bloat symptoms

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jackie36

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just read a post about bassett and bloat, thought this might be useful to everyone.


WHAT IS BLOAT?

The stomach becomes dilated by abnormal amounts of food or gas. For some reason the valve to the oesophagus fails to open and release the surplus air. The food begins to ferment and create more gas. - This progresses to rotation of the stomach on its axis

Bloat or 'Gastric Torsion' (Gastric dilation-volvulus syndrome), is caused by the build up of fluid & gases within the stomach. The accumulation is swift and dramatic, disrupting the normal function of the heart. The reasons leading to the dilation of the stomach are not really known and some theories include the ingestion of large amounts of food and water immediately prior to exercise, air swallowing and obstructions of the stomach outflow, stress and dietary factors.

Research at Liverpool University is at present underway and will include comparing the behavior of stomach muscle in many different breeds, for whilst we know that large breeds, such as ours, are prone to this, many other breeds are also affected. The University will try to determine why some breeds are more susceptible than others are, whilst also trying to identify the coauses and possible remedy of the horrific problem of bloat in our breed.

POSSIBLE CAUSES
A) Stress & abrupt changes certain breed; Giant breeds are commonly affected and there are often familial tendencies, deeper chested dogs tend to have weaker muscles. C) There has to be weakness of the gastric attachments and this usually occurs in the older dog.

MAKE SURE YOU AND YOUR VET UNDERSTAND BEFORE IT HAPPENS TO YOU. IF BLOAT IS SUSPECTED YOUR VET MUST BE ABLE TO ATTEND AND TO OPERATE WITHIN MINUTES - ANY TIME OF DAY OR NIGHT. He/she should be totally familiar with the symptoms & procedures and fully aware, that to casually dismiss your suspicions and/or an early diagnosis as a false alarm could very easily result in death. Ask your Vet what he/she would do if you rang with any of the symptoms and if you don't think you get a satisfactory answer tell him so, or find a vet that will.

Surgery is major and complicated and the surgical care is intensive and very expensive. , It is so important that your dog is insured so that you and your vet do not have to be concerned about the costs involved.
_____________________________________________________________

BLOAT PHASES AND RECOMMENDED ACTIONS

PHASE 1
(This phase may last between 1-2 hours. It also may not - DONT DELAY)
SYMPTOMS:
1. Pacing, restless, panting and salivating.
2. Unproductive attempts to vomit (every 10-20 mins).
3. Abdomen exhibits fullness and beginning to enlarge. (This includes expansion of the front abdomen & rib cage)

ACTIONS: Call your vet to advise of bloat case enroute. Inform him that your dog is insured. TRANSPORT your dog to the surgery IMMEDIATELY.

PHASE 2 (Once this stage is reached, veterinary attention must be given within a maximum of 30 mins)
SYMPTOMS:
1.Very restless, whining, panting continuously, heavy salivating.
2. Unproductive attempts to vomit (every 2-3 mins).
3. Dark red gums.
4. High heartbeat rate (80-100 BPM).
5. Abdomen is enlarged and tight. Emits hollow sound when thumped.
ACTIONS: CALL VET IMMEDIATELY - DOSE WITH ASILONE, GAVISCON OR OTHER BRAND. TRANSPORT your dog to the surgery WITHOUT DELAY.


PHASE 3
SYMPTOMS:
1. Gums are dark purple or blue
2. Dog unable to stand or has spread-legged, shaky stance.
3. Abdomen is very enlarged.
4. Extremely high heart beat rate (100 BPM or greater) and weak pulse.
ACTIONS: Death is imminent! There is now no time to lose. It is probably already too late.

Please don't let it get to this stage. If in doubt, get to the vet.
 
Thanks for that....There is some new thoughts on this:
http://www.globalspan.net/bloat.htm
Makes interesting reading. We have scoured as much Info. on this topic as we can as we have a giant breed.
An excellent tip is make sure you tell the vet in advance what your concerns are as you have quite rightly pointed out, time is critical.
 
hi there, i have giant breed dogs also. i found this while trawling for info on bloat. i though you might find it interesting re the purdue study.

xxx



Many people ask my opinion on the recent Purdue Bloat Notes, published at the Purdue website and the claims that chest size, elevated dishes, citric acid, high fat diets etc., make the large/giant breeds (Great Danes) more prone to bloat.

First, this study is a statistical study not research. That means they gather information and make conclusions based on that information ONLY, and nothing more. That does not mean it is the "truth," it just means that their statistics show that it "appears" that A = B. This latest paper in the AKC Gazette (2004) was also published in the JAAHA in 2004. In that article in the JAAHA, he appears to actually be drawing back from much of what he has published previously.

