Wind Again!

[Rita Wilson]

Sorry to start another thread about wind/bloating but I'm out of ideas for our Irish Setter Rosco.

 

Roscos Story

A few weeks before Christmas Rosco got into a bag of dog food and ate till he nearly busted. The vet had to empty his stomach and stitch him up. Nearly a week later he bloated out really bad and had to go back to the vets, and he had surgery again, this time they stapled his stomach.

 

Rosco went on a diet of chicken and rice for a few weeks till his stomach could handle the food. He didn't do well on the dried food afterwards so we switched him to RAW. He did great on the raw and we could then start to build him up again with his exercise.

 

Last week Rosco started to have bad wind problems again and needed winded after every feed. It can nearly take an hour sometimes for the wind to go down. He's on 3 feeds a day and he gets his raw food in a mushy texture. He gets a balanced raw nugget which is like baby food really when mashed up.

 

Has anyone any ideas on how I can help him with this wind problem even a few minutes playing in the garden can cause him to get wind. He looks really uncomfortable.

[Lois McCullough]

So sorry to hear about Rosco it must be so stressful for you both. I have just been reading about Bloat on www.irishsetter.org.uk it might be of help. 

[Deb Bouttell]

I have used Carbo Veg (6) for windy dogs, seems to help!

[Carmel Murphy]

Poor Rosco!! Just when he seemed to be doing so well again after his op.!!

As you know my Milo has always had a bit of a wind problem and up to this weekend he always deflated on his own!! The difference with Milo is he stresses easily or gets excited easily which seems to add to the problem!

Perhaps Rosco needs a lot longer before exercise, after eating? Maybe 3 or 4 hours before running about and dont let him drink too much water at one time(especially during the warm weather?) I wonder also did Rosco's stomach suffer too much damage after he gorged himself on the bag of food? Maybe he will always need tiny meals!! I wish i could give more helpful advise!!

Last Friday Milo was out for his usual run with the girls and he just lay down in the field while the girls ran about (very unusual for Milo!!) so I knew straight away that he was in pain, so off to the vets immediately!! After a scan and x-ray they opened him to find that a torsion hadnt actually happened yet, but was in progress, so he is good now, after his op to get his stomach stapled;o) Hard to know why Milo waited until he is almost 7 years old to give me this big fright!! This was my first encounter with torsion, and I hope it is the last!!!!

 

 

[Rita Wilson]

Thanks for the link and the advice.

Carmel poor Milo luckily you noticed something was wrong and got him off to the vets. I hope the big guy makes a speedy recovery and this never happens again. It's scary but you were quick to react which made a big difference.

 

I've been doing research all morning and I've found that grains produce more gas in dogs so this could be the problem. Rosco wasn't getting any grains 3 weeks ago...the nuggets contain 16% of grains so maybe that's the problem. Rosco was in flying form before that and didn't suffer too often with gas, and was able to relieve it on his own aswell.

[Carmel Murphy]

I would suspect the grains too!! As you say, Rosco was doing well on the raw diet!! So it seems even a tiny bit of grain affects him badly!! Milo is on a grain free diet also, so dont know what triggered this!! Perhaps he would be safer on raw also;o)

Milo recovered very quickly and was home the day after the op (as there was no damage!) And other than he has no more feathering on his belly, and a long row of stitches, he looks perfectly happy;o))

[Rita Wilson]

We'll go back to the meat only diet and see how he does again. Hopefully it works!

Glad to hear Milo recovered quickly and there was no damage...Rosco hair is just starting to grown back right on his belly.

[Anna Kazimierowicz]

Hello Rita,

I hope Rosco is better now;-)

My Kruszyna is also very 'windy' dog. She had a bloat and twisted stomag in december.

There must be some mistake in her anatomy.She has a tendency to swallow the air during eating, drinking  and running as well. As a pup, few minutes after drinking a water or eating she have been burping loudly. All her life she has a tendency to bloat. I always have medicins against winds and no-spa for reducing muscle tension. She used to eat revenously (I used to have 3 dogs), now she is much more calm. Maybe this is the result of her origin. She was the smallest puppy in the group of  9, so she had to fight for food. I always let her to eat first from the biggest nipple, but there were situations when other puppies have been trying to get her out.

