bloat

We urge you to please read this.

Being aware could save your dog's life!

Gastric Torsion or "Bloat" is a very serious health risk for many large and medium sized, deep chested breeds (i.e. boxers) and yet many dog

owners are unaware of this condition which can lead to death within hours if not recognised and treated immediately.

It makes no difference if it is a young or old dog or bitch, it can occur suddenly in a perfectly healthy dog.

The scientific term is "Gastric Dilatation-Volvulus"(GDV) or "Gastric Torsion" but most people just refer to it as "Bloat". It is characterised by

a rapid and abnormal stomach expansion with air, fluid and/or foam followed by a stomach rotation which closes both the entry and exit,

blocking the veins to the abdomen leading to low blood pressure, shock, damage to internal organs and unless treated in less than 20 minutes,

can end in an extremely painful death. "Bloat" should always be treated as a medical emergency because it can kill a dog within hours after the

onset and although the cause is unknown, boxers are one of the breeds susceptible to it.

How To Help The Prevention Of "Bloat"

The following guidelines could help to prevent the occurrence of bloat and these suggestions are based on suspected risk factors but are not

guaranteed to prevent the onset of "Bloat".

1. Do not feed one large meal but feed small amounts of food frequently, two or three times daily.

2. Avoid any exercise 1 hour before and 2 hours after any meal.

3. Do not allow your dog to drink large amounts of water immediately before or after eating a meal or after exercise and try to restrict your

dog to very small amounts of water only.

4. If possible, feed at a time when after-feeding behaviour can be observed and if you have two or more dogs, feed them

separately to avoid any stressful eating.

5. Try to avoid any abrupt changes of diet.

Digestible foods

Another recommendation is frequent feeding of a good quality, highly digestible food with normal fibre levels. Feeding management offers the

best method available for reducing risk until the exact cause of "Bloat" can be identified. Although not 100% effective, the above measures can

reduce the number of dogs that face this serious, life threatening condition.We have had 4 of our own dogs with this condition. We were able

to save two but the other two died very painful deaths because we could not get to the vet quickly enough.

The email below is reproduced with the kind permission of someone who had read this page, downloaded the chart below and was then able to

act when her dog developed "Bloat”. She was able to save her boxer from a certain painful death because she already had the knowledge.

"Dear Jackie & Pete,

I don't know if you remember me, the crazy Belgian doctor who gave up her job for her rescue boxer, but now I'm sending

this email to sincerely thank you. After reading your bloat flow chart, I printed it and put it in my wallet. Yesterday

evening, Watson had his usual dinner and afterwards I took him to play with his Jack Russell friends who are a 25 minute

drive away. He started playing as usual and afterwards my friend and I were having a drink (thank god I didn't have my

usual glass of wine) and Watson was happy and relaxed at my feet, panting,but that wasn't a surprise after a vigorous

playing session.Watson gained a bit of weight and the vet commented on it and as I was telling this to my friend I looked

at him and laughingly told her: "look, his harness is becoming a bit tight". Thanks to your flow chart alarm bells

started ringing, I felt his pulse and his heart was racing, then he vomited. I could literally see my dog swell so I

called the vet, put him in the car and drove like a mad woman. When we arrived, she had everything prepared for emergency

surgery, but we were just in time, so he got away with gastric decompression and a night on an IV drip with stomach

protection etc.I cannot thank you enough as I'm sure that, if I had never seen your scheme I would never had recognised

the symptoms this fast. I was a bit ashamed that my vet had everything ready for emergency surgery, but she said it was a

close call, minutes could have made the difference between surgery and if I hadn't been aware and put him to bed (it is

not the first time he vomits some white foam), he would surely have passed away during the night. THANK YOU! Apart from

all this, at the moment Watson is showing "normal boxer behaviour" and I do think people sometimes give up too soon, not

to mention my doubts about some reasons for putting them up for rehoming. Although boxers really need a loving and

understanding home, I assume they're better off with somebody who really wants them."

Warm regards,

Katrien & Watson.

As you can see, by reading this e-mail and being aware, could save your dogs life!

Please feel free to download and print this chart

all about BLOAT (GDV)