Bloat

[Raven]

Okay, so here is what my vet said:
She was an ER vet for a while and saw many bloat cases. Basically, by the time you figure out that it is bloat, anything you throw in their mouth won't make it to the stomach anyway because the stomach is already flipped and twisted. I am not saying she is right or wrong...just reporting back.

It makes sense. Especially about the part by the time someone figures out or suspects it's bloat, especially for Average Joe dog owner....

I wonder if there are rough stats that reflect those who survive a case of bloat with a trip to the vet and those who don't survive with a trip. There'd be tons of variables affecting either side of that coin, but the same can be said for a lot of things.

[Raven]

NOTE TO ALL:

1) Bob (administrator) copied this thread from Medical to Feeding.

2) Any subsequent posts made under a section (e.g., Feeding) will not copy over to the other section, and vica-versa.

It's an important topic. Some members may be inclined to look under Feeding for information on bloat, which is why Bob copied the thread over to this section as well.

Yea, Bob !!!

[Rob C]

Posted this under "Medical" but figured I'd copy it on to here just in case.

I've always had Pepcid on hand just to be on the safe side, though I've never had to use it. As for slowing feeding down, our dog used to eat so fast he would hack and cough. We went out to a local pet store that sold these large and HEAVY metal balls that we put in his food dish. It was about the size of a softball. He would eat around it, and it would slow him down. The nice thing about it being metal, was it was too big, and too slippery after eating to try and lift the ball out with his mouth. When he tried to scoop the ball out with his paw, all it did was knock the kibble out, which would of course slow him down while trying to eat the small pieces off the floor. I don't know if anyone else has tried these, but the worked great for me.

[johninny]

thought i would try to add a few details and summarize a bit:

but first, Rob, that sounds like a good idea that i will try with Xander. the others have slowed and actually chew, but my one stray [ as a very young pup] has resisted reform. some improvement from moral persuasion [ standing there saying ''EASY" works somewhat but gets tiresome ] and from giving him a separate room in which to eat. finally a use for old boce balls!

on the subject: once full blown bloat has arrived - yes, then vet intervention is required. but very early intervention may stop the process in its tracks or not so early will slow it down and/or make it less severe so that vet intervention has a greater chance of saving the dog. the articles i have read indicate low survival if a dog has already had its stomach flip and has more than a few minutes [ 10-20? ] before vet intervention is possible. so i touched on this earlier, but maybe not explicitly enough: WHAT I LOOK FOR: dog that is unexpectedly hesitant, that lays down in an odd place / at odd time [ visiting a store, outside a restaurant, waiting for a treat, in front of you with ball in hand ], abdominal area that is hard to the touch. if i found the latter in conjunction with any behavior that made me the slightest bit suspicious [ of discomfort ], i would consider giving pepcid or gas-x. [ any better-informed, more medically-informed ''what to look for'' would be much appreciated.]

foods: any corn or corn products are really bad in so many ways, but to summarize in a crude way: corn turns into a combo of gas and bad fat / onion family from garlic to leeks / cabbage, broccoli, etc. / various spices. [ so even if you cannot bear the expense of grain-free, at least make sure there is no corn or corn product among the grains in the food you serve your canine.]

there gets to be interplay between causes of bloat and pancreatitis. a large dose of garlic may result in bloat or may fairly quickly result in pancreatitis; many small does of garlic [ to use just one example ] have a cumulative effect that at some point can become large enough to result in pancreatitis. in other words, there are some foods that seem to have no ill effect on a dog if given in an amount sufficiently small, but this can be misleading because it may be slowly poisoning the dog to the same long-term effect as a quick and dangerous over-dose. just thought the pancreatitis topic is very similar to the bloat issue in a number of ways [ though pancreatitis can have both very slow onset and very rapid onset ] and maybe this discussion will motivate all of us to learn more about preventing and recognizing both conditions.

[Raven]

For some dogs, the balls, rocks, special feed bowls, etc. don't work. Sigh.

The information in the thread fleshed out that Gas-X (2X the adult dose) is recommended if bloat is suspected and Pepcid may be useful for stomach acid issues. Two separate things.