JUL 16, 2009
Ever heard of bloat? If you’ve got a large or giant breed dog then I certainly hope you have. In fact, if you’ve got any kind of dog, you, too, should know the basics.
Bloat, otherwise known as "gastric dilatation volvulus" or "GDV" for short, happens when the stomach twists then fills with gas ... or is it vice versa?
Either way, the emergency comes in when the vessels that supply the stomach are pinched off. That’s when it starts to die, shock sets in and deadly cardiac rhythms can occur. Dogs MUST get to the ER within 5 to 6 hours if they’re to have a better than average chance at survival.
That means you have to know what to look for: nausea, retching (usually non-productive), abdominal distension (not always visible), restlessness (in the early stages) and depression (in the later stages).
Immediate transport to a veterinarian for decompression of the gas, fluid therapy to counteract all the shock, medications for dangerous heart rhythm abnormalities and––almost always––surgery to reposition the stomach and "tack" it to the body wall to prevent future events.
Looking at the research, it seems that up to 20% of dogs weighing 99 pounds or more are likely to bloat in their lifetimes––usually as they get older––but any dog of any breed can bloat at any time. It’s almost impossible to predict which dogs will bloat and which will live their lives GDV-free.
Sure, we know that very big dogs are more likely to bloat. That St. Bernards, Great Danes andWeimeraners are the top three most affected breeds. We also know that rapid eating, raised food bowls and having a history of first-degree family members who are bloated increases the risk. But all our research has not given us the means to prevent bloating.
That’s especially troublesome because only about 67% to 85% of bloat sufferers will survive...IF they receive treatment. Dogs with no treatment almost invariably die.
And treatment is EXPENSIVE. Anywhere from $1,000 to $3,000, on average, but significantly more if the process is complicated by other problems (uncontrolled cardiac rhythm abnormalities, the need for partial stomach removal, involvement of the spleen in the twist, etc.).
The good news is that bloat can be prevented to a large extent. A surgical procedure called a gastropexy may be employed to tack the stomach to the body wall in advance of a bloat scenario (to keep it from twisting). It doesn’t always work 100%, but it does a lot of good in the vast majority of cases.
Dogs of predisposed breeds or with relatives who have bloated should be "tacked." Steps should be taken to reduce eating speed (lots of bowls are made for such a purpose). Food should not be fed from a height (none of those raised dog bowls). And here are some other risk factors that have not ncessarily been proven yet, but that should probably be avoided for now:
- Exercise immediately after feeding
- Decreased food particle size
- Once daily feeding
- Stress
Ultimately, however, knowing what bloat looks like and getting a dog to the vet FAST is the key. It can make all the difference.
Dr. Patty Khuly
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JULY 12
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 Every few weeks I get treated to e-mails warning me of some pet hazard or another. While all seem well-intentioned, some don’t quite meet the standards for reliability and veracity I’d consider a necessary minimum for vet-worthy viral-icity.
Which is why this following e-mail makes me crazier than most. Though it’s a purely anectdotal, easily debunkable, and borderline irresponsible message on the subject of bloat, it’s been going around for years now (three, to be exact). Read it for yourself:
WARNING regarding Ice Water and Ice Cubes in your Dogs [sic] Water Bowl
Hello Everyone,
I am writing this in hopes that some may learn from what I just went through. We were having a good weekend till Saturday. On Saturday I showed my Baran and left the ring. He was looking good and at the top of his game. He had a chance at no less then one of the two AOM's.
It did not work out that way. After showing we went back to our site/set up and got the dogs in their crates to cool off. After being back about 30 min. I noticed Baran was low on water. I took a hand full of ice from my cooler and put it in his bucket with more water. We then started to get all the dogs Ex'ed and food ready for them.
I had Baran in his 48' crate in the van because this is the place he loves to be. He loves to be able to see everyone and everything. After checking him and thinking he was cooled off enough, we fed him. We walked around and one of my friends stated that Baran seamed like he was choking. I went over and checked on him. He was dry heaving and drooling. I got him out of the crate to check him over and noticed he had not eaten. He was in some distress. I checked him over from head to toe and did not notice anything. I walked him around for about a minute when I noticed that he was starting to bloat. I did everything I was taught to do in this case. I was not able to get him to burp, and we gave him Phasezime.
We rushed Baran to a vet clinic. We called ahead and let them know we were on our way. They were set up and waiting for us. They got Baran stablized very quickly. After Baran was stable and out of distress we transported him to AVREC where he went into surgery to make sure no damage was done to any of his vital organs. I am very happy to say Baran is doing great, there was no damage to any vital organs, and he still loves his food.
In surgery the vet found that Baran's stomach was in its normal anatomic position. We went over what had happened. When I told the vet about the ice water, he asked why I gave him ice water. I said that I have always done this. I told him my history behind this practice and his reply was, "I have been very lucky." The ice water I gave Baran caused violent muscle spasms in his stomach which caused the bloating. Even though I figured his temperature was down enough to feed, and gave him this ice water, I was wrong. His internal temperature was still high. The vet stated that giving a dog ice to chew or ice water is a big NO, NO! There is no reason for a dog to have ice/ice water. Normal water at room temperature, or cooling with cold towels on the inner thigh, is the best way to help cool a dog. The vet explained it to me like this: If you, as a person, fall into a frozen lake what happens to your muscles? They cramp. This is the same as a dog's stomach.
I felt the need to share this with everyone, in the hopes that some may learn from what I went through, I do not wish this on anyone. Baran is home now doing fine. So please if you do use ice and ice water, beware of what could happen.
Though undoubtedly well-intentioned, the problem is obvious: The writer is misguidedly offering up her story as a helpful truth. When, in fact, the information is unproven, unreliably sourced, unverified, and utterly unnecessarily disseminated to the public — to the potential detriment of dogs who may indeed benefit from drinking cold water or getting ice cubes in their water to brake their drinking binges.
Frigid water gastric "cramping" is a falsehood akin to those that inform you that your hair will grow back coarser if you shave it (myth), or that you shouldn’t go swimming for 30 minutes after eating lest you drown in a fit of cramps (myth). And though it’s not a big deal to warn people about something that will at the very least do no harm should they avoid it, it drives me crazy to get these e-mails, nonetheless.
Since 2007, when this message started making the rounds, I’ve received this ice water e-mail ten times over — at the least. It even once served as an impetus for a post I wrote on the truth behind bloat risks, and on another occasion, it inspired a piece I wrote for The Bark (Sept/Oct 2009), treating current veterinary thinking on the subject.
Why so sensitive? Because the story needed to be outed for what it was: a simple tragic anecdote. Because it annoys me when people feel the need to pass along their personal tales of woe without consulting the science behind the tragedy. And because people should probably think before playing a viral game of onlineCassandra with respect to everyone else’s pets.
Dr. Patty Khuly
PS: Since writing this, it came to my attention that there's a whole Facebook thread on the ice water myth that's recently been getting lots of play. Why is it that some Web-based misinformation will JUST. NOT. DIE?
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