Health Alert: Large Dogs & Bloat
Two weeks ago, we drove our Dogue de Bordeaux, Eli, to an emergency vet at 6 AM. Eli was bloating; as people with large breed dogs know, bloat is a serious medical concern and the number one killer of large breeds. He was x-rayed, given IV fluids, and in surgery by 7:30. However, it was too late: the majority of his stomach was dead due to lack of lack of blood flow, and chance of recovery from that is so low that we opted to (more humanely) euthanize him. He was 2, and in excellent health overall. So what happened?
Bloat is kind of what it sounds like- the stomach fills with gas caused by food that has absorbed moisture and expanded. The pressure can cause the stomach to flip on itself (known as torsion). Once that has happened, the stomach is cut off from the rest of the digestive system, and bloat can no longer be resolved by vomiting or any release of gas. More importantly, the stomach is cut off from blood supply and oxygen, which quickly leads to necrotic tissue (how much of the tissue dies is dependent on how quickly the dog is treated).
Among the warning signs of bloat: general unease and restless behavior (pacing around, not following normal habit); excessive salivating; increased heart rate; discomfort standing and/or lying down; retching without vomiting- white foamy stuff may come out, but nothing substantial. The earliest and most obvious sign is the last- if a dog is clearly nauseous and attempting to vomit, but cannot, one should then assume the dog is bloating. Visible bloating often follows- Eli’s abdomen, which was usually quite fit and lean, looked and felt like there was a basketball in his stomach. Those are signs we witnessed; there are a number of others.
Once a vet has identified a case of bloat (usually it is obvious or will be quickly determined by x-rays), treatment begins immediately: fluids will be given and the dog will be treated for shock, attempts to decompress the stomach are made, and surgery is often required. This surgery is officially called gastropexy- it involves untwisting the stomach and tacking (attaching) it to the abdominal wall to prevent a future episode of torsion. Note that while that procedure will not prevent bloat altogether, it will prevent the dangerous escalation from a bloated stomach to a contorted one.
The single most important thing we did not know before this event: gastropexy can be done as a preventive procedure for high risk dogs. All large (over 90 lbs. or so) dogs, especially those with deep-chested builds (noticeable difference between the width of the chest and of the stomach area) are susceptible to bloat, though some breeds are higher risk than others. This surgery is, of course, performed under anesthesia, but can be done at the same time as spaying/neutering so your dog doesn’t have to go under twice.
We’re now educating as many people as possible about the prophylactic gastropexy, because no one told us- no vet, no other large-breed dog owner, not even the breeders of our dog (who are reputable and do everything they can for their dogs’ health and happiness). So while this is a scary and pretty depressing (at least for us) topic, we wanted to present it here. Reading this could be a life-saver for your dog.
A couple links to good articles about bloat and most susceptible breeds:
good basic introduction and more medical discussion.
If you’re not familiar with the medical terms and jargon, it’s best to read the first before the second.
Eli, who weighed in around 145 lbs. Reef is curled up between his legs (she’s about 40 lbs., for comparison).
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February 28th, 2007 at 9:11 am
I’m so sorry about Eli. That just breaks my heart. It is important for people to be aware of health issues for whatever breed they choose. Good reminder.
February 28th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
Sorry to hear about Eli—how sad.
March 1st, 2007 at 2:52 pm
Eli is a beautiful big boy- so sorry you lost him.
March 29th, 2007 at 10:09 pm
I’m so sorry to hear about Eli. I just went through this, successfully, with my dog Rico. The reason I am posting here is because this is so often associated with only large breed dogs. My Rico is a Chow chow, 60 pounds, 8 years old. I had never ever heard about this before either!
April 15th, 2007 at 9:06 am
I’m sorry for your loss,and admire your courage to post the information about Eli. I will take the prevention method and while going thru neutering I’ll have the stomach attached. Thanks for the advice. I was shocked to know how common this problem is….I’ve just experienced it with my Std. Poodle & asked at the emergency clinic how often this surgery was preformed & she said ALMOST DAILY:~(
June 12th, 2007 at 10:49 am
thanks for posting this- we lost our 60 lb pit rot chow mix yesterday- I wish I had know the symptoms- I had no idea until it was too late. its terrible to read but also helps to know that we’re not alone with this.
