I wonder how many of you have dogs that have bloated and survived? I have been fortunate enough so far to have not had any cases of this. Of course, my dogs have had every other weird problem but (knock on wood) no bloat.

I was watching my dogs run around the other night and thought that I better wait a couple hours to feed them and had a thought. Do you think wild dogs, coyotes, wolves, etc.....bloat? Cause I am almost certain after they run and chase down prey they don't wait an hour or two to eat!! I know certain lines of Dobermans that have an unusual number of dogs in the same litter that have bloated, same with GSD's. How much of it do you think is genetic.?? Just curious. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif" alt="" />

I don't know....bloat seems pretty mysterious to me. I've never gotten the feeling that it is well understood. Not feeding for two hours after exercise seems, on the surface, like superstitious behavior, since nobody really knows what causes it. But, on the other hand, remember that the dog's heart rate and breathing are going to be elevated for some time following exercise. I'm wondering if, rather than waiting a specific length of time, wait until the dog's vitals get back down to a resting rate? I'm not going to experiment on MY dog, but it was a thought that occurred to me yesterday after exercising him. It took about an hour for him to completely relax. Similar to walking a horse to cool him down after running before allowing him to drink, maybe.
My dog did have bloat once, but it wasn't the type you're referring to, I don't think. He managed to scarf down a whole box of chocolate cookies, and ended up bloating pretty badly. It was too late to induce vomiting, but we did administer activated charcoal. His vitals remained normal. It was cheap chocolate, not the strong stuff. Nevertheless, I've never been so relieved to hear a dog fart in my life! And now, I know what bloat looks like!
I think that in the wild, canids will naturally lounge around after gorging themselves on a meal. They're not going to be getting up and running around after that. But, before eating, I agree, they're not likely to look at their wristwatches and say "Hey, Bill, it hasn't been two hours yet, we gotta wait!".

Uncle had a gun dog that bloated and lived to bloat again, and again. . .three times.

I'm gonna put my money on genetic structure that contributes to a situation. Eating A LOT of something that causes a lot of gas/stomach movement- sausages, garlic bread, noodles, pesto sauce, tomato sauce, spices, some green stuff, and enough bread sticks to choke a elephant.

That was the first time. Old Zaggo was a garbage hound. . .nice dog to shoot over.

A lot depends on what you consider bloat. Bloat can be a condition also refered to as Gastro Intestinal Torsion. GSI can be fatal, and often times requires surgical intervention. Much like the example of the horse being allowed to consume too much water when it is hot. Large breed dogs are more susceptible than smaller ones. It has been common practice to avoid bloat in working dogs, to allow 2 hours prior to or after working. We also practice "hot watering" on dogs that have excerted an enourmous amount of energy. I've seen several cases of bloat, including a few that were fatal. My experience was it was always after strenuous exercise, and the dog was either fed too soon, or watered too much too soon.

DFrost

I had a Weimariner that had GSI bloat and had to have his stomach stapled in place. The vet said that even that procedure was no gaurante it wouldn't happen again once a dog had it. Knock on wood, it never did. Vet also said large, deep chested dogs were most prone.

I'm with VanCamp on the genetic thing. If wild canids do get bloat, they will be eliminated from the gene pool, so an uneducated guess is that it doesn't happen often.

I'm leaning to that wild canids don't get very active after eating. Yes the ones that do get Bloat will be elininated from the gene pool.

Has anyone done a survey on Bloat on wild canids, I doubt it. :rolleyes:

Don't exercise or let your dogs free roam after eating for 1 to 2 hours is good advice. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Great Danes are very prone to bloat. Their owners, often feed them on elevated food dishes. Their reasoning is that the dogs are less prone to swallowing air when they eat. Who knows! If you feed dry kibble,some say moisten first to avoid bloat, others say serve with water to avoid bloat. Go figure!

Deep chested breeds are the ones most prone to bloat. It usually occurs after the age of 5. My friend had a Doberman that got bloat. She rushed it to the emergency and the dogs stomach turned upside-down and twisted. Now the vet did a surgery where he un-twisted the stomach and stapled it back in place to prevent it from happening again. Now, not all dog's stomachs turn and twist. Sometimes the bloat just goes down. The sad thing is 5 months after the surgery my friend's dog got bloat again and died <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" /> .

Truth is the exact reason and cause of bloat isn't clear. They know some things that might be factors but nothing solid. They say feeding too much dry kibble can result in bloat because the kibble expands in the dog's stomach. This is one of the reasons why I'm switching my dogs to BARF, apparently it greatly reduces the risks of bloat.

I also think that the cause of bloat is a bit of a dilemma. I am always wary as I have 2 big dogs a GSD and a Great DaneXNewfoundland(120lbs)
I have experimented with several brands of kibble just by putting some in a glass of water to see how much it actually expands - I found that the Premium dog foods do not expand anything like the cheaper brands. Shows you get what you pay for I suppose.
Someone I know had a labrador with bloat in the early hours of the morning. They had a bone shaker of an old van that they put the dog in to take it to the vets. By the time they got there the dog had been sick and the jolting had righted the bloat so the vet reckoned.

Sadly another friend of mine whose GSD had bloat actually died on the way to the vets. This must be so hard to cope with as one minute you have a healthy dog and the next it gone. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif" alt="" />