# Purdue Bloat Study



## CinnamintStick (Jul 25, 2008)

Last year I lost my dog due to bloat. She never woke up after surgery. I own serveal large breed dogs that are prone to bloat. I found this article on the United States Neapolitan Mastiff Club website. I thought it had some good feeding advice.


New Purdue Bloat Study
Recent studies out of Recent Un are shedding more light on gastric 
dilatation volvulus (GSV), otherwise known as bloat. GDV is the second leading 
cause of death in large-breed (50 – 99 pounds) and giant-breed (100 pounds 
and over) dogs. Approximately one in four large-breed dogs and one in five 
giant-breed dogs may develop GDV during their lifetime, with some breeds at even 
higher lifetime risk. GDV strikes suddenly and has a mortality rate as 
high as 30 percent.


In GDV there is a rapid accumulation of air in the stomach, causing 
distention and often rotation of the stomach, cutting off blood supply at both ends 
and causing the dog to go into shock. GDV is an acute emergency and rushing 
the dog to immediate veterinary care is essential. The risk of a dog 
developing GDV increases with age. Other factors that increase a dog’s risk are 
having a first-generation relative with a history of GDV, having a deep and 
narrow chest or abdomen, being thin, experiencing a major health problem before 
age 1, and having a fearful or nervous temperament.


Research primarily at Perdue University by Dr. Larry Glickman, VMD, Ph.D, (an 
AKC Excellence in Canine Research Award winner), and Dr. Malathi Raghavan, 
DVM, Ph.D. has identified a number of feeding management and dietary factors 
that increase the risk of GDV. These include eating only one meal a day, 
feeding only dry dog food, feeding food with only small particles, and feeding a 
large volume of food per meal. Other feeding factors found to increase the 
risk of GDV were eating rapidly, increased physical activity before and 
eating, restricting a dog’s water intake before and after eating, moistening dry 
food before feeding, and eating from a raised feeding bowl. Thus, some of the 
recommendations commonly made to prevent GDV were shown by the research to 
actually increase the risk of GDV. In the Journal of the American Veterinary 
Medical Association, Vol. 17, No. 10, Glickman wrote, “In addition, in 
univariate analysises, many of the recommendations commonly made to prevent GDV, 
such as raising the food bowl, moistening dry food prior to feeding, and 
restricting water intake before and after feeding, were associated with a 
significantly increased risk of GDV.”

THE LATEST RESEARCH

Recent research, not yet published, has shown an increased risk of GDV in 
dogs who consumed dry foods containing fat among the first four ingredients, 
and an increased risk in dogs who consumed dry foods listing citric acid as a 
preservative – with this risk rising when foods with citric acid were 
moistened. Although not statistically significant, researchers found that a modest 
increase in risk of GDV was seen with the consumption of dry foods that 
listed more than one corn ingredient among the first four label ingredients, while 
in contrast, a pattern was observed of decreased GDV risk with an increasing 
number of protein ingredients of animal origin, including beef, poultry, 
lamb, and fish among the first four ingredients.
Dyann S. Rivkin is a writer and video producer in Dyann S. who lives with 
the 14-year old daughter of her first Irish Setter and his grandchildren

STUDY RECOMMENDATIONS


* Feed two or more meals a day 
* *Feed no more than one cup per 33 pounds of body weight per meal when 
feeding two meals a day *
* Feed an energy-dense diet, to reduce volume, but avoid a diet where 
a high amount of calories are from fats. 
* Feed a variety of different food types regularly. The inclusion of 
human foods in a primarily dry dog food diet was associated with a 59 percent 
decreased risk of GDV while inclusion of canned pet foods was associated 
with a 28 percent decreased risk 
* When feeding dry food, also include foods with sufficient amounts of 
meats and meat meals, for example: beef, lamb, poultry, and fish. 
* Feed a food with larger particles, and include larger pieces of meat 
to the diet. 
* Avoid moistening dry foods 
* If your dog eats rapidly, find ways to try to reduce his speed of 
eating 
* Avoid raising the food bowl – place it at ground level 
* Try to minimize stress for your dog. Stressful events have been 
reported to be precipitating factors in GDV occurrence. 
* Restrict vigorous exercise one hour before and two hours after 
meals. 
* When you are not in close proximity to your dog, use a baby monitor 
to alert you if your dog is in distress. 
* Learn to recognize signs of GDV, which include pacing and 
restlessness, head turning to look at the abdomen, distention of the abdomen, rapid 
shallow breathing, nonproductive attempts at vomiting, and salivation. These 
symptoms can progress rapidly to shock and death. Get to your veterinarian or 
emergency hospital the moment you suspect GDV


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## GreatDaneMom (Sep 21, 2007)

im sorry about your loss. bloat is a terrible thing. im a huge maniac about how to feed my dogs. bloat has ALWAYS put fear in me..every day infact. i feed my girls 3 times a day, restrict play before and after eating, etc. i try to do everything i can to prevent it. this is a good article, though some things (such as a raised feeder) have not been proven to reduce or cause bloat. the feeder came to mind first because that one has been a HUGE argument amungst owners, researchers, vets, etc. for a long time. anyway, very educational!!


