What Are The Signs Of Bloat?

[Guest Shermanator]

Last night Travel was sick. She vomited 4 times in @ 5 - 10 min, and I think emptied her tummy, I've never seen that much vomit come out of a dog, (Ewwww.)

Anyway, someone mentioned to watch for bloat. I realized, I do not know anything about it, except for if you do not get help immediately, it will be fatal.

 

1. What is it?

2. What are the signs?

3. I've never heard of it in other dogs, so why greyhounds?

4. How much time to I have to get help? We are @ 45 min from the closest evet, if we speed, and don't get pulled over.

 

Travel is quiet this morning, but ok. I have not seen her drink yet, so I'll get some pedialite and the syringe. When Patton died she stopped eating and drinking, and that was the only way I could get her fluids w/o admitting her to the vet for IV fluids. Poor little girl.

[TheFullHouse]

The signs I can remember.

 

Attempting to vomit without producing anything

Excess Gas

Panting

Pacing

 

It's not just greyhounds who can bloat, it's most deep chested breeds.

 

Not sure of the time frame but I know it's an emergency.

 

Sounds like your sweetie caught a bug of some kind. Hope she's back to normal today.

 

edited to add: eating too much poop will cause a dog to vomit. Jilly Bean will get sick from eating it and my Emmy developed HGE from eating poop.

Edited March 26, 2011 by JillysFullHouse

[Guest Swifthounds]

It's only commonly associated with greyhounds because adoption groups continue to talk about like 1) it's largely associated with racing greyhounds and 2) it's common in the breed. The truth is that it affects many deep chested breeds and is far, far more common in almost all of them than it is in NGA greyhounds. It's definitely something every dog owner should know about, but it's very rare in greyhounds.

[tbhounds]

Bloating is more frequently seen in large deep chested breeds. While GH's are deep chested it's not that common with our hounds (our GH's have enough other condition to deal with)---more likely to see it in other breeds such as Great Danes. It usually presents with dogs attempting to vomit without production, they may pant and pace and act overall uncomfortable and their abd's (tummies)may have a "bloated" appearance. If you ever question that your pup is bloating run don't walk to your vet as this can be a very life theating condition.

[Guest mcsheltie]

Fortunately it is not common in GHs, but it can happen.

 

Dogs can die very quickly when bloating. You don't have time to wait and see. You can Google it and learn what to look for. Most of these web pages will describe the severe life threatening form (when the gut twists). But people need to be aware their dog can suffer a less acute form of gas (dilated stomach without twisting) and think their dog did not suffer from bloat. But, often the next attack will be more severe.

 

Every dog owner should have simethicone (Gas-X) on hand. Give that and head to vet. It can reduce the gas and give the vet a little more time.

[GeorgeofNE]

Our Labrador died of bloat.

 

His stomach twisted in half. The vet said they could untwist it and try and anchor it, but it was likely to happen again. As he was 12 or 13 at the time, my parents elected to have him put to sleep.

 

Josh died like he lived--full throttle!

 

It was all over in about an hour.

[seeh2o]

My non-grey bloated. It was a food bloat...Carl opened a metal door that had cement blocks in front of it, tore open a bag of dog food and they went to town. Sheila bloated from it. She got really huge - as if she had a beach ball in front of her, she tried to throw up - sort of gagged, but nothing productive came up. I got her to the e-vet just in time, her stomach was too heavy w/food to twist so they were able to release the gas by tubing her and then gave her meds to help her poop faster. She had to be tubed twice in 24 hours, was at the e-vet from Sat night to Mon morning.

[Batmom]

One sign that "google" won't get for you is the appearance of the dog's abdomen. We tend to think of "bloated stomach" as being the tuck area. Certainly you can see some bloat there, but you might also see just an oddly larger ribcage. See that, do not pass go, just get in the car and get to the nearest vet.

[Guest TheDoggfather]

It can indeed happen to greyhounds and it can happen to those in even the best of condition. We lost a boy a while back due to bloat and I beat myself up everytime I think of him for not recognizing the signs. Had I been better educated, I'd have taken him to the vet and he'd probably still be with us.

 

[Batmom]

Don't beat yourself up, Chris. Often the signs look like half a dozen other things -- or there are no signs -- and even prompt vet treatment may not save the dog. I'm sorry you had to lose a pupper, tho .

 

 

(I grew up with working breeds, mostly, who have a higher incidence of bloat than greyhounds.)

[LadyBailey]

I would have to disagree with those who say it's not common in greyhounds. We have had three GH's and two of them have bloated.

Our first was Bailey. We knew the signs to watch for from reading all the greyhound books - attempting to vomit, looking like they swallowed a watermelon, pacing, panting, but in our first experience with bloat - these signs weren't that apparent in Bailey until about an hour after she started not feeling well.

