BEWARE of Dog Bloat

I am close to 60 and close to 60 (thats years and degrees) and I never heard of dog bloat until a couple days ago...my place is "remote" some would say....20 miles to the truck and then a 10 hour drive to the nearest vet. My trusty 6 year old Siberian Shepperd cross has always been a bit of a pig eater wolfing down her crunchy dogfood and likely the other dogs food to if she had the chance....this was her one and only vice...other than that the best darn dog ever, Way smarter than me and so well behaved yet enough energy to run flat out for 20 miles behind the snowmachine...one evening day before yesterday she eats as normal but the starts acting weird, high anxiety breathing funny and when she would drink she couldnt keep it down...whine off and on all night and wouldnt settle...next morning she looked like her body was a bit larger but its hard to tell because of so much fur...after a bit I am sure she is swelling up , I feel her belly and its hard as rock...hmmm...maybe she is backed up....let her out for a crap and in 5 minutes she collapses....carry her inside and in 20 minutes she is dead...perfectly healthy 6 year old...my favorite dog in the world and has been my trail cutting/trapping buddy 5 years running...gone...I get to internet searching and run across "Dog Bloat" WTH is that...fits the symptoms 100%...please be aware of this condition...caused by dog doing nothing but eating too fast... I wish I had know before hand about this and could have saved my best trapping buddy's life....please be aware of this especially if you live in the bush like me...God Bless

I feel for you. I ran trapline with dogs for 20 yrs and lost two dogs that bloated.
I believe it is more complicated than just a dog eating fast. Their stomach gets a twist and the gas cannot
relieve itself. I tried to never get the dogs over exerted right after feeding but the best of intentions go awry.

I was like you, remote and transport to Vet was not a option. I did manage to once relieve the pressure by sticking
a syringe/ needle with the plunger removed into the dogs stomach. There was an immediate relieving of gas and the dog
felt much better, but it was temporary fix. Dog still died within two days.

Life sucks sometimes !

Twisted gut almost always fatal without surgerie. At least the symptoms are the same. My vet charged me a little over $800. at her clinic after hours. I watched the whole thing. I recognized immediately that something was bad wrong when the dog greeted me after I got home from work. But that was five years ago and he’s laying beside my chair and right now.

Sympathy for your loss , like someone said earlier sucks.

Yes, twisted gut. Almost always fatal, without veterinarian intervention.
My condolences. That sucks.

Yes, twisted gut. Almost always fatal, without veterinarian intervention.
My condolences. That sucks.

What we always called twisted gut or turned stomach. I've known quite a few guys to lose hounds to it, and have heard of sled dogs and cow dogs being lost to it also. I never feed my dogs right after working them, always wait at least an hour and preferably much longer. This is where most dogs seem to get it, when eating after strenous exertion. Also anecdotal, but I've known of it to happen a lot more in hot weather.

Sorry for your loss,

We got a new puppy this spring, and it is a Gwp, and she would wolf down her food in 2 gulps and run over to try to get the other dogs food while she was eating, My wife come home with what I call a puzzle bowl and they have to work to get the food out and it slowed here down, and now she turned into a clam eating dog and not in a hurry. Ive never seen one until she got it, but I’m a firm believer in them,

https://www.scarymommy.com/spotted/slow-feeder-dog-bowls/

its also called torshion,the turning of the stomach. we lost a fine bird dog cross pointer and setter years ago. same thing would eat to fast,we didnt know took the dead dog and got it checked to find out what killed it as i had some hounds also and did not any sickness in the dogs. vet told us it was torshion the turning of the stomach from eating to fast causing death. some breeds are more susceptible to it and they can have the dogs stomach stitched to its stomach walls to prevent it. if a guy knew before hand we would feed them smaller portion or as jacks says use a special food dish. we are sorry for your loss.

Daughter dog has a bowel to slow it down.







Dog eats so fast even this bowel barely slows him down.

Our lab eats so fast its scary. I have drizzled some drippings on his food and not even heard a crunch. It goes down unchewed.

It took a month for my dogs to slow down eating using one of the special bowls. Now they both eat normal without it!

Those bowls are expensive, an alternative is to put a rock or two in their normal bowl. I didn't think of that until my boys in the cold dropped and broke the expensive bowls our goldens were using.

I just lost one of my hounds to this on New Years Eve

One thing that can also trigger it is over exertion after eating/drinking. I always run my dogs on an empty stomach. I've never had it happen to any of my hounds but know of a guy who lost the best dog of his life to it. The dog was leading a competition night hunt. At the third tree of the night, it was treeing but not it's normal self. He withdrew the dog and by the time he got home it was dead.

Like mentioned, it is a fatal condition. Even with vet help, most of the time. And extremely expensive surgery with no guarantee.

I don't know the truth to it, but I've heard it can be heredity. I had a litter of pups on the ground from the above dog at the time...I made it a point to ensure that they are not part of my breeding program.