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## Ginny01OT (Dec 3, 2006)

Raised feeders is also a nice debate between DF regulars--lol. Because I am uncertain/on the fence about raised feeders I have mine raised only four inches from the floor for my standard poodles--rational being--might help their cervical spines otherwise I would not use raised feeders because the Purdue study is a scientific study that has proven raised feeders are a factor in a larger than less percentage of bloat incidences--enough to keep my bowls on the "low" side


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## RawFedDogs (Jun 22, 2008)

The Perdue Bloat Study has been pretty well discredited in several fronts. Most of their data is good, just the way it was interpeted was bad. You can google it and find lots of reasons that it is off the mark.

For example ... Great Danes are 46 times more likely to bloat than the average dog. Most Great Danes eat from raised bowls so the study concluded the raised bowls cause boat because most of the dogs that bloat eat from raised bowls. No thought was given to breed. If you stop and think about it, there is no way on the face of the earth that bowl height could contribute to bloat.

After all the research on Bloat, no one knows what causes it yet. I think stress is the major causative factor.


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## CinnamintStick (Jul 25, 2008)

I have read some of the arguments of the Purdue Bloat Study. Makes you wonder what to do. My dog that died was feed in a bowl on the ground. She was a chow mix. Not a breed I thought of as prone to bloat. In her case I don't think it had anything to do with food or exercise. It did have to do with stress. I changed her routein. I left on a trip to Las Vegas. She was use to me being home all the time. My daughter who lives here, took care of her. She stayed in the house. She was a nervice dog with a very strong bond to me. When I got home I noticed she was pacing alot and would not lay down. My daughter is a vet tech so our vet came in to do surgery for us. Surgery went good but she never woke up.

My new Neo Mastiff/Border Collie puppy is feed three times a day. I think I will always feed him three times a day. My other dogs are feed twice a day but they only eat 1 cup at a meal. I hope thats the right thing to do. They do run hard at night. I try to keep them out of water but sometimes they run over to the duck pond to cool off. I chase them out. I wait a least a hour for them to cool down before I feed and water them.

I have read that some vets are tacking the tummies on some breeds before they bloat as a preventive surgery. Sounds like a good idea to me. There is just such a small window wants symptoms start that your dogs even has a chance to survive bloat.

A few years ago I lived on the same street as Burt Ward who played Robin in Batman. He has a Great Dane rescue with tons of dogs that all ate in raised bowls.


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## Ginny01OT (Dec 3, 2006)

A co-workers GSD died of bloat--she was 8 years old and it was a very, very hot day and she was drinking a lot of water--I don't know if that has anything to do with it bu--It I would think gulping etc would include bringing too much air into the mouth, esophagus, and eventually stomach leading to excessive gas and possible bloat--I also thought that was one of the reasons why raised bowls might not be recommended

Do wild animals/dogs raise their prey or do they hunch down on the ground and pull apart all the pieces?


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## CinnamintStick (Jul 25, 2008)

The drinking could be a symptom of bloat. My dog Faith always drake lots of water. The night she got bloat she was also drinking lots of water up to the time I realized what was going on. She paced and drank. We where all in bed but she was up. It was not like her.


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## Ginny01OT (Dec 3, 2006)

that sounds very much like the scenario with my co-worker. it seems that bloat is more common in the evening/night hours rather than the morning/day---I wonder if that was ever addressed....


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## Emerson00 (May 30, 2008)

I think bloat needs to be taken seriously. Our Dane, Teddy, just passed yesterday. He got through surgery Tuesday, woke up, and crashed late Tuesday night. We weren't there. I'm so afraid our absence when he woke caused him to panic and thereby crash.

We knew of bloat, but had just gotten our Parvo puppy home Monday (stress); when he showed symptoms of Parvo - vomit and lethargy, we didn't even consider bloat. I got home after 3 hours convinced he had parvo and would need an IV and time... I saw the distended belly and panicked. 

I just spent 4 hours crying over my dog as he slipped into unconciousness; we were waiting on his Momma. She was out of cell phone range and didn't know it. By the time she got there he was almost gone. Before he slipped under he picked up his big sweet head and looked at me, and for Momma, and then put his paw in my arm as we lay there....

Whatever it takes, please spread the word about Bloat. If my neighbor - who came over to keep an eye on him - had known about it, she could have sounded the alarm sooner. We never thought to tell her and now we're re-learning life without big Teddy.


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## CinnamintStick (Jul 25, 2008)

I so sorry to here about your dog. It sounds like You did all you could. Bloat is such a ugly condition. I did know about bloat and still missed the early signs with my dog. I didn't know that pacing was a sign. I will never forget that panic look of distress on her face. She threw up water and dry heaves like she ate something bad. I did not see the disended belly right away. I can go over and over what happened and I not sure I would have caught on any sooner with the information that I knew at the time. Now I am a worry wart with gas x on hand. Bloat is the first thing I think of since time is such a factor if your dog is going to come out of it. Unfornunatly I am 45 minutes from my vet in good traffic.


