Bloat Possible - Anything To Prevent It?

[Charlies_Dad]

Stewie was accidentally let out only 15 minutes after eating his dinner and he ran around like crazy. I know the symptoms of bloat but is there anything that can be done to hopefully prevent it? Right now I have him laying down on his bed and he's breathing is slowing down but not panting.

[krissy]

There's nothing really to do at this point except keep an eye on him. I also wouldn't let him drink too much at one go.

 

Monitor him for any clinical signs of bloat, but honestly... my dogs have run around after eating several times and nothing bad has ever happened. I don't think ex-racers are really all THAT prone. Which isn't to say that we shouldn't be careful about when we exercise them in relation to eating, but I don't get too worked up about it. My rule is at least an hour on either side of a meal, but as I mentioned I've had some accidental zoomies happen after eating.

[Charlies_Dad]

Thanks Kristie. Right now my heart is in my stomach as I know the survival rates of a dog with bloat are not good. I'm currently sitting with him and working and will continue to monitor and he is resting comfortably.

[Batmom]

There's nothing really to do at this point except keep an eye on him. I also wouldn't let him drink too much at one go.

 

Monitor him for any clinical signs of bloat, but honestly... my dogs have run around after eating several times and nothing bad has ever happened. I don't think ex-racers are really all THAT prone. Which isn't to say that we shouldn't be careful about when we exercise them in relation to eating, but I don't get too worked up about it. My rule is at least an hour on either side of a meal, but as I mentioned I've had some accidental zoomies happen after eating.

 

Ditto.

[JohnF]

Just keep a close eye on him. I think most of us will have occasionally had our Greys sneak out and do random zoomies in the backyard after eating. If you are actually worried then giving human anti-gas medication with Simeticone in it should help. What that does is prevent the tiny bubbles from frothing up together and instead only allows larger bubbles that pass along much more easily.

[Guest k9soul]

I don't think there is any prevention one can do at the time they do what is felt to be risky behavior, but there is a procedure called gastropexy that is thought to reduce the chances. This is when the stomach is tacked to the abdominal wall so it cannot shift or twist. I haven't done personal research on the effectiveness of it, but before I got Rudy he apparently had it done when he was already in surgery for a foreign body removal. I still try to generally follow the normal precautions though.

 

This isn't advice to have it done, but more of a general information thing.

[MaryJane]

Do you feed once a day or twice. IMHO, the less amount in their stomach, the less chance of a problem if they start running.

 

I also try and get them to let off some steam about 2 hours before eating, less chance of them doing it after eating.

[Charlies_Dad]

We feed twice a day, early morning and late afternoon. So far Stewie is doing fine and hopefully he'll continue this way. We normally only let him out 90+ minutes after feeding. Angie (our Pug) got him going and once I realized he was outside and running, I got him in immediately and calmed him down.

[RaineysMom]

you had to know I'd chime in here!

 

both Nube AND Rainey bloated. Nube in 2006 and Rainey in either 2008 or 2009, getting fuzzy now. We ALWAYS were careful about the no running 1 hour before/2 hours after and fed (until Nube bloated) in the morning and in the evening (after he bloated we went to 3 x day, 5:30am, 1:30pm and 6:30pm). With Nube, he had last eaten at 5:30am and we left the house around 9:30am and when we got back (an hour later) he had thrown up in his crate -- and it smelled terrible, like feces (he was a poop eater so I thought he may have gotten into some, even muzzled). He "seemed" fine, but vomited again about 1/2 later. I thought maybe his tummy was just empty so I fed him a 1/2 cup of kibble. I said to Bruce if he threw that up, he'd need a vet visit. Well, he did, so off he went. I told Bruce to make sure they took an x-ray. They waited 15 minutes, got in, doctor didn't think much was going on, and Bruce insisted on the x-ray. 5 minutes later he comes rushing in the office saying Nube was bloating. Luckily, he hadn't tortioned much yet. Long story long, they opened him up, fixed him up, and did the gastroplexy while they were in there. Other than the vomiting, I saw NO other signs of bloat (stomach bloated, quizzicly looking at their belly, etc.). He had NOT run or done anything after eating that morning. Tragically enough, when we transported him to the e-vet (to watch him for the night) there was another dog owner paying his bill for his dog -- a Pointer that bloated -- and did not make it. I felt SO thankful Nube was so lucky.

 

with Rainey, she had had a couple bouts of pancreatitus. So, one Sunday (Superbowl Sunday, actually, and we had a bunch of people over) I could tell something was wrong. She could NOT get comfortable on her bed, kept getting up and stretching out, did the looking at her stomach stuff. She eventually settled down after about 4 hours (I was worried sick). The next day, I stayed home from work and did not feed her her morning breakfast (withholding food for 24 hours is the usual treatment for pancreatitus, which is what I thought was going on). She was 100% FINE all day long. I fed her at 6:30 and within 45 minutes was back doing the same thing as the night before. We took her to the evet where they determined she too, had bloat. She had the same surgery Nube did at 1:00am. Same with her, no running or anything before after.