September 22nd, 2007 at 6:32 am
Sorry to hear about Eli. I lost my boxer, Abby, in October last year with the same thing. It was horrible for her as it was for our family. She was in lots of pain and it was heartwrenching to hear her cry. She had surgery in the middle of the night and unfortunately it was too late, she developed DIC. She fought hard for 2 1/2 days but there was no hope; her organs started to shut down. I am here doing research to reassure myself that having the gastroplexy procedure we have scheduled for our 7 month old boxer puppy, Jodie is the right decision. After reading here, I think I have my answer. I have had mixed opinions about this, but I would hate to have any other dog experience this horrible painful thing.
September 22nd, 2007 at 10:33 pm
We feel your pain. We had 2 Great Pyrenese and 4 days after I put the female down for old age, our 5 year old male died of the bloat. Our vet conducted immediate surgery to no avail - we had waited the night thinking he was just sick. We were devasted - our 2 best friends were gone in less than a week. We had never known of the disorder and nobody had ever warned us either. Worse yet, it isn’t something all that obvious when it occurs and not everyone has access to ‘emergency’ pet hospitals with 24 hour service. That was 4 months ago and we have moved on to another giant breed, a St.Bernard, but we are MUCH more educated. Word of note - research and advice on this is conflicting. For example, everyone told us a raised food bowl helps prevent the bloat, but the studies from your links clearly show that raised food bowls significantly INCREASE the risk. God bless you.
October 1st, 2007 at 4:07 pm
I am so sorry for your loss, but I am grateful that you posted this information, albeit too late for me. My siberian Husky-rottweiler mix (my Huskweiler) Toby died from this (we believe) this weekend. I am so sad
He was fine one minute, began vomiting what he just ate, and then became distressed - I thought he was just freaking out from throwing up - I put him outside while I cleaned up what he threw up and then when I went to check on his about 20-30 minutues later, he was in shock and never even made it to the emergency vet. If I had known of this disease, I would have/should have…oh well, you know. My condolences on your loss.
October 16th, 2007 at 9:36 pm
I send my regards with you and your family and may Eli R.I.P. my baby girl Laila which was a boxer past away last night about 8:45 p.m 10-15-07 she just turned one ten days earlier. Boy was she a joy! she was in a bad enviroment for 10 months until I took her from my sister because it was breaking my heart on how she was mistreated. She gained weight played ran around the house 100 mph I mean she lit my life,she was spoiled by me and deserved every bit of it. I couldnt wait to wake up to her, see when I got home.Last night she was playing like always, my father took her to the yard to poppie then I went 1/2 hr later to bring her in and notice she wasnt coming in, as I went to look for her I found her dead in the yard she wasnt bleeding,no marks nothing also it was her 1st day in heat. Her vet told me it was probaly a heart attack! can this be true? my heart is shattered please someone help with some info
November 15th, 2007 at 2:40 am
I am so sorry for your loss. We are experiencing the same thing now. We lost our 6 year old English Mastiff to Bloat last night. She had been sick for the past week and actually refused to eat. Last night she started panting and her stomach was so swollen. We immediately took her to the Emergency Vet but she never made it past the car ride. We had no idea or even heard of Bloat. I just hate the thought of how painful this was for her. Now we have to tell our 4 year old.
January 15th, 2008 at 6:35 am
My Japanese Akita died of bloat, She had been running around being her normal self then her stomach swelled up + 2 hrs later she died. We were in total shock + had never heard of bloat.
January 21st, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I am so sad to read these stories. We lost our Samoyed from bloat one week ago today.
