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BLOAT

Zeela

Well-Known Member
A friend of mine recently lost his Great Dane to bloat, a horrible sad story. I've read about Bloat and that it is a common health risk in Mastiff's. To do your best to avoid it...I've learned that they should eat smaller portions at a time and to not have a lot of physical activity right after eating. I was wondering if anyone would share other precautions to prevent bloat in their beloved Mastiff.
 

glen

Super Moderator
Staff member
I feed smaller amounts x3 a day after food they know to lay in there crates for an hour then they have a drink and can use the garden to toilet ., iv always been worried about bloat, i also only feec kibble that coesnt swell when wet
 

Zeela

Well-Known Member
I feed smaller amounts x3 a day after food they know to lay in there crates for an hour then they have a drink and can use the garden to toilet ., iv always been worried about bloat, i also only feec kibble that coesnt swell when wet
I make Zeela lay on her blanket in the kitchen for at least an hour after she eats and I give her small portions 3x a day too. From what I read they do not seem to know much about it. it is scary though. It can happen so quickly. All we can do is be vigilant about it and educate ourselves on it.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
I'm all about taking precautions to prevent bloat. There was a study done fairly recently that showed a genetic component to dogs that get GDV. I've had boxers for over twenty years and they are very bloaty dogs. I've always fed from a raised dish, not allowed excessive water consumption before or after food, not allowed strenuous play for an hour after feeding, etc. Many vets are saying that those things don't matter. I figure that none of those things hurt, so I keep doing them. I do have a bloat chart I posted somewhere. My daughter's instructor in vet tech school was also a breeder and judge of Irish Wolfhounds. Another breed prone to bloat. She has an atricle on accupressure for bloat. A quick google search should find both the chart and the accupressure information. I'd look it up for you but my eyes are giving me some trouble. I know I've posted images and links to that info on the board in the past. Maybe a search will find it.
 

Smokeycat

Well-Known Member
My neighbour just lost her standard poodle to it. I don't allow exercise an hour before or after meals and feed smaller amounts 2x a day instead of once a day. I also feed out of a raised feeder but that is more for their comfort than anything since their heads are high and Kryten has difficulty reaching the ground. He kinda reminds me of a wide giraffe when he has to grab something from the ground. I also had to force Kryten to eat slower as a puppy to prevent him inhaling a lot of air when he ate.
In my case Jiggers is actually at a much higher risk of bloating than Kryten is because of how they are built. When talking to my vet she explained that while the cause is unknown it is known that while any dog can bloat ones that have narrow but deep chests are seen more often. How she described it is if the chest makes a circle when viewed from the front the risk is lower than if it makes a vertical oval.
 

kingmark

Well-Known Member
Bloat is the most awful and stupid thing to lose a dog ,so i take many precautions. I feed tonka also 3 times a day ,she gets water right after her meal but from then and she already knows it is 3 hour rest. I know vets recomend one hour but i am keeping it on the safe as she once vomited 2 hours after her meal and i saw that she still had pretty much unprocesed food in her belly ,so we have 3 hour rest and not a min shorter. She is used to it from her baby steps and accepted that very well. Also when we come from outside play no matter how thirsty she is ,she has to wait 20 min to cool of a little then she can drink. People need to inform themselves as i have met many large breed dog owners who didnt never heard of bloat nor any safety tips.
 

sjdavenport

Well-Known Member
After recurrent episodes of bloat (dilation without the torsion) secondary to GI disease, I finally got my male a gastropexy. I'll be tacking my female too when she is spayed. This is a disease I'm always worrying about, and we're 45 minutes away from the emergency clinic, so going through with the surgery has given me a little more peace of mind.

20190112_082737-1.jpg
 

Zeela

Well-Known Member
Bloat is the most awful and stupid thing to lose a dog ,so i take many precautions. I feed tonka also 3 times a day ,she gets water right after her meal but from then and she already knows it is 3 hour rest. I know vets recomend one hour but i am keeping it on the safe as she once vomited 2 hours after her meal and i saw that she still had pretty much unprocesed food in her belly ,so we have 3 hour rest and not a min shorter. She is used to it from her baby steps and accepted that very well. Also when we come from outside play no matter how thirsty she is ,she has to wait 20 min to cool of a little then she can drink. People need to inform themselves as i have met many large breed dog owners who didnt never heard of bloat nor any safety tips.
So when you say drink water after 20 mins of play??? I did not know that water was also a precaution to take. I usually let Zeela go to the Brook in the park and she drinks, should I not let her do that?
 

Zeela

Well-Known Member
After recurrent episodes of bloat (dilation without the torsion) secondary to GI disease, I finally got my male a gastropexy. I'll be tacking my female too when she is spayed. This is a disease I'm always worrying about, and we're 45 minutes away from the emergency clinic, so going through with the surgery has given me a little more peace of mind.

