Bloat In Dogs

[PoultryPower]

So my family's Labrador is around 7-8 years old now. She's a great dog, very loyal and loving. Our one huge problem with her is that she bloats quite easily. Take her for a walk, and she can bloat, take her to the dog park, and she can bloat. Play with a dog, she can get bloat. We've even had her bloat once when she got excited to see someone who came over to our house. We've struggled with this for about 4 years.
I know bloat is super serious, I've read a ton about it. We've taken her to the vet a couple times when she's bloated and have been sent back homing because her stomach doesn't twist (Thank you, God). I also know the only real "treatment" for bloat is to tack the stomach. Even with tacking, she can still bloat and it's terribly uncomfortable for her.
Has anyone else had a dog who gets bloat frequently? Was there anything you found that helps?
Right now, we feed her probiotics and don't take her for walks or to the park. She's a home-bound hound and it's really sad because she LOVES playing with other dogs and going for walks. We also know about feeding lots of small meals instead of one big meal and to feed a couple hours before physical activity. And the restiction of water before, during, and after activity. This doesn't seem to help, though, she gets bloat on an empty stomach.
I've also read that you can give your dog gas relieving medicine when they're bloated. We give her Pepto Bismol, but it doesn't really seem to help. Is there anything else we can do to help her when she bloats?
Basically, I'm looking for any success stories.

 

[fried green eggs]

Poor dog. Do you have her on a special diet? Good dog food like Nutros' Natural Lamb & Rice which is very easy for the dog to digest, might help. I can not feed any chicken based dog food to my female Rottie or she gets terrible gas and feels miserable. I have been feeding Nutros for 18 years and have found it is well worth the price. Good Luck.

 

[ChickensRDinos]

Agree with Green. Make sure you have your dog on a high quality food. I switched to a grain free and poultry free feed and it made a HUGE different in both food allergies and stomach issues all around.

Speed of eating is also a big factor with bloat and big dogs. You want make sure she eats slowly and chews her food.

Feed her in a treat ball like this so she can only eat a few pieces of food at a time. It will take her a long time to get through dinner, which is good.

http://www.amazon.com/StarMark-Ever...id=1363647644&sr=8-11&keywords=dog+treat+ball

Or try something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/Indipets-Extr...=1363647725&sr=8-2&keywords=slow+eat+dog+bowl

http://www.amazon.com/Skid-Stop-Slo...=1363647725&sr=8-1&keywords=slow+eat+dog+bowl

http://www.amazon.com/Omega-Paw-Por...=1363647725&sr=8-5&keywords=slow+eat+dog+bowl

Anything to get her to seriously slow down. Or hand feed her just a little at a time if you have to.

 

[fried green eggs]

I tried the first one in the link above for one of my rottie - she destroyed it in less than 5 minutes. The stainless one might be good. lol I have tried putting tennis balls and pool table cue balls in with the food in the dish to slow down eating. Tennis balls got destroyed quickly. Cue balls worked well for my one female till she learned to slow down her eating. They are heavy enough that she didn't just pop them out of the bowl and she had to eat around them and keep moving them to get to the food.

 

[PoultryPower]

We have a good food ball that we use for my other dog. She knows how to use it too. I should try and see if letting her use it every meal helps.

Poor dog. Do you have her on a special diet? Good dog food like Nutros' Natural Lamb & Rice which is very easy for the dog to digest, might help. I can not feed any chicken based dog food to my female Rottie or she gets terrible gas and feels miserable. I have been feeding Nutros for 18 years and have found it is well worth the price. Good Luck.

I've heard that lamb is hard on a dog's stomach.

We feed them a good quality food, but we avoid lamb.

 

[Mtn Laurel]

Had a mixed lab that went into full torque. She twisted so hard she ruptured her spleen in the process. We got her to the emergency vet, they did surgery, tacked her stomach and she survived. Sadly, we lost her about 18 mos. later to congenital kidney disease. She was the runt of the litter and we raised her from a bottle beginning when she was 2 days old. We're still not over it.

Her mother had a sensitive stomach and her brother - who is an elderly 11 yr. old gentleman now - also has issues with sour stomach and bloat. My daughter is a vet tech and we do the following things to help -

Three smaller meals a day instead of one or two large ones.
No "rough housing" after eating. Wait a while before any activity.
Good quality food. Including good quality snacks.No greasy table foods.
No bloat-producing veggies - broccoli, cabbage, etc. He does love carrots and is fine with them.
NO pig ears or rawhide or anything like that. NEVER!
Elevate the food bowl so they don't have to lean over so far to eat.
If gassy, give 1 pepcid tablet. We've also given 1-2 tums and that has helped.
Since getting chickens and learning the value of ACV, I've been adding a glug of ACV to his water bucket. Don't know if it's helping but can't hurt.

Our old guy is having a rough time now as he has lyme disease that wasn't initially caught when he first got sick. Thought he was over it and then he relapsed hard. Is taking 2 different antibiotics 5 times a day now and the spring is finally returning to his step.Whew!