It was very sudden and we live 5 minutes away from our vet. The vet operated, but because the stomach flipped it tore away from the spleen which caused a bleed. The vet, God Bless him, stopped the bleeding, but there was more bleeding elsewhere. He was suffering and we loved him so…we chose to let him go rather than opening him again. His gums were pale and it was evident he was in shock. It was hard to let go.He had sugery earlier in the day on his eye for glaucoma and it would have been more trauma.
March 26th, 2008 at 9:58 am
This story has been so informative for me. My 10 year old Akita/Shepherd/Pitt mix, who had his gallbladder and spleen removed in October (5 months ago), was out on his walk last night, when he suddenly started to walk sideways and look drunk. Then, he laid in the grass and would not get up. I was petrified! I called my husband and he came with the SUV and took him home. That night, he was panting heavily, and his abdomen was heaving a lot. My husband had let him eat oil-laden onions from his plate just an hour ago and he isn’t supposed to eat high fat foods. At 1 am, I was searching for answers! I thought he might die of bloat.. but the next morning, he was fine. But, this episode had made me aware of this problem which I had no idea. My dog didn’t vomit… he just breathed heavily for awhile, and then, he was fine in the morning. I think it was indigestion in his case. Sorry to hear about Eli, but you have enlightened many of us!
April 16th, 2008 at 12:55 pm
My beautiful Akita “Jada” just passed away this morning from bloating. I have never heard of this before. I keep thinking if I had, maybe I could have saved her. She seemed fine one moment, a few hours later she was panting heavily, restless and stomach seemed swollen. I called the emergency vet and explained what was happening and they told me to bring her in immediately. I drove her there in 6 minutes called the vet to meet me in the parking lot to help me bring her in, and she was already gone. They asked me if I wanted them to do CPR and I said Yes anything you can do to save her. They tried but there was nothing more that they could do. I am so hurt and devastasted. I hope that this website can help someone to recognize the signs so they will be able to react before the worse happens. I found this site because I wanted to know more about this condition, unfortunately I found it too late.
April 16th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
My apologies, in my telling my story I forgot to say that I’m sorry for the loss of everyone that has had to go through this. I feel your pain, literally. I have a lot of wonderful memories of Jada and that’s something that can never be erased. I hope you all can find comfort in the good memories that you have with your loved ones.
May 4th, 2008 at 3:40 pm
My heart aches after reading all of these sad stories. My dog had surgery 5 days ago. We were lucky that we got him to the emergency vet so fast. Charlie is a healthy 2 yr old standard poodle.The night of his surgery we gave him table scraps and then he picked at his own food. I let him out in the back for a pee and 5 minutes later he was acting strange. He was dry heaving and whining. I thought that he was constipated so I took him for a walk and he began walking funny almost as if his back legs were semi paralized. He was panting and then lied down. I called my vet and was told to take him directly to the emergency clinic. Within 1 hour of the first symptom we were at the clinic. Within 1 1/2 hours he was in surgery due to his stomach flipping. Surgery was 3 hours and luckily he is doing fine.
May 22nd, 2008 at 5:35 pm
I’m sorry for everyone who has lost a pet due to bloat. My Great Dane, Winston, died from it a few years ago and it was an incredible loss. We opted to do the gastropexy when we got a new Dane, and so far we haven’t had any problem.
Also, after reading one of the postings, I felt compelled to reply since most people aren’t aware that there’s a lot of “people” food that can be toxic to your pet - including onions. Onions, garlic, chocolate, raisons, grapes are just a few foods that given even in small amounts can be deadly to your pet. A quick internet search can provide a pretty comprehensive list of the foods you should avoid feeding your pet - http://www.entirelypets.com/toxicfoods.html
May 31st, 2008 at 10:09 pm
Our American Bulldog, Petey, died from the bloat just three days ago. He was in perfect health and only four years old. He was like one of our children. We loved him so. The night before I fell down our garage steps and spent most of the night at the emergancy room. I am four months pregnante. I heard Petey crying at my bedside and thought he wanted outside. I could not get out of bed due to the pain and a knee injury. In the morning he was barely moving and we rushed him to the vet. He died on the way. I blamed myself for not listening to my boy and unable to help him. I have found comfort in the websites on dog bloat to understand I am not alone in my pain.
