Large Chested fast eaters

[Shelteez2]

Been considering getting one for Chipper. I'm surprised he doesn't throw up with how fast he eats.

My friend's bulldog did throw up he ate so fast. She would have to take up his bowl half way between to let him settle. Then she got one of the bowls posted in the link. She loves it and can't say enough good things about it.

Yeah.. I was always paranoid too... used to feed the dogs soaked food, and feed it late at night so they weren't running around playing right after they ate.

Then about 5yrs ago I had a 7 month old male collie bloat/torsion on an empty stomach... I caught it early, went to the ER vet = surgery to take his stomach... he survived, did great was hospitalized about 36hrs total...

A year later a dog I co-owned was at his co-owners and bloated, again on an empty stomach... he was not so lucky, sadly he didn't survive. He was the sire of the puppy that bloated....hmm and breeders try to deny it can SOMETIMES be genetic....

I thought with bloat that you weren't supposed to let the dogs tummy get too empty either?? At least that's what my dobe breeder says. She always makes sure the dogs get 2 meals a day and never go more than 12 hours without food.

[Spiritwind]

I thought with bloat that you weren't supposed to let the dogs tummy get too empty either?? At least that's what my dobe breeder says. She always makes sure the dogs get 2 meals a day and never go more than 12 hours without food.

The puppy that bloated, bloated about 10 hrs after he ate... so basicly empty stomach.. he bloated thru the middle of the night/early morning, while sleeping in his crate..... when he had the surgery the surgeon basicly told me if its gonna happen, it will and you won't prevent it.. you can try to reduce the risk, but in the end, if its gonna happen it will.... and I personally feel its strongly genetic (not all cases of course.. but A LOT) and runs in certain lines.... and in some pedigrees (which is the case of the father and son that I had that bloated).... you can look back at the pedigree and in almost every generation name a dog or in some cases several dogs who either bloated or produced it.... and breeders ignore this or try to make up excuses as to why it happened..... and then continue on breeding dogs with strong bloat backgrounds to other dogs with strong bloat backgrounds..

I only feed my dogs once a day... except for puppies of course. After my first dog bloated, well actually before.. I was paranoid about bloat and would feed the dogs late at night and crate them after they ate... so they weren't running around and playing to rough with a full stomach.

But now I feel like you have to let the dogs be dogs... I feed once a day, if they want to play and run and have a good time after they eat... they can. You can't treat them like they are going to break, especially when you breed because you need to know about health problems.... because I refuse to breed a dog who bloats... that is one of the reason I bought Zack (Robin's Zack) a few years back..... I got Zack after my puppy bloated but before the puppies sire bloated... I got Zack for several reasons, but the main reason was because the bloodlines behind Zack are not only beautiful, they are known to be healthy, long lived dogs! I mean Zack's great grandsire was showing at the Collie club of america national specialty show this past spring, in the vetran class at just over 14yrs old!... he was slow, but he was showing! Zack is behind EVERY dog I own, including my current litter of puppies...

I remember at the 2005 CCA (the year paris and zack both go class placements)... there was a rough blue bitch who bloated at the national.... and died. What did the owner say... just "Well I guess we aren't going to win the open blue class this year" How sad is this???? It shouldn't be all about winning...

I visited some other breeders 5-6 years ago... just kennel hopping really.... they were fairly close to where I lived at the time so me and another breeder friend of mine went to look at their dogs. This was before I had anything that bloated.... these breeders were really looking forward to the CCA national specialty that year.. because they FINALLY had a vetran to show... they said this right to us... "Our dogs don't usually make it that long"... the first age group for vetrans is 7-11.... your dogs don't usually make it to 7yrs old???? again... thats pretty sad!!

Ok... this got longer than expected.... JMHO about bloat....

[Shelteez2]

Thanks for clarifying that about the pup you had that bloated.
I get what you mean about letting dogs be dogs. I am somewhat concerned with bloat with Ramone. I add water to his food, but I don't let it soak until it's right soggy. I do wait 30 minutes before or after feeding for exercise... but I don't restrict him from moving about. We don't have a yard for him to rip around in anyways. I do feed him from raised dishes...but not always. I occassionally feed him in his crate so he has to eat off the floor in it.
That's awful about the collie breeders you mentioned. Both the "guess we won't be winning the open blue class" and the ones whose dogs didn't make it past 7. My dobe breeder has quite a few dogs in the double digits age wise and has only had a few bloat cases in over 20 years of breeding. I'm going to ask her what she thinks about there being a genetic factor involved.

[Spiritwind]

Thanks for clarifying that about the pup you had that bloated.
I get what you mean about letting dogs be dogs. I am somewhat concerned with bloat with Ramone. I add water to his food, but I don't let it soak until it's right soggy. I do wait 30 minutes before or after feeding for exercise... but I don't restrict him from moving about. We don't have a yard for him to rip around in anyways. I do feed him from raised dishes...but not always. I occassionally feed him in his crate so he has to eat off the floor in it.
That's awful about the collie breeders you mentioned. Both the "guess we won't be winning the open blue class" and the ones whose dogs didn't make it past 7. My dobe breeder has quite a few dogs in the double digits age wise and has only had a few bloat cases in over 20 years of breeding. I'm going to ask her what she thinks about there being a genetic factor involved.

Well my dogs do get water added to their food... also I add a little canned (like 1/2 can between 5 dogs.. so its not a lot of canned)... but I don't let the food sit and get soggy either.... I mix it all up in one large bucket with a little water and canned.. and scoop it right out to them. Though I don't restrict activity if they want to play they can.. but most often they just chill for a while.... after they eat. They aren't crated or locked up.

I don't think all cases of bloat are genetic... last year a friend of mines 13yr old lab bloated.. they took him in for surgery and found a huge mass in his abdomen.. which they figured caused him to bloat... he was put down tho, they couldn't do anything.... I think dogs who bloat at 8-9-10 yrs old or older... a lot of it could be caused by other underline health issues - cancer, tumors etc.... but when you have a 7 month old, perfectly healthy Collie PUPPY.. that screams out genetic to me!!.... His sire was I think 7yrs old when he died of bloat...

There are dogs behind the sire who bloated at 5-6-7 yrs of age.... 5yrs of age seems to be the key age for a lot of the dogs behind him though... so again, that is weird.... as several of the dogs (but not all) that have bloated in his pedigree, bloated around 5yrs of age....