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## Falkon (Aug 21, 2008)

CinnamintStick said:


> I so sorry to here about your dog. It sounds like You did all you could. Bloat is such a ugly condition. I did know about bloat and still missed the early signs with my dog. I didn't know that pacing was a sign. I will never forget that panic look of distress on her face. She threw up water and dry heaves like she ate something bad. I did not see the disended belly right away. I can go over and over what happened and I not sure I would have caught on any sooner with the information that I knew at the time. Now I am a worry wart with gas x on hand. Bloat is the first thing I think of since time is such a factor if your dog is going to come out of it. Unfornunatly I am 45 minutes from my vet in good traffic.


Is Gas X something that could save a dog with bloat?


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## lovemygreys (Jan 20, 2007)

I think genetics plays a _very _large role in bloat, as well as stress. The Purdue study is interesting, though flawed IMO. They give good suggestions, but I dont' freak out over the little details. Our dogs eat in raised feeders now.

Owners of large, deep chested breeds more prone to bloat defintely need to be aware of the symptoms and act fast! if they suspect bloat. It can turn tragic so quickly.


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## CinnamintStick (Jul 25, 2008)

Falkon said:


> Is Gas X something that could save a dog with bloat?



Some think in the very early stages you can stop bloat with Gas X. But once the dogs stomach flips, surgury is all you can do. Gas X is not instead of going to the vet. It is just what some do on the way to the vet. I used Gas X but it was to late. My dogs stomach flipped. When she was taken out of my car she crashed. They revived her and did surgry. I think she was brain dead before surgry. After surgury she never really came too. Our vet let us sleep with her. She opened her eyes and felt pain but no one was home. After 3 days listening to her yep when the pain meds wore off, knowing there was no hope, we put her down.


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## Ginny01OT (Dec 3, 2006)

Falkon said:


> Is Gas X something that could save a dog with bloat?


Gas-X may not save a dog from expiring from bloat but I think it could buy some time--perhaps enough to get to the MD and get needed medical intervention--I keep a box on hand at all times


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## Emerson00 (May 30, 2008)

Good to know about Gas-X. 

Teddy was twisted when he got to the hospital; I have no idea how long it'd been that way, but the doctors were concerned about damage when he had surgery. His heart was shockingly tiny, about a tomato, due to loss of circulation; his stomach upon arrival was the size of a volleyball. There was a delay while he waited for a surgical suite to become available, too, but the docs had pulled a lot of gas and stuff out of the tummy before that.

Everything really just went wrong for poor Teddy. I wish I'd have known about gas-x, and I'd have gone home sooner... ugh.

In big Ted's case, he faced a fight with cancer in the coming months; I can't help but wonder if he opted out now instead of waiting for that fight.


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## Elana55 (Jan 7, 2008)

YEARS ago, my last dog got into something very disgusting and fermenting which I believe started the bloating. I got her to the vet and assisted on the surgery (large animal vet and I had assisted many surgeries). We got her in time and she lost part of her omentum when the circulation was cut off to it (it was surgically removed). She was pumped full of activated charcoal to counteract the disgusting thing she had consumed (don't ask... it is just a hazard if you have a farm). 

They tacked her stomach down and she was fine after that. Actually, that is when I ceased to feed extruded dry food and went to Abady Granular and the dog lived another 8 years. 

I wanted to feed my current dog the same food, but she is intolerant of it. I don't feed in raised bowls.. I do add about 6 oz. of hi fat hamburger to her canidae and she is fed once a day. She is kept trim and I do add water to her food just before serving it, not to soften the dry food but to simply slow her down. She is kept quiet after her meal and for a little while b4. I also add Mirra Coat to her diet and she shines.

She is smaller than my last dog.. at 70 pounds. My last GSD was 95 pounds. While I am not doing everything according to 'Hoyle' in the study or on this forum, it works for me and for my dog.


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## LilTrio24 (Sep 2, 2007)

Is bloat more of an issue just for larger dogs? I would assume not but the emphasis here seems to be on bigger dogs. I have a mini dox, and he doesn't seem to eat quickly but I do feed him dry food which I make wet for him. Just wondering if it is something I should be concerned about.


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## CinnamintStick (Jul 25, 2008)

Normaly dogs with deep chest are at risk. My dog was not a deep chested dog IMO. She was a chow mix. Not one normaly a high risk breed. I think any dog can bloat.


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## Ginny01OT (Dec 3, 2006)

LilTrio24 said:


> Is bloat more of an issue just for larger dogs? I would assume not but the emphasis here seems to be on bigger dogs. I have a mini dox, and he doesn't seem to eat quickly but I do feed him dry food which I make wet for him. Just wondering if it is something I should be concerned about.


I would consider not wetting dry food for your dog if citric acid or chicken fat is in the first five ingredients of your dog food--and absolutely, dachshunds are very deep chested dogs and susceptible to bloat.


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