His mate Darla, had 13 puppies in March and we had sold all but one the night before he died. The little girl puppy none seemed to take to, who is so much like him, is lightening our loss and pain. I thank God for the three years we were blessed with such love and devoation from Petey.
July 10th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
This happened to my dog a couple of days ago. My dog was 14 years old but only weighed 55 pounds. I wouldn’t consider him large breed. I have been around animals my entire life as I grew up on a farm and still had never heard of this. I am so sorry for the loss of your dog, I know how painful it is.
August 28th, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I did not know about bloat. Last Tuesday 08/26/2008, my Chow Chow Bella Bear was going in and out of the dog door and made a little whinning noise. I knew immediately that something was amiss. I went to her and I usually give her a belly rub and to my surprise, her abdomen was hard as a blown up balloon and Bella cried again. I called my Vet right away and they told me not to bring her in, but to take her to the Emergency Animal Hospital immediately plus adding that this is life threatening. I immediately drove Bella to the hospital and they were waiting for my arrival due to a call from my Vet and within a half hour, Bella was in emergency surgery. I was lucky and Bella even luckier as the surgery was a success and she is home with me now. I was fortunate enough to have noticed the symptoms and reacted quickly. It saved her life! Her stomach turned 90 degrees and her spleen was moved, but because this was corrected right away, there was no damage to any organs. Her stomach was repositioned and spleen put back with no ill effects. Bella is in recovery and in the healing process that will take about 3 weeks. We are grateful to have terrific Vets and owe them our eternal graditude. Everyone that has a dog should be armed with the knowledge required to look out for bloat. I can kill within hours!
August 29th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I’M SO SORRY ABOUT YOUR DOG!!! MY BLUE FAWN PIT BULL JUST PASSED AWAY YESTERDAY FROM THE SAME THING. I DRIVE TRUCKS AT NIGHT & GET OFF THE FOLLOWING DAY. WELL, DAY BEFORE YESTERDAY I GOT HOME & FED HIM ALONG WITH MY OTHER 2 PITS. HE WAS PERFECTLY FINE, HAPPY, & LOVING AS NORMAL, BUT WHEN I CAME HOME FROM WORK YESTERDAY………HE WAS GONE. HE HAD BLOOD COMING OUT OF HIS NOSE & MOUTH, & HIS PUPILS WERE RED. HE WAS BLOATED WITH A GREEN TINT ON HIS BELLY & A HORRIBLE ODOR. IT LOOKED LIKE BETWEEN THE 12 HRS I WAS GONE HE SUFFERED. I WOULD GIVE ANYTHING TO HAVE BEEN THERE TO TAKE CARE OF HIM. THE VET DID AN AUTOPSY & HE TOLD ME HIS STOMACH HAD FLIPPED ON HIM. HE WAS MY SON & MY HEART. I WILL FOREVER LOVE HIM. YOU CAN SEE PICS OF HIM AT MYSPACE.COM/FACE607
September 7th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
I was on here looking cause my 13 week old boxer puppy has a swollen stomah and im worried he is going to the vet first thing in the morning but i just wanted to tell you thank you cause the information you have given me helps my 2 boxer puppies to have a better future thank you so much
September 19th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
[...] is a life threatening condition that almost all large and giant breeds are susceptible to. Please read up on this condition if you are interested in this [...]
September 26th, 2008 at 1:15 pm
Sorry about your loss.
My Akita died on Sept 22, 2008. I am about 80% sure he died of this condition. My regards to all who have lost a pet.
October 1st, 2008 at 4:59 pm
[...] are prone to bloat, a deadly condition where the stomach flips. Please read more about this if you are interested in this [...]
