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Dog Gastric Bloat (Gastric Dilatation and/or Volvulus).
Information on symptoms and cures for gastric bloat.
DBT highly recommends the The Ultimate Guide to Dog Health! ebook when learning to look after your dog or pet.
Gastric Bloat Symptoms
1. Violent retching and trying to vomit often with no success.
2. Dog bloated stomach.
3. Difficulty breathing.
4. No diarrhea.
What Causes Gastric Bloat in Dogs?
Gastric bloat is when your dog is accumulating gas or air in their stomach and is unable to get rid of this gas through other means such as burping. This will then make the stomach swell up and push against other organs such as the lungs (making it hard for your dog to breathe) and also causing pain and discomfort.
It is unsure what actually causes gastric bloat (gastric dilatation) but there are two possibilities that many experts believe could be true that are explained next.
The first cause believed by experts is that some types of dog (not restricted to a particular breed) seem to swallow more air than usual into their stomach and are not able to burp it out to get rid of it resulting in the violent vomiting mentioned above.
The second theory is that the food contained within the dogs stomach ferments and gives off gases to inflate the stomach and again the dog is unable to get rid of this excess gas through burping.
When either of the theory's above happen, the stomach will be in a great deal of discomfort. As this happens your dog may try to vomit to get rid of this gas and air which will only make the situation worse and cause the dog to swallow more air.
As more and more air becomes trapped your dog will find it harder to breath until they become exhausted with the lack of oxygen and collapse. On top of this your dogs' stomach might twist as it inflates (volvulus) which will also need to be corrected as it can cut of blood circulation to other parts of the stomach and spleen.
This illness can escalate in just a few hours and needs urgent medical attention from your vet to avoid possible death from shock or other complications. Although this sounds very worrying, most dogs with gastric bloat and volvulus has around a 90% chance of surviving if you get them to a vet as quickly as possible.
What Your Vet May Say or Do
To cure this illness your vet will do one of two types of diagnosis, they will either do a stomach pump or 'gastric lavage' as it's formally known to relieve the trapped gas, air, and remove all food or they will proceed with surgery to do the same thing and untwist the stomach if necessary.
How to Avoid
As it is unknown why this illness happens and what brings it about, it is highly possible that it may happen again to the same dog. To reduce the risk of further occurrences, some key guidelines should be followed.
1. Do not feed your dog big meals at a time and rather feed them little and often.
2. If your dog has just eaten a meal do not take them out for a walk or do any exercise with your dog for at least an hour after.
Other Possible Conditions
Dog Food Poisoning
Dog Irritable Bowel Syndrome
Dog Intussusception
Dog Pancreatitis
Dog with Obstruction in the Digestive System
Dog Parvovirus Infection
Dog Pyometra (uterine/womb infections)
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