Glickman collected diet information on Great Danes that came into the study. They took ingredient information from each brand of food's ingredient list, and they drew their "conclusions" from that information only. And then, they turned around and expressed those conclusions in a newsletter, as if they were actual research, when in fact, they are only Dr. Glickman's opinion. That is NOT research, that is statistical information and it is not at all conclusive.


About Elevated Dishes

Anyone that has owned these dogs, knows that every single book written about Great Dane or giants, regardless of how old the book is, states we need to elevate the dishes. That means, the majority of giant breeds in this country are fed from elevated dishes and in fact, it was Vet schools such as Purdue that taught us to elevate the dishes years ago. Even without that information from breeders, books or veterinarians, it is obvious to an owner, the dogs are more comfortable with their dishes elevated so they do not have to strain to eat. This information about elevated dishes is taught by breeders to buyers, by vets to clients, by books on the breed to the new puppy buyer who is trying to educate themselves.

The majority of dogs involved in this study, were owned by Great Dane breeders or dogs purchased from Dane breeders, and that is where the owners received the information about the bloat study. With that information in mind, it is logical that the majority, if not ALL of the dogs that came in to Dr. Glickman's survey, have been fed with an elevated dish. This is simply how he came to his "opinion" that elevated dishes cause bloat.

(in my opinion, that is the same logic as if ~ you see a pregnant woman with pierced ears, that means every woman with pierced ears is either pregnant or will become so).

Chest Ratio


In the early stages of this research, their hypothesis was -- the measurements of height, width and depth of the dog's chest - chest ration - was the determining factor for those prone to bloating. And if your dog fell within a certain range, it was at risk and would more than likely bloat. The dogs that were not within this particular ratio were unlikely to bloat. Many of the "chest measurements" were taken at the Great Dane National and at Great Dane Specialty Shows over the years, so the majority of the dogs measured were from breeders.

Now enough time has passed, that some of the dogs that were not supposed to bloat due to chest ratios, HAVE bloated and this has caused some considerable skepticism in the breed. Knowledgeable breeders tend to disregard this study completely anyway. I believe this has probably been somewhat of an embarrassment to those involved in the study and therefore the focus of the study has now shifted to other issues like elevated dishes and diets (citric acid, fats, etc.).

Citric Acid/Fats etc.

To comment on the citric acid and fats issue.....the past 15 years have shown us a tremendous decrease in the incidences of bloat in my breed, that is not science, that is anecdotal observations shared from breeder to breeder. This is due, in part to better diets that are now available to breeders/owners. The use of meat based foods, natural preservatives, higher quality fats and probiotic/digestive enzymes have helped to provide a better nutrition which in turn provides a quality live and longevity for these animals.

The Bloat study says -- one should not use a food with fat in the first four ingredients, or a food should not contains citric acid (a natural preservative) and the food should have rendered meat meal containing bone in the first four ingredients. Dr. Glickman's study suggests that these things cause bloat in canines. This conclusion is illogical, is made in the absence of real scientific research, is based in opinion only and severely flawed.

(Of course they ever look at things like pH environment of the gut, or high levels of pathogenic yeast or bacteria in the enviromnent of the gut perhaps due to over use of grain based foods, antiboitics and excessive vaccinations). (See Bloat and Systemic Yeast Article).

The article regarding the Purdue Bloat research, that was publised in the AKC Gazette has done a great disservice to the canine community because by its implications it make people think foods containing these fats, citric acid etc. will cause bloat, and it will steer people into the wrong direction. This implies people should use the foods we had in the 1950-60's when we were actually inundated with bloat cases - the number 1 killer in large and giant breeds at that time.! To go back to this type of nutrition for their animals, is irresponsible and suggesting this is unconscionable in my opinion.

Stress and Bloat

If you ask any well seasoned, knowledgeable breeder who lives with these animals, they will tell you stress is the trigger for bloat. Not the cause, but the trigger. They will also tell you they believe the size and ratio of the chest measurements has absolutely nothing to do with bloat. If this were true, you would not see bloat in other breeds of all sizes; Dalmatian, Cockers, Pugs, Irish Setters, Miniature poodles, Chows, Labs, etc., and it is a problem for many of these breeds and not specifically the large/giants.

This problem crosses into all breeds, but I believe it is more of a problem in the large and giant breeds because they are out of the range of what is considered "normal". Therefore the large/giants are more prone to problems and react strongly to stress shifting the body's pH levels and often resulting in an environment that encourages the growth of pathgenic bacteria, which in turn causes bloat. In the case of giant breeds, they are a freak of nature an exotic pet, and without (wo)man's intervention, they would have fizzled out a long time ago. We have pushed their physiology to the limit for the canine species, making them more prone to all diseases and conditions and less able to handle stress.

