Large breed and deep chested breed owners!!!!!!?

Question

How many of you are aware that ELEVATED bowls INCREASE the risk of GDV (bloat)???????

PLEASE review the LATEST info!!!! Elevating the bowl is OLD and outdated info!!!!!!

http://www.vet.purdue.edu/epi/dietrisk.htm

I would like to see a more recent study stating that we are back to elevated feeding. Tuft's, Cornell, UC Davis......ALL are STILL using Glickman's study. Here is what Tuft's put out in 2003.
http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proceedings.plx?CID=TUFTSBG2003&PID=5091&O=Generic

Of course if a dog is going to bloat, nothing is going to stop it, but having found a 110% increase in the chance based on lowering the bowl........that does say something!! I know the NCA..Newf Club of America is still going with lowering the blows....AND we have seen a DECREASE in BLOAT sonce that study came out!!!!!

Vet Tech....today my boy was called a CHOW!!!! Can you IMAGINE!!! So, I guess next week I will be "NOT a black Chow!!!!"!!!!!!

I have gotten Poodle too. Longhaired Lab is popular. And the Landseer is OFTEN called a SPRINGER!!! The HORROR!

agorlia...these are NOT vet websites!! One is SELLING elevated feeders!!! What do you think they are going to say?????? The LATEST info is from the Purdue study!! Elevated feeding INCREASED bloat by 110%. THAT is the bottom line!!! Show me more recent STUDIES...not ads for feeders, or other NON-medical websites!!!!!

Ya all...NOTHING is going to eliminate the chances of bloat. There are SOO many factors, but doing the simple things like restricting exercise post eating, bowls on the floor, stomach tacking, good food choices....all these HELP!!! No, you cannot change genetics, but does that mean you give up and do noting???

http://www.justshepherds.com/bloat.htm

Answer 1

I ground feed my large breeds (no elevated bowls here!)... as you know Newfs and Saints are very prone to bloat, unfortunately.

I also pull their water up and do not allow any type of exercise 30 minutes before feeding and for a full hour after they eat. You can never be too careful!

ADD: Last week I brought our dogs on a hike and some women asked if my Newf was a brown Saint... thought of you immediately! Should I change my avatar to my Newf and my name to Not a Brown St. Bernard?!! :)

ADD2: Chow?!!? OMG! I have also gotten "Oh, is that a long haired chocolate lab?" ::sigh::

ADD3: Poodle?? HUH? I too have heard people ask if Lanseers were springers... one of the breeders I know was asked if she bred a Great Py with a Dalmation to get a Lanseer! People just don't know!!!

Answer 2

I wonder how long it will be before they change it back to elevated bowls are the way to go. It seems like bloat is one of those things they just can't decide on, can they?
I think the best thing to do is always go with the current info and try the best you can and hope your dog is okay.
I think the most important thing we owners of prone dogs is to be on top of it and make sure we know the symptoms and know what to look for since bloat seems so hard to prevent. The trick is to catch it early and get help asap. I try to not leave my dogs alone for at least an hour after each meal, just in case.

Answer 3

Right! The information has actually been out there for a while, but people still think they should have raised feeding bowls.

I lost a dog to bloat a couple of weeks ago. By the time I found him it was too late to do anything, but I do keep liquid simethecone on hand, and my vet is ordering me a bloat kit since I live so far out.

Answer 4

Well, I'm certainly glad that I read this.
I for one did not know. I thought that the elevated dishes were suppose to 'prevent' it so I bought one for my older fella just a couple of months ago actually.
He's a rotti/chow mix. Not sure if he would fall into the category of one prone to bloat problems. But he's getting old and I thought that it would make things easier on him....
I will look into the website, and start searching more about it.
Thank you!!!

Answer 5

I have spoken to my vet about this - as I have a deep chested dog. His opinion is that exercise/roughhousing is MORE of a cause of bloat within an hour of eating than eating off a raised bowl.

His vet tech has 3 dogs - all ground fed, and two have bloated - eating off the ground. She has done everything right, no playing before eating, no playing after eating, no water, no raised bowls, and her dogs have bloated - twice.

So what's the cause of bloat? His opinion - if your dog's gonna bloat he's gonna bloat, and raising a dish 5 inches off the ground isn't going to make a bit of difference. Roughhousing and twisting in play would be a more likely cause of bloat than a few inches.

Answer 6

I know and try to tell people all the time. Those elevated dishes may look good but, very dangerous! Also, people think big dogs need big meals. I feed my dogs two meals per day to help prevent bloat. I also dont allow them to drink at least a half hour prior or post eating. They must also be calm and settled down.

Oh look my troll fairy is here

Answer 7

Good to know, though my newf/saint eats laying down (he takes his couch potatoing very seriously!). He gets plenty of exercise running around and playing with our other dog though. I know about not excercising and eating near each other, but what are some other good ways to prevent bloat?

Also, I wanted to say thanks for the link. I read it then checked out my dogs food, turns out that I'm not doing the bad stuff and I am doing the good stuff. I'm glad to hear it because I did a lot of research to pick out his food, but I didn't have any idea that his food could be a factor in bloat. To anyone who is interested, I feed him Eukanuba Large Breed Puppy.

Once again, thanks!

Answer 8

Yup I know.. I have talked to many people whose dogs have bloated, and they were feeding from elevated dishes.. Bad news!

Answer 9

"No one knows exactly why this happens, but is very common in large and deep-chested breeds. There is no way to fully prevent bloat, but there are several precautions you can take.
Feed two meals daily. Elevate food bowls several inches off the ground. Feeding stands are excellent for this. Also if your dog gulps his food, try putting the food in a pan that you can spread the food out in and put a large stone in the middle so that they have to work around the stone to get the food."
http://home.earthlink.net/~wcwr/health.html

"If your puppy is one of the larger breeds, it is important to put his dish at a height just under his chin to avoid undue strain and stress on growing joints. Raise the dish as he grows."
http://www.dog.com/information/feeding.asp

"Elevated feeders may help reduce intestinal gas in dogs. Eating bent over forces dogs to gulp their food. In the process, the dogs swallow more air. This air can end up as foul-smelling gas a while later. The higher the food dish, the less gulping"
http://www.olddogpaws.com/elevatedbowls.htm

THERE ARE TONS OF VETS & WEBSITES SUPPORTING EVELAVTED DISHES>>>

Answer 10

Good info to pass on but it's info that has been available for several years now. Kibble with citric acid can also increase chances of bloat especially if the kibble is moistened or the dog drinks water shortly after eating.