Bloat and Exercise
We eat late here so when I take them out for their last pee/poop, they sometimes like to chase each other around the property and I am crazed that they "just ate". even if it is an hour or so later... How long after eating ( kibble) is it okay to let them have fun? |
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| I don't know the answer, and am eager to hear what others have to say. I know my two boys start fussing for dinner an hour or so before it is due, go out for a quick "business meeting" and then invariably come in ready to play. I try to keep them calm, but it is tough. I worry about bloat too. We nearly lost one of our other dogs to "atypical" bloat, but I will never, EVER forget the look of pain and terror in his eyes as we rushed him to the emergency room. I never want to go through that again, even though we did get him there in time. |
| I'm really cautious about avoiding bloat too and so I try to time their meals so that they don't eat within 2-3 hours either way of any really active playing. I don't mean leash walks or play wrestling. I mean full on running, swimming, dogpark, etc. -- activities that they do with abandon and that leave them completely exhausted. That means sometimes they eat really early or really late and sometimes skip a meal. I'd rather have hungry dogs than risk it. I don't let them roughhouse/wrestle/tug-of-war, etc. for about 1 hour after they've just been fed. I'll actually separate them if I see them getting amped up. I also ration their water intake when they are really out of breath so they don't suddenly gulp down a huge quantity all at once. I don't know that I can prevent bloat with these tactics but I will do whatever I can to lessen the risk. |
| I also read that if you wet their kibble,not soak it, but add some water, it helps. Anyone else.... know this to help? Robin |
gumbo41 wrote: I also read that if you wet their kibble,not soak it, but add some water, it helps. Anyone else.... know this to help? Robin There is a mix of opinion on this. This website says it may depend on the food: "Regulate eating and drinking To be safe, feed your large-breed dog smaller and more frequent meals spaced throughout the day rather than large meals all at once. A single, large meal during the day does appear to be a significant risk factor for bloat. Consider feeding moist food instead of dry kibble or soak kibble in warm water before feeding. Kibble that is preserved with citric acid might exacerbate the problem if it is fed moist so check the ingredients on the bag before moistening. This idea is controversial." I feed raw so this one is not an issue for me. I do notice that my dogs seem to digest better when they get two smaller meals versus one big meal each day. I actually went to a clinic on bloat given by an emergency vet some years ago. I think I wrote a summary here, including the contra-suggestion not to use raised bowls (which some people were doing to prevent bloat). I will try to find it. . . |
| Found it! Below is my summary from the 2007 seminar I attended, given by an ER Vet from Alameda East Veterinary Hospital. There is a great deal more information on their website, including the observation that kibble preserved with citric acid should not be moistened prior to serving. Valerie wrote: I recently attended a pretty detailed seminar on bloat. The key is to avoid having your dog eat large quantities quickly while gulping lot of air and to avoid having the dog run around with a full stomach. Based on your description of B's relative inactivity, it does not sound like she's a high risk for bloat, but it is still good to be aware and to try and prevent it. The recommendations were: 1. Feed your dog 2-3 small meals per day instead of one big meal 2. Don't use an elevated food dish unless other medical reasons call for it (such as difficulty standing) 3. Soak the food with water before you give it to the dog (takes 10-15 minutes to soften) 4. Don't feed the dog when he/she is tired, panting, or out of breath. Wait til she calms down and is breathing normally. 5. Don't let your dog engage in vigorous exercise for 2-3 hours before and after each meal. Keep exercise and feeding as far apart as your schedule permits. A walk around the block is not a problem, but no fetch, dog parks, etc. 6. Don't feed your dog random leftovers from your dinner. The surgeon said that in a huge percentage of cases he has treated, the dog had eaten leftover casserole, lasagna, and other foods that the dog does not normally get to eat. He also commented that the deeper and skinnier the dog's chest is, the more likely the dog is to bloat. If you suspect your dog is bloating, it is a medical and surgical emergency and they must be taken to the Vet right away. Signs include the bloated, distended belly, panting, salivating, and discomfort. The surgeon said that nearly all cases of bloat he has treated occurred in the middle of the night. He recommended that if your dog is acting strange in the middle of the night, to take it seriously. |
| The health speaker (a vet) spoke on bloat at Nationals last year in NY. He was a very good speaker and quite informative. He mentioned most of the same concerns as Val noted from her speaker.  They also documented a local OES who bloated, had surgery and survived. The dog was present at the presentation w/ his owners.  Also of note was that we are going with things that have a documented correlation to bloat dogs - not things that are hard proven facts. Bloat is largely a mystery still. What happens, is when a dog bloats, questions are asked - did the dog recently exercise? do they eat from the floor or raised bowls? etc. The data we have about bloat is from what they see as a result of this questioning. They see more bloats from dogs who ate or ate/exercised recently, ate from raised bowls, gorged on some food, have deep/narrow chests. Or if you are a Great Dane  |