October 7th, 2008 at 1:26 pm
We lost our six year old Belgian Malinois,”Ruby”, to bloat several days ago. My wife and I are still very upset. It all started early Wednesday morning (around 2am) when we heard her moaning and saw her dry heaving. I thought nothing of it – I thought she had bad gas. My wife was more concerned and took her to the vet at around 10am (I left work to meet her there). The vet diagnosed her and told us she had little time to live and immediate surgery was needed at a cost of between $3k and $5k with a 50% chance of survival after surgery. Given the $ and chance of survival, we decided to say goodbye to her and have the vet put her to sleep… An hour later, one of the other vets at the practice called to say she would perform the surgery for free from money gained through a fund raiser. We gladly agreed! We saw Ruby the day after the surgery (Thursday) and she was in great spirits; we even walked her and she stood up and put her paws on my wife. On Friday after work, the vet released her to us - we all thought she was “out of the woods”… But, when we got her home we could tell she was not the same dog we saw the day before. We just thought she was in pain from the surgery; and we gave her the perscribed medication for the pain. But, she got worse into the night. We noticed a strange odor from her; she was too uncomfortable to lie down; and, she started to stagger as she walked. At around 5am Saturday, she collapsed on our living room floor. My wife held her while I petted her and she expired moments after she collapsed. My wife and I were devistated - extremely upset. We thought she was in pain recovering from the surgery; but, later learned her body couldn’t fight off the toxins that had built up… In retrospect, I wish we had her put to sleep when we first brought her in on Wednesday. But we’d be second guessing ourselves if we didn’t give a chance at the surgery… The vets we and all the staff at the hospital we’re so upset; they paid for her creamation… My wife and I feel for anyone who goes through this. My heart goes out to all who posted.
October 13th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Our German Sheperd died last night because of bloat…vomitting mucus but nothing else…husband thought it was because he was eating leaves again as a digestive aid…he was anxious (but GS’s tend to be anyway)…he was 11 years young….perfect hips…nothing wrong with our ‘champion’ dog…..he died overnight apparently….the worst news this morning to hear that your dog passed on (and what probably was such an awful death). I always thought he would die peacefully in his sleep years from now….I am without any other words….a loss I cannot describe but I know you have gone through as well.
October 18th, 2008 at 8:56 am
We lost our beautiful Siberian husky mix dog last week to Bloat. He was almost 5 and a very special member of our family, we are all devastated. We recognized he wasn’t doing well and called the vet for advice, she just told us to limit his water and withhold his food, she said she was concerned about bloating, but never told us it could kill him. We waited all night for her office to open at 10 the next morning, and when we got there, she gave him almost no chance, it was too late. He was euthanized. I have been cyring and blaming myself all week…we had never heard of this, we just didn’t realize the danger. I will do my best to educate anyone I know with a large dog, so this never happens to anyone else.
November 2nd, 2008 at 9:41 am
[...] you have a large or giant breed dog than preventing GDV (or “bloat”) should be of the utmost importance. This life threatening condition is a topic that owners need to [...]
November 4th, 2008 at 5:49 pm
We lost our precious dobie Missy in the afternoon on November 1st, 2008 to bloat. I was not aware of the symptoms and just thought she was having another one of her upset stomach episodes. She was very restless and was dry heaving so I put her outside. She came in with a little foam in her mouth but I just thought it was from the grass she was eating. A couple of hours passed and even though she showed some signs like getting up and lying down, restless, hunched over, again I just thought she had an upset stomach. I did not know about this bloat. My husband returned home from running errands and saw that her stomach was very distended…something that I did not notice. I immediately called the emergency hospital and they told me to bring her in right away. As she was walking towards the truck, she collapsed and I knew it wasn’t good. My husband took her to the vet and she never made it there. I am just sick over this. I keep rehashing every thing she did that day and even though she showed some signs, nothing stood out to me. I am blaming myself for her death. I wish I would have acted sooner b/c I know I could have saved her. My poor girl was suffering and I did nothing. I will never forget her. My heart goes out to all of you who have lost your precious baby to this deadly and horrible disease.