word of caution: raw & bloat

[mmgy]

Saturday a friend lost her nine year old male rottweiler to bloat. Her dogs have been raw fed for years, and it had been at least 12 hours after a feeding.

This dog had a history of gastro-intestinal weaknesses, including burping, gas, and food allergies. His issues were paramount in her feeding raw in the first place.

Several times here we have conjectured that raw fed dogs don't get bloat, and that may well be true for a "normal" dog. But I thought y'all would like to know this.

[Rott-Wiley]

Do you know if he was fed twice a day or not? I'd be curious to know.

[mmgy]

Yes, as a matter of course. This is my friend that throws out chicken frames for breakfast, and at night feeds rmbs/veggies/etc.

[Carina43]

Yep.
A good friend here lost her old Great Dane in February 2002. He was 12 years old - so being an old, male, Great Dane he was one of THE most likely candidates for GVD.

He was raw fed, and had his dinner early evening - he ate twice a day. She woke up at 2am with him whining, in pain. She could not get him to the vet ER fast enough; he died en route. :(

I think bottom line, nobody truly knows what causes bloat, do they? Some things may (or may not) influence it, but it seems that breed and maybe some genetic predisposition is by far the biggest factor.

[mmgy]

Originally posted by Carina43
I think bottom line, nobody truly knows what causes bloat, do they? Some things may (or may not) influence it, but it seems that breed and maybe some genetic predisposition is by far the biggest factor.

Life is neither certain or fair.

[rottie2mom]

This concerns me as we just switched C-Zar to a raw diet due to his dx with osteosarcoma. Is this something we should be worried about?

[Rott-Wiley]

I would think you should worry more about having him on a commercial dry food if he is inclined to bloat. This is not a common problem with our breed but it does happen.

[Carina43]

Originally posted by rottie2mom
This concerns me as we just switched C-Zar to a raw diet due to his dx with osteosarcoma. Is this something we should be worried about?

No. I think diet probably plays a miniscule part anyhow. And like Rott-Wiley says, since dogs are more likely to get gas from grains, it's probably LESS likely if anything. I've fed raw for over three years, and I don't worry one bit about bloat.