Bloat/Gastric torsion with dogs.

WVaHillbilly · Oct 7, 2007

Anyone ever have this happen to your dog ? If so what have you done to try and prevent this from happening again ??
I lost a GSD because of this,it happened at night and did not know anything was wrong until you find the dog the next morning after he has died.

randy41 · Oct 7, 2007

i asked my wife who is an LVT...she says that its more common in breeds like great danes, boxers, and the kind of dog with a wide chest. if it is a female and you get her spade they can suture her stomach to the wall so it can't turn. don't feed large quantities of food at once but serveral small meals per day is better. don't let the dog run around after eating.
but even doing all that is no guarantee of it not happening...it just reduces the risk.

WVaHillbilly · Oct 7, 2007

randy41 said:
i asked my wife who is an LVT...she says that its more common in breeds like great danes, boxers, and the kind of dog with a wide chest. if it is a female and you get her spade they can suture her stomach to the wall so it can't turn. don't feed large quantities of food at once but serveral small meals per day is better. don't let the dog run around after eating.
but even doing all that is no guarantee of it not happening...it just reduces the risk.

Thanks Randy !

JESSE1 · Oct 7, 2007

If you ever see your dog repeatedly trying to vomit and not actually losing anything you should suspect torsion. Also if they are drooling and acting very uncomfortable you've probably got torsion. Their abdomen will start to swell from bloat. Get the dog to the vet or an emergency clinic as soon as possible. They can operate but there's a short time frame before the gut starts to die from being twisted.

I have 3 German Shepherds. About 4 years ago we lost our spayed female from torsion and bloat. It was not caused by food or running around. X-rays showed she had tumours around her stomach and they caused it to twist. I did not recognize the symptoms at that time. She had tried to vomit several times and was drooling badly. Her abdomen started to swell. We got her to the emergency clinic and they operated but it was too late. This happened within an hour of symptoms starting. We feed our boys twice a day and try to avoid large meals. I keep the possiblity of torsion on my mind any time they throw up.

WVaHillbilly · Oct 7, 2007

JESSE1 said:
If you ever see your dog repeatedly trying to vomit and not actually losing anything you should suspect torsion. Also if they are drooling and acting very uncomfortable you've probably got torsion. Their abdomen will start to swell from bloat. Get the dog to the vet or an emergency clinic as soon as possible. They can operate but there's a short time frame before the gut starts to die from being twisted.

I have 3 German Shepherds. About 4 years ago we lost our spayed female from torsion and bloat. It was not caused by food or running around. X-rays showed she had tumours around her stomach and they caused it to twist. I did not recognize the symptoms at that time. She had tried to vomit several times and was drooling badly. Her abdomen started to swell. We got her to the emergency clinic and they operated but it was too late. This happened within an hour of symptoms starting. We feed our boys twice a day and try to avoid large meals. I keep the possiblity of torsion on my mind any time they throw up.

I have several shepherds and this dog that died was a wonderful male,almost 1 year old,anyway I need to evaluate what went wrong and see if I can help prevent this from happening again.

JESSE1 · Oct 7, 2007

I think the best prevention is to do like randy41 says: small meals, no vigorous running after eating and just be aware it can happen and know what the symptoms are.

texbaylea · Oct 7, 2007

WE raised Boxers for 30 years and never lost a one to bloat. We fed a premium food so used a smaller volume and measured out each dogs ration to maintain their weight. We always fed about our supper time so that they tended to go to sleep afterwards.

We even had one ***** get into a new bag of food and eat about 10 lbs at one time. We watched her closely but no problems. We were lucky with her.

Vernon

QRTRHRS · Oct 7, 2007

I had six boxers over a period of time and helped to place many more and I also never saw bloat in a boxer. Lots of cancer though.

We woke up one morning to find our French Beauceron (sheperd type of herding dog) obviously suffering from bloat. We got him to emergency in time so he survived.

I think they removed either a section of bowel or a part of his stomach, forget which. They did stitch his stomach when they sewed him up.

We had been careful with meal size and immediate exercise so we don't know what went wrong but he has been fine ever since.

Poor guy, he just had a fatty tissue tumor removed the other day.