Another Bloat - Page 1

On Monday night my 9 year old Libby bloated.  This is my 3rd dog to bloat in the past 15 months.  Molly bloated about 4 weeks ago, but her stomach did not flip, but Libby's did.  Luckily surgery went well and I was able to bring her home tonight.

I follow all the recommendations to avoid bloat.  I feed 2 smaller meals per day, I don't allow them to drink water before and after meals, they do not exercise before or after meals, etc.  In all three cases I noticed symptoms around 10:30 at night and had them to the vets office within 15 minutes of first realizing it could be bloat. 

Two dogs are on the same food, however Molly is on a different diet. 

Does anyone have any thought to switching 1 of the feedings to a can food diet?  Is it more likely for a dog to bloat from feeding a dry food vs. a wet food?

Cheryl

Are your dogs related Cheryl?

Are you giving Gas X with each meal? It does make a difference if you have a dog prone to bloat.

I have given pepcid when I thought they needed it but not at every meal.  I could start doing that if it would help.

The other thing I noticed reading through Libby's paperwork was the noticed during surgery her spleen is enlarged, however they opted not to remove it. 

Is this something else I need to be worrying about?

Cheryl

Renofan, this article was a real eye-opener. Yes, dogs fed only dry food are more likely to bloat!

www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx

Also, here's the REAL surprise! Contrary to what we've been told: 

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.

I sincerely hope your dog continues to make a good recovery.


 

It sounds like it is genetic, so aside from taking some preventative cautions [which you already seem to be doing], the only thing you really can do is watch them like a hawk, and consider asking your vet to show you how to insert a tube into the dog's stomach via the throat, to relieve gas.

Not in lieu of emergency vet treatment, but to increase the likelihood that the stomach does not flip.

 WOW, Sunsilver, you are right, your information is a surprise and news me! Thanks for bringing it up.

Sunsilver:

Thank you for posting the article.  I had brought up the wet vs dry food question with my vet and he actually said he recommends feeding dry and wetting it.  I had also read before where it said not to wet the dry food.  I have been feeding Molly 2 meals per day of a low fat royal canine food to help with her sibo and epi and she seems to be doing really well.  I think I will change the proportion of wet and dry feedings for all 4 of my dogs to see if this can help and than add pepcid as well. 

The article also mentioned about removing the spleen during surgery so I am going to call my vet tomorrow and find out why they opted out of removing Libby's during her surgery.

Cheryl

Depending on which formulation of Royal Canin you're using, most of their formulations contain ingredients that Purdue Vet University has linked to bloat.