New Bloat Survey - 2010

[Cheryl Gorey]

The link for this Bloat Survey was just published in our "National Dog" Magazine here in Australia. 

 

The Abstract of the most recent study (2010) by Marko Pipan, Dorothy Cimino Brown, Carmelo L. Battaglia and Cynthia M. Otto can be found at this link:

 

http://www.breedingbetterdogs.com/bloat-survey.php

 

The full survey results are not yet available, so I will be checking the Breeding Better Dogs website regularly.  It appears that this was an internet based survey done in USA.

 

cheers

Cheryl

[Susan Stone]

I've just found this article on MHC http://jhered.oxfordjournals.org/content/94/1/23.full

[eva ciechonska]

The final end of year registered totals for each breed will be published shortly.  It will be interesting to calculate percentages of hip scored dogs against these.  My feeling is that Weimeraners will show a higher registered total than IS, but I could be wrong, of course.  It could explain the greater number of the breed going through the scheme.

I find it funny that you don't think the missing GSDs would have made much of a difference to the final evaluations of the AHT survey because this is a breed that does suffer badly from GDV.  Of course they could have been 5th but they could also have been 1st, 2nd or 3rd.........we will never know.  

Oh Susan.......of course we are not in the US.  What an amusing thing to say!!!!!    However, as the subject of Cheryl's Forum discussion and link is, in fact, the latest internet based survey from the USA it was only fair that I mention this.  And, yes, FAR more important than any survey.............precious research into how we can reduce the incidence of this disease.

As to cancer.................well you have totally finished me off with "Major Histocompatibility Complex MHC" and epigenetics...........................I give in!!!!!!

 

[Susan Stone]

GSDs: sorry, my mistake - what I meant to say was GSD may have joined the 'top five' of the breeds at risk, not 5th. Still, numbers of IS where highly representative.

The survey in the ISBC newsletter was produced in the UK so reflects the actual state of the breed in that country. For expample Purdue studies cover far higher numbers of dogs in general but not Irish of UK breeding.

MHC is worth looking into - we will probably be hearing more of it in years to come.

 

Thanks ladies for an interesting and demanding discussion!

[Susan Stone]

Thanks, Camilla.

[mrs dee farndell]

Thank goodness for surveys and research into the most awful condition which affects our beautiful breed.

I think total awareness of the signs are critical I have recently had one of my bitches bloat on just water no food in her stomach just masses of liquid. Where she got this from god only knows or how long it had just sat there.

She bloated in just 4 minutes it took me 8 minutes to get to my vet and they stitched her stomach down so it will not twist again.

Without research for a condition which is totally unexplainable at the moment can only be a bad thing.

Although we have only had 3 cases of bloat in 38 years of owning Irish we are now getting so many different views  i e not feeding raised  not resting after or before food  it tends to leave us all in a bit of a turmoil as to what is best.

I just hope one day soon we will have the answers to all our questions and anxieties

[Susan Stone]

At the risk of boring everyone... more on MHC and genetic diversity

http://www.genoscoper.com/in_english2/gene_tests/gene_tests/dla_div...

This is an extremely interesting site that could help both breed clubs and breeders... all about MHC (Major Histocompatibility Complex) and more. And looks like you can get it in Swedish as well!

 

[Susan Stone]

I think this is the swedish version of the same:

http://www.genoscoper.com/pa_svenska/gentest/hundar/dla_polymorfism/

[Pat Aldridge]

In over 40 years' breeding Irish & English Setters, health "events" have been:

GDV - 1 IS (6 month old dog puppy) - never did it again & died at 14 years

Bloat (no twist) - 2 IS (both elderly bitches, both for the first time), 1 ES (10 year old bitch who always "vacuumed" her food!)

Bacterial meningitis - 1 10 month old ES bitch

No MO, no epilepsy, no PRA, no CLAD (all IS DNA tested clear or clear by descent)

Perhaps I'm just lucky???  Although I am personally of the opinion that a lot of my "luck" is because my lines are all UK, & predominantly Wendover.

My vets say that if they depended on me for their bread & butter, they would starve LOL!

 

 

[Sheree Parrish]

I've been watching this thread with interest, I get really confused by what we are supposed to do...so I follow it, then it changes and I change how I feed the dogs, when I exercise them etc.  I have only, thank god, had two experiences of bloat during the 30 odd years that I have owned the Irish and English.  It was both Irish boys, the first lad blew up the day I got him at 12 weeks, his breeder said he's never done it before, he was rushed to the vets and they said there was nothing wrong with him, just a windy puppy. He was used at stud at a later date, there were only two boy pups in this litter and I kept them both.  When the first one was 4 he blew again, but sadly died on the operating table, the vet said his organs had already started to necratise (sp?) so there had been something going on in there for a while, but nothing noticable to someone who can tell which one of her dogs is in the other room and drinking, just by the sound of it...had there been something wrong with him I would have known.

Imagine my horror when one of the sons, also aged 4 at the time, started wretching, his tummy was going up and down, I just knew what it was.  He was at the emergency vets within 10 minutes, he had stopped wretching and, apart from looking sorry for himself, there didn't seem anything wrong.  I asked if they would keep him for observation and they agreed, it was with a heavy heart I left him at the surgery, however, as I got home  7 minutes later, the phone was ringing, it was the vets, he had started up the symptoms again and they were going in.  He had got bloat, thankfully none of his organs had been damaged and they stitched the walls of his stomach.  There was no blockage or anything, they had no idea why he had bloated.  He was in the vets for a week as it was touch and go, even though he was there in good time.  He wouldn't eat and started to get depressed being away from me, but they didn't want me to visit as he was so poorly.  In the end I insisted, I took him some white fish and he nearly had my hand off...he came home next day and never looked back.  His litter brother has never shown any signs of bloat and they will be 10 this summer.

After this happened, I found out that the line the original dog was from had a history of bloat...yet the vet said that is isn't necessarily hereditary.

When I do get another Irish, and I will :-), I will be very careful about researching the lines, just incase.

I suppose what I am trying to say is, no matter what evidence these researchers give us, if you have lived with bloat then I think you tend to make your own conclusions, thats certainly how I am going to play it from now on.

[Susan Stone]

Hi Sheree

I think most of recommendations as outlined on the website of the Irish Setter Breeders Club still count and it is best to live in awareness that Irish Setters (and other large breeds) are prone to bloat and GDV.

http://www.isbc.org.uk/Health/gdv%20update%20page%20141209.htm

scroll down for their recommendations - unfortunately the present format does not make for easy reading and I did think the 'raised food bowl' was a thing of the past so maybe it has not been updated in a while...

[wilko jansen]

i received the results of the irish setters in this internet survey. i have published about it in a jansen & jansen newsletter. this was once again a questionnaire without asking the pedigree name. my conclusion is since 2016 torsion GDV is in IS inherited. so far i was able to find the pedigree names of GDV cases in this survey. a few were already reported to me by the breeder, owner.