 

That night Bailey woke up around 2am and she walking around the house restless. I let her out to see if she had to go, but she just stood there looking at me - panting every once in a while. So then we went back inside, she would try to sit down, do it for a few seconds and then quickly get up again... at this point her body didn't look any different than it normally did. this "sit down and getting up" lasted for about 15 mins if I recall and then she actually sat down and settled for about 30 minutes. we watched and waited to see if she was okay - then all of a sudden she jumped up and tried to throw up but nothing came out and at that point her tummy looked big - like she lost her tuck. Off we went to the e-vet. she was indeed bloated. vet xrayed her to confirm, tubed her to release the gas and kept her overnight. She bloated again and they tubed her again. we made the call to have the surgery to tack her stomach to avoid twisting.

 

Our other time was with Andy - this time it happened at 2pm and he showed the same signs. walking around not being able to get comfortable. Tim was at home at this time and noticed this and quickly realized that Andy was bloating - so off he was rushed to the e-vet. they took xrays and he was bloated - 15 mins later while they were still at the vets, Andy twisted and they did emergency surgery.

 

one thing I would recommend having on hand at home is Phazyme - contains simethicone. give two/three pills and go to the vet immediately - this will at least aid in moving some of the gas out. do not give this and think that all will be okay - it's just to buy you some time while you are driving to the vets.

 

Our best indicators were that they dogs could not get comfortable - the sitting down and then jumping up was a huge red flag for us. especially since there wasn't any other signs in the beginning

 

Bloat happens for no apparent reason. In both cases for us, the dogs weren't running around like crazy that day after their meals. They both eat from raised feeders. They both eat raw food. I will say one interesting coincidence, was that they both bloated about 8 hours after their meals.

 

I hope you never have to deal with it, it's scary - but now having gone through it twice, we know when and how to react and thank fully our vets are also experienced with this. If your dog is vomiting successfully, then it's not bloat...it's something else, and still requires a vet visit.

[Guest Swifthounds]

One sign that "google" won't get for you is the appearance of the dog's abdomen. We tend to think of "bloated stomach" as being the tuck area. Certainly you can see some bloat there, but you might also see just an oddly larger ribcage. See that, do not pass go, just get in the car and get to the nearest vet.

 

This can also be a symptom of other sources of abdominal distention as well, including heart issues and things like hemangiosarcoma, so it's a good thing to keep in mind. We're accustomed to noticing changes in the "tuck" area, but you can have bloating/distention mostly or wholly in the ribcage area.

[Batmom]

If your dog is vomiting successfully, then it's not bloat...

 

If there's no gastric torsion, they may be able to vomit yet still be bloated.

[MaryJane]

About 1 hour after she ate my Lucy (foster at the time) had the following symptoms:

 

1. pacing

2. stretching her neck out

3. stomache/chest area seemed to be fuller

4. some excess saliva coming from her mouth

 

I took one look at her and we were in the car going to the vet's in 3 minutes. Luckily she vomited in the car.

 

The vet confirmed that she had severe gas and they gave her shots along with pills to calm the stomach and let me take her home with the understanding that if it started again we would be back in the ER. Note, if she hadn't already vomited in the car, the vets would have done more procedures to ensure that it didn't turn into torsion (twisting of the stomach).

[Guest MorganKonaAlex]

I had a Dobie mix that got bloat. She was restless and attempting to vomit without success during the evening. Her restlessness continued and at 5am we realized her stomach was rock hard and she had bloat. I called the emergency clinic a half hour away and they said not to bring her there. I needed to go to Tufts even though it was 1.5 hours away.

[Guest Duke]

Duke had bloat only a few short months after adopting him. It is the absence of vomiting that is a warning signal. He was retching and restless, pacing and panting. Eating grass did not induce vomiting and he started to chew at things around the house from discomfort. I called the hospital and they said bring him right down, it was bloat without torsion, thank god. He had his stomach pumped and was kept two nights. I was devastated. Thinking back I can see how the events prior to him eating contributed, he was still new to me and I had him in the car when I was running errands, we came home and he had a bowl of dog food with water added to it. I no longer add water because the kibble blew up immensely in his stomach, that with water and the grass. It was a horrible experience especially since it was only two moths in when this happened. I know the signs and my advice is when you have that feeling that something just isn’t right with your dog, call the vet or go to the hospital.

 

 

[seeh2o]

My non-grey bloated. It was a food bloat...Carl opened a metal door that had cement blocks in front of it, tore open a bag of dog food and they went to town. Sheila bloated from it. She got really huge - as if she had a beach ball in front of her, she tried to throw up - sort of gagged, but nothing productive came up. I got her to the e-vet just in time, her stomach was too heavy w/food to twist so they were able to release the gas by tubing her and then gave her meds to help her poop faster. She had to be tubed twice in 24 hours, was at the e-vet from Sat night to Mon morning.