| I should be happy then that Mady is a grazer with her food then? She does tend to eat all her food over the course of the day, but slowly and just a few bites at a time. |
Baba wrote: I should be happy then that Mady is a grazer with her food then? She does tend to eat all her food over the course of the day, but slowly and just a few bites at a time. Yes! In this case, it's quite likely a good thing. |
| Thank you Val and Dawn for posting your info on bloating. Val,I do recall the citric acid preservative,along with smaller meals spread throughout the day. A few years ago a family from uptown New Orleans called me early one morning,the mother was sobbing and all I could understand was the word bloat,however the OES was 12 years old and the vet could not save him.I was crying along with her,it was very sad. Robin |
| just wanted to pass this on as a friend sent it and it's informative. Prophylactic Gastropexy by Karen Leshkivich DVM ABC Bulletin 1994 How many times have you hear this term? It may be a lifesaving procedure for your dog. What it consists of is tacking the stomach in place so that it will not rotate, before your dog has a GDV (gastric dilatation and volvulus) or bloat incident. It makes a lot of sense to do a surgery while your dog is healthy and stable and with minimal anesthetic risk versus an emergency surgery when your dog has bloated or is in a full GDV crisis. High surgical risk factors during GDV include impairment of blood flow back to the heart, restricted blood flow to the stomach (possibly causing death of part of the stomach) and multiple factors including shock and cardiac arrhythmia's that can cause death. A gastropexy will not prevent your dog from bloating but it will decrease the probability of bloat by allowing your dog to burp and pass excess gas through the stomach to the rest of the intestinal tract. But a gastropexy, if done correctly, will prevent the stomach from turning on its axis, resulting in a critical, life threatening situation. Bloat itself can kill your dog but not as quickly as GDV will kill him. If the stomach cannot rotate, the time your dog has gained, even during the bloat episode, may be enough to save his life. Prophylactic gastropexy is not for everyone, but if your dog is in a high risk category, then it is recommended. It is difficult to define exactly what is the high risk category, since the exact causes of GDV are not yet known, but there are some factors that I feel should be considered. High risk factors are: 1) previous episodes of bloat 2) tends to be gassy 3) aerophagic (gulps air while eating or under stress) 4) left alone for long periods of time unobserved 5) under stress (showing, tracking, working, change of environment, bitches in heat, etc.) 6) won't conform to the ideal feeding and resting schedule (runs after eating meals, excitable, etc.) 7) gobbles food  conformation (very deep chest, large chest, etc.) 9) familial history of bloat of GDV The last few items dealing with conformation and relatives may or may not be factors, but if combined with any other factors, may be significant. A new method of gastropexy (published in the JAVMA Nov 1993) is a very simple and fast technique to fix the stomach to the ventral abdominal wall. Of the current techniques (tube gastronomy, circumcostal ad belt-loop), this new one is the most anatomical correct for placement of the stomach and may cause less disturbance of the normal stomach movements during digestion. The very short period of time required to perform this procedure makes it even more encouraging for a prophylactic procedure and also makes much more sense during a crisis of GDV where time is of the essence. I feel very strongly that if your dog has a GDV crisis, a gastropexy is not a prophylactic procedure---it is a necessity. I have heard many people being advised that, after the bloat is controlled, the stomach is derotated and the dog stabilized, the surgery is not necessary and the dog can be medically managed. If your dog bloats, he will bloat again. It may not be in the next week, or the next month; it may not even be for years, but there is greater than 80% chance that he will bloat or have a GDV crisis again...and you may not be home when it happens. It may sound like I am trying to scare people, but I have seen many cases come through the hospital and have had experience with my own hounds. One of my dogs had a GDV incident, and we were able to decompress the stomach and stabilize him without emergency surgery. I was at home and my local vet did not believe in gtastropexy surgery once the GDV crisis was resolved. After discussing my dog's case with surgeon's and internists at the veterinary hospital, I decided to go ahead and have a gastropexy done on my dog two weeks after the GDV incident. When we opened him up to do the gastropexy, we found that his stomach was still 90% rotated. Now this was two weeks after the GDV, and I was lucky that he hadn't had another GDV crisis during the time when I was trying to decide whether or not to have the gastropexy done. If your dog has a GDV episode, a gastropexy should be done. I don't think that there should be any other course of action. If you have the time to stabilize your dog fully before having the surgery done, wait to have it done...but do have a gastropexy done. I have had my dogs gastropxied prophylactically because I feel that they are in the high risk category. I am not at home for long periods of time during the day and they attend shows. And I prefer to have a simple surgical procedure done on them when they are healthy, and if they do succumb to bloat at sometime, this simple procedure may save their lives. |
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