View attachment 61820
why was it recurrent?
 

kingmark

Well-Known Member
So when you say drink water after 20 mins of play??? I did not know that water was also a precaution to take. I usually let Zeela go to the Brook in the park and she drinks, should I not let her do that?
Yes water can also be a problem especially if it is drinked during play or just after. When we are out on play i never let her drink water from ponds or pods or any accesible water especialy if she is runing a lot and she gets water when we come home and she rests a little bit. I only give her water when we are out in slow walks during summer. My friends dog mastiff cross died when drank cold water after runing on hot day and i have heard many cases like that ,so i am very caucius about that and have strict routine with al her food and water things and she never complains. Hope i helped you a little bit. Give kiss to zeela
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
There's been speculation also that drinking too much water after eating dry food can be an issue because it causes the food to swell. Some people soak the food prior to feeding for that reason. Honestly, these are all just things we do hoping to prevent it. But I've never found any vet that can tell you exactly why it happens. And I've spent 30 years asking questions. The best thing to do, in addition to any precautions that make you more comfortable, is familiarize yourself with the symptoms and get prompt treatment.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
Here is the Purdue Bloat Study. For those of you not in the US who may not know, Purdue is a school of veterinary medicine and it's very good. The studies they publish are legitimate scientific studies.

https://www.instituteofcaninebiology.org/bloat-purdue-study.html

Here is the bloat chart I keep in my cabinet.

bloat-chart.jpeg

Info on the bloat accupressure point.

https://www.iwclubofamerica.org/bloataccupressure

And lastly two videos of dogs that are bloating. One lives and one doesn't. Please do watch these. The symptoms are so vague that it's easy to miss. My daughter had two cohort members, after having been in practice for a couple of years, that lost dogs to bloat and they knew what to look for. If you do our own search on YouTube there are some videos showing how massaging and or rolling your dog around (that one's an EM) work for bloat. Of course anyone can to what they feel best, but I think that's dangerous and a waste of time. Get your dog to the vet ASAP, don't mess with massage and rolling. Frankly, I think the rolling has the potential to make things worse.

 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
Yes water can also be a problem especially if it is drinked during play or just after. When we are out on play i never let her drink water from ponds or pods or any accesible water especialy if she is runing a lot and she gets water when we come home and she rests a little bit. I only give her water when we are out in slow walks during summer. My friends dog mastiff cross died when drank cold water after runing on hot day and i have heard many cases like that ,so i am very caucius about that and have strict routine with al her food and water things and she never complains. Hope i helped you a little bit. Give kiss to zeela

That's a common mistake people make. Dousing the dog with cold water or giving cold water when the dog is over heated. That's very dangerous.
 

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
Thank you all, I really did not know about the water. I would die if anything happened to Zeela.

Sometimes you do everything you can to prevent stuff like GDV and it happens anyway. Nobody should ever blame themselves. Of course there are people that are negligent and ignore obvious warning signs, but that's really not any of us here. We're the crazy dog people. I know we have at least two members that have lost their dogs to GDV through no fault of their own. And don't underestimate the genetic link. Ask your breeder if there's any history of it in their lines.
 

Pastor Dave

Well-Known Member
I feed Chev the EM 3 times a day, and he usually has water ready for drinking at any time. We don't do any strenuous exercise close to mealtime. I use a raised bowl for Chev. Someone tell me if I am doing something incorrectly. Thanks, all.
Pastor Dave
 

TylerDurden

Well-Known Member
We do the same thing (EM). Three meals (3 cups, 2 1/2 cups, 2 cups). No running or play 1-2 hours before and after meals. Only small amounts of water in these periods. Either way, our floor wouldn‘t survive excessive amounts of water (EM owners will understand that), so it‘s never a completely full bowl. I guess that‘s pretty much all we can do as far as preventive measures. Knowing what to do when it happens is key, but also no guarantee.
 

Sheila Braund

Well-Known Member
Thank you all for sharing on this awful condition! There's a lot of good information here.
I feed my girl 2xs a day..... she will only eat her raw 2xs per day. My sister had to rush her King Shepherd Baby, into the hospital 2xs in 1 year became this. Thank goodness she got him there in time for the Vet to help. I don't remember the details but there was emergency surgery both time. Luckily he never had that again ... Now that was over 20 yrs ago, Baby has been across the rainbow bridge many years now....My sister knows what to watch for with her 2 beautiful Mastiffs ( Bella's parents) So far she's had no problems with bloat .... and there's no known bloat in the bloodlines....that we know of.... we still keep watch