vet was doing the tack

automatically with every GDV operation.   Agree about the likelihood there will usually be some genetic

connection, somewhere.

I had a 9 year old female bloat after i had people over for a cook out.  I was able to get her to the er vet in time and she survived.  My two brothers female sheps bloated within 6 months of each other at the age of 3.  One had been at the kennel for a week and drank alot of water when she got home.  Both dogs got to the vet in time and survived.  I had a female that past away last July at the age of 10 (histiocarcoma) that would present with bloat signs but stomach never flipped.  I took her in to the er vet at least 10 times.  She would do the classic signs of bloat - but xrays would show she would have undigested kibble still in her stomach long time after it should have digested.  I had her tacked and switched to raw and it never happened again.

My female show line Molly - has epi and at one point dropped to 45 lb.  I took her to a gastro specialist and they had me increase her food.  On the 3rd day of eating these massive quantities of food she bloated and i rushed her to the vet.  They were able to relieve the gas before it flipped.

In all cases of my gsds bloat issues, i was feeding California naturals.  Since swithcing to Natures variety and raw i have not had any reocurrencs although the all the dogs except for Molly have since past away from various cancers.

In addition a friends gsd bloated after playing outside i the snow and catching snow balls and another friends gsd bloated after playing in a baby pool.  Both of these were females as well.

Cheryl

I've had a seven year old female bloat three times . The first time she bloated she was getting dry food along with other stuff. The second time she bloated she was getting cooked chicken, rice, veggies , kind of like a stew.  Same time when she bloated the third time and we did emergency surgery on her at night to empty the contents of her stomach as well as tack her stomach down, This dog was also autoimmune as well as hypothyroid and perianal fistulas.  I am inclined to agree that there is a genetic link somewhere.

I had a client who came to me for a dog who's previous female did sucummb to bloat from water intake. From my viewpoint it appears to rear its ugly head with commanality around the 4-6 years of age.

I wish... I wish there was better caution with dogs with close relatives being bred who have bloated. I come across breeders all the time who health test out the arse for everything and the kitchen sink and then have numerous bloaters in there lines very close, sometimes in both sire and dam. Yikes what the hell is going there??

Feeding a Gas-x with every meal is recommended to help prevent a dog from bloating. It won't help with too much water consumption of course. Preventing that falls on the owner of the dog. Simply don't allow the dog to drink copious amounts of water.

Hello Everyone,

Thank you for all of your replies. They have given me something to think about and learn from.

Fortunately my dogs have never bloated nor displayed signs of bloat. (knock on wood). This affliction scares the crap out of me and I try to do what is recommend and right (as currently recommended), no exercise one hour before or two hours after meals, no food with citric acid in it, no animal fat in the first four ingredients, no raised bowls of any kind, small meals, high quality grain free kibble with just enough water to float it at each meal. However, even with all of the safeguards I have in place, I realize that my dogs may still bloat. All I can do is be vigilant and observant to my dogs routines and daily habits. Which is where I think a lot of owners run into trouble, I think most (not all) people are not observant of their dogs habits, functions, and routines.

I had suspected that bloat is more common in males than females. It makes sense due to their size. 

My vet friend, who also happens to be my SAR lead trainer is the one who told me about water bloat. I have seen first hand, dogs that have gulped enough water only to throw it right back up a few minutes later. My own dogs love to play with the hose and after learning that a dog could bloat, from to much water intake in to short a time frame, have tempered the hose play.

I figured there are others, who play with water with their dogs, and  I wanted to inform them of the possibility of water bloat.