Elevated feeding bowl=high chance of bloat?

[bessy-senior]

Hi everyone,

I read about this in a newsletter that was emailed to us from the dog shelter I volunteer at. Seems this volunteer's lab developed bloat, and she fed him using an elevated bowl. She's devastated beyond belief!

How true is this? Are there any other reasons for bloat?

[moz205]

I have also heard this before and can't remember where I read it. I do not and never have fed my dogs from an elevated bowl.

[bliss7373]

Thoughts on this go both ways. Some people insist that elevated feeding bowls decrease the risk of bloat....others think it increases the risk.

There are tons of supposed risk factors for bloat: elevated food bowls, allowing dogs to drink ice water (shocking the stomach, so to speak), feeding dry kibble, feeding large meals, exercising after eating. I'm sure there are more that I'm not listing.

I personally believe that if a dog is prone/destined to bloat, it will bloat regardless of the precautions you take. Regardless, I do soak my dogs' meals before feeding, I don't feed excessively large meals and I do not allow my dogs to run around for at least 30 minutes after eating. That seems like common sense to me.

I lost my girl, Sofia, to bloat in March. She began showing the signs very quickly after eating a small meal of wet food. There were none of the so-called risk factors. Her meal was small, it was wet (and therefore not likely to expand in her stomach), she did not eat from an elevated bowl, the food was room temperature, and she certainly did not run around after eating.

Her autopsy, however, revealed cancer in her intestinal tract. Her digestive system was failing - bloat was really secondary, in a sense.

[2rotties2luv]

There were two bloat studies done in recent years, one at Purdue Vererinary School, the other at Tufts Veterinary School. Summaries of the studies are on the internet. You can also do a search here at RDN, the links to the studies have been posted here numerous times.

Dry kibble itself was not found to be a risk factor. If the dry kibble contains citric acid as a preservative, and this kibble is soaked with water before feeding, then it presents a risk of bloat. Feeding dry kibble with citric acid in its dry state or feeding kibble NOT containing citric acid soaked in water does NOT increase the chance of bloat.

Another major risk factor for bloat is genetic. If any close relatives of a dog have suffered from bloat, then that dog has a highly increased risk of developing bloat.

Interestingly, they also found that exercise before or after feeding did not significantly increase the chances of developing bloat.

Also, note that there are two factors involved: bloat and gastric torsion. Bloat in itself, excessive gas and distention of the stomach is not necessarily life threatening, although it does require attention from a vet. It is when the bloated stomach twists (gastric torsion) that it becomes an extreme medical emergency. Exercising a dog with a bloated stomach can cause the gastric torsion to occur. Even going up or down stairs or jumping into the car is enough to cause a bloated stomach to twist.

[Baxter's Mom]

I have feed my dogs with evaluated food bowls for years without a incident... One of my worst fears is bloat... My precaution is I don't let the dogs eat or drink from anywhere to 30 minutes to a hour after exercise nor any heavy exercise for a hour after eating... During the summer, we still exercise, I rarely use the excuse it's too hot, and when we get back home, I'll pull the water hose out and rinse them off with that to help cool them off versus drinking a ton of water right afterwords... Bloat to me is one of those things if it's going to happen, it's going to happen but I feel better about having "precautions" in place...