Bloat: The ‘Time Bomb’ All Dog Owners Should Know About
Watch for these signs and act fast!
It’s described as a ‘time bomb’ for dogs. Gastric dilatation-volvulus (GDV), also known as bloat, is a painful and immediately life threatening condition caused when a dog’s stomach twists, leaving the entrance and exit to the organ blocked.
Bloat can be fatal for your beloved pet if the disease is not treated in time or prevented, says Dr. Adrian Walton, lead veterinarian and owner of Dewdney Animal Hospital.
Dogs can get bloat if they are active after eating a large meal, explains Dr. Walton. This is because food sits at the base of their stomach, and when the dog walks, lies down, or rolls over, the momentum can be strong enough to flip the stomach 360 degrees, effectively twisting the organ and causing trapped gas to build up inside.
“The stomach gets bigger,” Dr. Walton explains, and as “the blood supply is already damaged, it’s not able to pump blood to the stomach, and eventually the tissue of the stomach dies because there’s no blood flow— and so you can even fix the dog, and three days later, you have to go back in because the stomach is starting to rot.”
Dr. Walton says there are signs that can help you determine if your dog is suffering from bloat. These signs include the stomach getting larger, your dog pacing and/or trying to vomit but nothing coming out, and tapping the side of your dog’s stomach with your finger—“If it is filled with gas, you will hear almost like a steel drum sound,”
Dr. Walton says. This is most apparent when tapping on the left side just below the last rib.
“This is not something to play around with,” the vet warns. “If you see your dog’s abdomen distending, you have to go see an emergency vet—this is not something to wait until the morning.
The sooner you get your dog to see a vet the likelihood of your dog surviving—it goes up dramatically.”
Bloat can happen to any breed of dog and at any age, but Dr. Walton said he’s seen more cases in the Great Dane and Standard Poodle.
Dog owner Linda Larocque has experienced bloat with both of her Boxers—14 years ago with her late Boxer, Brandie, and again with her nineyear-old Boxer, Lucy, in 2019.
Brandie’s stomach bloated twice. “We didn’t even recognize the signs,”