In other words, giant breeds are out of the normal size range of a canine, and are prone to stress because of this, and consequently more prone to bloat and ill health. With the advent of the better diets, it has, in my opinion helped to increase the vitality and well being of our giants and decrease the incidences of bloat. But that is my experience and opinion only, based on interacting with thousands of pet owners, and large and giant breed breeders over the past 34 years in dogs.

Feeding Better for Better Health

Nowadays, most owners feed a better quality food to their giants and THAT is why the foods that were reported to the survey contained citric acid a natural preservative, higher quality fats and meat based diets.

These are improvements in manufactured dog foods and most people feed better foods to their Danes, partly because of my efforts to educate the public with my articles, over the years. That is why there was a greater incidence of dogs fed on elevated dishes, and fed meat based diets naturally preserved with citric acid and better fats. Therefore it only makes sense if more people are feeding better diets containing these items, these will be a common denominator in the dog's diet, whether they are in a bloat survey or not. But that does not prove that these items make a dog more prone to bloat. Conversely one could say these items in a food could have prevented nutritional stress and bloat in thousands of other dogs that were not reported to the survey.

Personally, most breeders ignore what has gone at Purdue, because we know nothing more than we did 30 years ago. Ask any old-timer and they will tell you Purdue has missed the mark and it is a colossal waste of time and money. There were vast amounts of money funneled into Glickman's survey, and we know nothing more than we did years ago. I witnessed this discussion just last week at the an AKC breed club meeting, this was their opinion of the Purdue Bloat research..."there was little relevance to the breed, and those involved in the study are just milking this thing for all they can get." From the feedback I receive, experienced breeders ignore it, because it is not relevant information and has no reference to their life experience with these animals.

I still believe, for what it is worth, bloat is triggered by stress. Stress can be interpreted as many different "stimulus" from poor quality diets, over vaccinations , hormonal imbalances, disruption of pH balance of the gut due to over use of antibiotics and numerous other factors.

It is interesting that respected Akita breeders have come to the same conclusion, as well as Dr. Kruger, a very well known veterinarian, GSD breeder and judge. There are other breeds that have come to the same conclusion regarding bloat, that it is a common "body response" triggered by stress factors, of which there are many, and good nutrition (including meat based naturally preserved diets (citric acid) and high quality fats, play an enormous role in the prevention of disease and bloat.

I have an article on Systemic Yeast Infections and their relationship to bloat, and feed program for dogs prone to bloat. This information addresses this issue of bloat and keeping the digestive system in good health, through better nutrition.

Linda Arndt
 
Thank you so much for the article Jackie. I crave information as it terrifies me and education is the best defence. We feed ours prone yet he drinks either prone or from an elevated bowl. We have so far had no gastric problems of a bloat nature and he is a 4 and 1/2 year old wolfhound.
Are yours Danes?
Anyway either way I shall keep this information and am jolly grateful you have taken the time to submit it.
 
i had a GSD come in last night with a GDV. as soon as the owner mentioned on the phone that his stomach had really distended i knew i was expecting a GDV in all likelihood and had the fluids ready when he arrived. Got him on fluids and pain relief to take an x-ray which showed what I thought. Tried decompressing him, but without much success as stomach obviously badly twisted. His heart rate was 160! Unfortunately at 10.5yrs with arthritis in his back legs, owner didn't want to put him through major surgery so i had to put him to sleep. Sad night.
 
Thought the above post was a new wonder cure for bloat :D

Thank you for posting this OP, although sadly I am all too aware of the symptoms having lost a GSD with bloat it is something all dog owners should be aware of.
Sadly, my vet at the time didn't imo treat our lad correctly. When I phoned (out of hours of course) to say I had a dog with bloat (he was still blowing up at this point), the vet said to me, "I have just come in and my wife will kill me if I don't eat my dinner, I will meet you at the surgery in 40 minutes". When he did eventually get to see Rocky, he operated straight away (no fluids or shock treatment) and then sent him back home with us a couple of hours later. We got him through the night but he started to blow up again and on returning to the practice we saw a differentn vet who kept him in, but sadly he died a few hours later. Now I know he may not have survived anyway but he certainly didn't have the best treatment.:( That was the last time I ever used the practice and have been with our excellent practice ever since.
In our case the dog had literally just finished his last mouthful of food and began blowing up. I had changed feed recently to a muesli type mix and am convinced that was the cause of his bloat, I could be wrong but have never used that type of food again.
 
Good post, thanks for the info. GSDs are another breed sadly prone to it and there are too many fit, healthy young dogs being lost because people are not aware of the warning signs or how to help prevent it.
I remember screeds of articles etc about it in the past but not so much nowadays.
 
Also, Star and vet people - what is the success rate for bloat and torsion surgeries in younger, fitter dogs, and is it true (which I have heard from people who have owned dogs which have suffered both) dogs who take it once and are saved, often take it again?
 
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