 

I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to why they get bloat. Surely, to try to NOT let them run hard before or after eating sure can't hurt. Several times Zeke has done the same thing RIGHT after eating and so far no issues. I just would suggest keeping an eye on them if they do -- if they start bloating you should know. We were SO lucky with both.

 

as a side note, a good friend of ours had a greyhound/lab mix -- she came home -- he was fine -- fed him, went out to the store for 20 minutes and came home to a bloated dog. Unfortunately he did not make it.

[greysmom]

Stewie is probably fine if nothing has happened by now. You can give an anti-gas treatment, if you have it on hand. Truthfully, most research is pointing to genetics rather than any physical factors as increasing the likelihood for bloating. Dude often did zoomies after dinner and he never had any problems.

 

The gas build-up in the stomach is quite bad, as it can put pressure on the other organs, including the heart. But it's the torsion aspect of bloat that usually causes death. The stomach fills with gas an flips over on itself, trapping whatever is in the stomach and cutting off the blood flow through the digestive system. The tissues begin to die very quickly, and once that starts it's hard to recover.

 

One of our Great Danes bloated, had the surgery, and lived for 8 more years. The trick is in getting treatment as soon as poosible.

[Guest greytkidsmom]

Hope your Stewie is okay - unintentional post-meal zoomies worry us too.

[JJNg]

Personally, I wouldn't be too worried about it. Activity after eating hasn't been shown to be a risk factor for GDV. Interestingly, there's a study that even showed that dogs who played with other dogs and ran the fenceline after eating seemed less likely to get GDV. There have been lots of theories about what causes 'bloat' but the only really consistent factors identified seem to be genetics and stress. And while AKC greyhounds do seem prone to GDV, it isn't that common in NGA greyhounds.

 

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22657929

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9138229

[racindog]

you had to know I'd chime in here!

 

both Nube AND Rainey bloated. Nube in 2006 and Rainey in either 2008 or 2009, getting fuzzy now. We ALWAYS were careful about the no running 1 hour before/2 hours after and fed (until Nube bloated) in the morning and in the evening (after he bloated we went to 3 x day, 5:30am, 1:30pm and 6:30pm). With Nube, he had last eaten at 5:30am and we left the house around 9:30am and when we got back (an hour later) he had thrown up in his crate -- and it smelled terrible, like feces (he was a poop eater so I thought he may have gotten into some, even muzzled). He "seemed" fine, but vomited again about 1/2 later. I thought maybe his tummy was just empty so I fed him a 1/2 cup of kibble. I said to Bruce if he threw that up, he'd need a vet visit. Well, he did, so off he went. I told Bruce to make sure they took an x-ray. They waited 15 minutes, got in, doctor didn't think much was going on, and Bruce insisted on the x-ray. 5 minutes later he comes rushing in the office saying Nube was bloating. Luckily, he hadn't tortioned much yet. Long story long, they opened him up, fixed him up, and did the gastroplexy while they were in there. Other than the vomiting, I saw NO other signs of bloat (stomach bloated, quizzicly looking at their belly, etc.). He had NOT run or done anything after eating that morning. Tragically enough, when we transported him to the e-vet (to watch him for the night) there was another dog owner paying his bill for his dog -- a Pointer that bloated -- and did not make it. I felt SO thankful Nube was so lucky.

 

with Rainey, she had had a couple bouts of pancreatitus. So, one Sunday (Superbowl Sunday, actually, and we had a bunch of people over) I could tell something was wrong. She could NOT get comfortable on her bed, kept getting up and stretching out, did the looking at her stomach stuff. She eventually settled down after about 4 hours (I was worried sick). The next day, I stayed home from work and did not feed her her morning breakfast (withholding food for 24 hours is the usual treatment for pancreatitus, which is what I thought was going on). She was 100% FINE all day long. I fed her at 6:30 and within 45 minutes was back doing the same thing as the night before. We took her to the evet where they determined she too, had bloat. She had the same surgery Nube did at 1:00am. Same with her, no running or anything before after.

 

I don't think there is any rhyme or reason to why they get bloat. Surely, to try to NOT let them run hard before or after eating sure can't hurt. Several times Zeke has done the same thing RIGHT after eating and so far no issues. I just would suggest keeping an eye on them if they do -- if they start bloating you should know. We were SO lucky with both.

 

as a side note, a good friend of ours had a greyhound/lab mix -- she came home -- he was fine -- fed him, went out to the store for 20 minutes and came home to a bloated dog. Unfortunately he did not make it.

Similar to my Slim. Came home he was fine. A few short hours later he had left-bloat/GDV. Just that quick. Really very few symptoms per se. Had I not been an overly protective mother hen I would not even have gone to e vet when I did. He was just off; I actually thought maybe he had just over heated a little. As a result he was there very early in the occurence but it didn't make any difference in the end.

[Charlies_Dad]

Thank you everyone. Stewie is fine thankfully and we've always been so careful about no activity just before or after eating, it just scared us.