Not in front of her, inside of her. She was massive from her rib cage just behind her front elbows all the way back. She was massive and tight as a drum. Sorry for the typo.

[KF_in_Georgia]

My Oreo once had to be given fluids to rehydrate her after she'd had bloody diarrhea and some vomiting during the day. (Too many rawhide treats. Learned my lesson.) Brought her home from the vet, let her rest, let her have some dinner.

 

2 am, she wakes me up. She's standing by my bed, crying, whining, won't lie down. I take her out, she pees a bit, we come back in, and she still won't settle.

 

I decide, "Screw it. Who needs that $95?"* and I head to the e-vet with her.

 

Turns out, the sub-cue fluids had settled in her chest. She couldn't find any way to lie down that didn't involve landing uncomfortably on her fluid-filled chest--so she just stood and whined.

 

But--and the big light-bulb moment for me--even the e-vets weren't positive it wasn't bloat. Her belly didn't feel tight, wasn't distended. (She actually felt "sloshy" on her chest and belly--you could pet her and feel the fluids under her skin.) The e-vet was 95 percent sure it wasn't bloat.

 

But she ordered x-rays anyway, just to be sure. I felt much less like a fool for taking Oreo in for an expensive, "maybe something's wrong" visit.

 

 

*This was in 2004, when the "walk in the door and talk to the vet" fee was $95.

[Guest MnMDogs]

If your dog is vomiting successfully, then it's not bloat...

 

If there's no gastric torsion, they may be able to vomit yet still be bloated.

 

This happened to Matty less than a year after I got her. For a reason I never determined, she bloated one night - she had a belly full of food, panted, paced and was so uncomfortable I brought her to the evet. My 72 pound girl weighed 76 pounds. Her belly was full of food! Her stomach hadn't twisted, but I elected to keep her at the vet over night for observation. The next day she was good as new, and it never happened again in the 6 more years I had her.

[Hubcitypam]

I think Purdue has done two different studies on bloat about 10 years apart and greys were not a blip on their radar.

http://www.canadasguidetodogs.com/health/bloat_article.htm

[Guest Elaine]

It's only commonly associated with greyhounds because adoption groups continue to talk about like 1) it's largely associated with racing greyhounds and 2) it's common in the breed. The truth is that it affects many deep chested breeds and is far, far more common in almost all of them than it is in NGA greyhounds. It's definitely something every dog owner should know about, but it's very rare in greyhounds.

 

Bloat & torsion affects many deep chested breeds such as Great Danes, German Shepherds, Poodles, etc. You are correct that it is more common in them than in the greyhound breed, in general. However, IME, bloat and, subsequently, torsion occurs more often, relatively speaking, in the show bred greyhounds than the racing dogs. However, it is not unheard of in racing lines. The cause is unknown.

 

I agree, it is something that dog owners need to be aware of and they should know that it is a condition that required immediate attention.

 

Elaine @ DM Greyhounds

http://www.dmgreyhounds.net

[Guest Elaine]

One sign that "google" won't get for you is the appearance of the dog's abdomen. We tend to think of "bloated stomach" as being the tuck area. Certainly you can see some bloat there, but you might also see just an oddly larger ribcage. See that, do not pass go, just get in the car and get to the nearest vet.

 

 

Very true!

 

I had a greyhound yearling counter surf and eat a pound of raw bread dough. By the time I discovered his theft, he looked like he had a watermelon or basketball between the ribcage. Stomachs are nice & warm and humid, perfect for getting yeast to rise. I gave him some peroxide and he vomited up the raw dough. If he had not, we'd have been off to the vet immediately for treatment and surgery, if needed.

 

Elaine @ DM Greyhounds

http://www.dmgreyhounds.net

[Hubcitypam]

I had a greyhound yearling counter surf and eat a pound of raw bread dough. By the time I discovered his theft, he looked like he had a watermelon or basketball between the ribcage. Stomachs are nice & warm and humid, perfect for getting yeast to rise. I gave him some peroxide and he vomited up the raw dough. If he had not, we'd have been off to the vet immediately for treatment and surgery, if needed.

OMG not to hijack, but I can't resist sharing this. It may be part of the legends trifecta along with the beet pulp story and dogs in Elk....

Jaspar and the yeast rolls

[Guest chimni]

very helpful info. thanks everyone!

[LadyBailey]

If your dog is vomiting successfully, then it's not bloat...

 

If there's no gastric torsion, they may be able to vomit yet still be bloated.

 

 

Bailey was full on bloated, but no torsion and was not able to vomit - she was retching and this was already almost 2 hours after she started acting "weird".

 

I think the only thing that can we say for certain is - it happens "A LOT" in greyhounds and if you think they are bloating, chances are, they are... so get them to the vet! There is a list of things to watch for - all of which have been mentioned here and in the links provided. we used that as a guide the first time with Bailey and with that list we were able to react and make the right choice to move our butts into the car and off to the vets.