Bloat in Dogs

[lexiesmummy]

im gonna sound so stupid here but in the possible causes of bloat is elevated food bowls
I had a gorgeous saint bernard and we were advised by 3 vets and a saint bernard rescuer who lives near by us to use elevated food bowls to avoid her having to bend as far when eating and drinking so Bellas bowls were quite near her head when she was sat down to avoid bending over and swallowing air as she was trying to eat gastric bloat is very common in saints due to them being such a large breed but using these bowl elevators we never had an issue, yet before we started to use them we could hear her taking in air when she drank or ate but with the elevators we couldnt

[Petra]

Originally Posted by lexiesmummy

im gonna sound so stupid here but in the possible causes of bloat is elevated food bowls
I had a gorgeous saint bernard and we were advised by 3 vets and a saint bernard rescuer who lives near by us to use elevated food bowls to avoid her having to bend as far when eating and drinking so Bellas bowls were quite near her head when she was sat down to avoid bending over and swallowing air as she was trying to eat gastric bloat is very common in saints due to them being such a large breed but using these bowl elevators we never had an issue, yet before we started to use them we could hear her taking in air when she drank or ate but with the elevators we couldnt

How did you know???????
For the last couple of days I have been going to ask this same question and finally sat down to do it just now. For Saints, read Great Danes and you have written my question for me almost exactly.
Could it be a difference in height between GSD's and the giant (as opposed to large) breeds and it is just not recommended for smaller breeds. For a while I used to show Danes in South Africa so knew a lot of Dane owners and virtually all used elevated bowls. Of course, bloat still occurred, but there are many more factors than the height of a food bowl and every factor eliminated in your dogs life makes him that much safer.
Now that I have a GSD, I obviously want to do the right thing.

[lexiesmummy]

Originally Posted by Petra

How did you know???????
For the last couple of days I have been going to ask this same question and finally sat down to do it just now. For Saints, read Great Danes and you have written my question for me almost exactly.
Could it be a difference in height between GSD's and the giant (as opposed to large) breeds and it is just not recommended for smaller breeds. For a while I used to show Danes in South Africa so knew a lot of Dane owners and virtually all used elevated bowls. Of course, bloat still occurred, but there are many more factors than the height of a food bowl and every factor eliminated in your dogs life makes him that much safer.
Now that I have a GSD, I obviously want to do the right thing.

thats scary!!!! but me 2! lexie is my first gsd and although I was brought up around gsd's its still quite a scary prospect that its a whole new breed to get used to and I was going to buy lexie bowl elevators to try to eliminate the bloat from air intake when feeding, (not that this is the only factor) it would just be another elimination to try keeping her safer as you said. Now im too worried to buy her elevators when she gets that bit bigger, but found it very strange that all around me recommended elevators when I had bella. I dont know if its anything to do with giant breed versus large breed or if I was completely given the wrong advice by all around me with bella and I could have potentially killed my baby, quite concerned about it now though

[LOVEGSD]

I use elevated feeding bowls with no issues as do most of the people on here I believe......

[super D]

Yes I do too Lynn

xx

[lexiesmummy]

according to the article that started this thread off, are we not putting our dogs at more risk by using them?

[LOVEGSD]

There's a discussion on here somewhere, where we were talking about it and the general consensus was that anyone who had been feeding using elevated bowls has never had an issue with this and bloat.

[super D]

If you research bloat, there are many for's and againsts for raised food feeding, some say it can contribute to bloat, and others say its helps stop it, but there are so many contributing factors that cause it, I know people who are very experienced with GSD's and have lost a dog to bloat, as genetics play a large part i believe, coould be wrong

xx

[angeldon]

Originally Posted by super D

genetics play a large part i believe, coould be wrong

xx

This I totally agree with Sarah. We followed all the rules with Kruger regarding bloat but we didn't give him raised bowls as this was (at the time) thought to contribute to the risk!! He still suffered (and thankfully) survived 2 torsions during his life but both times we recognised the symptoms straight away and got him to the vet immediately. His father wasn't so lucky - He was kennelled, as a lot of stud dogs are, and died overnight from bloat at the age of 7. I really feel the key is to know all the symptoms so you can act immediately....

[super D]

I would like to think i know the symptom , i have been paranoid about it since i got Dalton, and i would even suspected Bloat would call the vet and take him to the surgery at stoopid oclock, even if i was wrong, afterall in that case i would pay the bill and be pleased i was being an over paranoid mum lol.
I think all you can do is your best for your furry kid, hope this never happens, and do all you can if it unfortunately does, add in a good measure of crossing your fingers too
xx