Her stomag is rather delicate, but she is very greedy, so I let her to eat many treats from human table - cheese, blue cheese, saussages, cakes etc. Now this is forbiden - my girl eats only her dry food and sometimes boiled rice with chicken. But she is not very enthusiastic to boiled food. As a treat I use raw beef.

After the surgery the vets said her stomag is stretched, not stretchy. They supposed there must be some neurological problem.

There must be also some nervous impact.  Last year she didn't like riding in a car. I have true problem with her during New Years Eve canonade (that started few years ago).

After this bloat and surgery I'm very careful. We wasn't for our usual long walks and runs in the meadows yet. I'm very affraid of that. Even during longer (more than 30 min) normal walks she sometimes starts to try vomiting. It looks like she wants to vomit anything but there is only the air. Last week during our evening walk we met few dogs and there was a very young male trying to  make advances to her. She was not interested in and she barked at him. During that walk we played in fenced area so there was no running, only this 'argument' with that male.

When we went back home she was bloated - I was terrified. I gave her medicins: simeticon (espumisan) and drotawertine (no-spa). She lied calmly half an hour and picked up with normal belly. She went to the kitchen. After drinking a glass of  water from the bowl - her belly was again full of air. I waited next half an hour to see her belly normal.

By the way, what's your opinnion about bowls for tall dogs. I use bowls on feeder.Is that OK. I read many contradictory opinnions.

Maybe my experience with Kruszyna's bloats will help you:-)

 

[Garrech and Canagan]

Hi,
To aid getting rid of the gas give him something that contains Simeticone such as Windeeze capsules. don't feed him any form of kibble. Get advice from a good vet who has experience if treating bloat.
How old is he?

[Sue and Cash]

I thought this year they say to not feed with the bowls elevated anymore.  Now it is on the floor again.  I know it has changed over and over again.  I see this cartoon in my head of my dog trying to eat and drink while the bowl is going up and down and up and down.  Not to make fun of it, but I bought elevated feeders and then it was like NO drop the bowl down again.  I hear they swallow more air with the bowl up.  Sure doesn't look very comfortable to eat with your head so far down but whatever works I guess.  Best wishes for your dog.

 

[Sherry Miller]

Sue sometimes I think the only safe way to feed our Irish is by hand...silver spoon anyone? :)

[Rita Wilson]

Thanks for talking about your experience Anna, I also believe Rosco gulps in air when he is playing. he's only been outisde for less than 5 minutes and has come in bloated again. The wind is coming up on it's own this time. It's so hard to tell a red setter he can't play at the minute incase he bloats. I'm not sure about the elevated feeders I have heard mixed reviews on them.

 

Sue we are resting Rosco before and after eating and it is hard. I take him out for a pee straight after eating as he always pee's straight away. Then straight to the sitting room for at least an hour. Grip water is banned in the republic of ireland but I can get in in Northern Ireland if needed.

 

Finn, Rosco used to get the chicken thighs and drumsticks with the beef chunks. He wouldn't take the time to chew them and swallow them whole. He would bloat out terrible afterwards. For Rosco we use more of the freeflow minced meats and blocks. We use the Prize Choice http://www.prizechoice.co.uk/products/mincedmeats/index.php

 

Garrech I will look into the Windeeze capsules, thanks for the tip. He doesn't get any form of kibble in the last few months.

 

 

 

[Garrech and Canagan]

 

Hi Rita,

Apologies for my previous brief reply. Again how old is Rosco? We had a dog which began bloating when he was about 9 months old. This problem is more common than previously believed. We had terrible problems with controlling the gas or initially predicting when he might bloat. But after a while we realised that a high number of bloat attacks were caused by stress.

We also went through the trial of elevated bowls but opinion on this one seems divided pretty much 50-50! We eventually fed him by hand and kept to 4 smaller meals a day spaced out as much as possible. It is also very important to avoid exercise immediately before and even more importantly afterwards. Leave it as long as possible afterwards for any runs etc.

As I said before any form of kibble was banned. We eventually settled (as recommended by one of the best Internal Medicine Specialist Vets in the UK) on a diet of Hills z/d canned food with added freshly cooked rice. By the way the rice helped him regain weight. We managed to get his weight up from the lowest 18 kilos to a healthy 30 kilos and he looked a very handsome animal although more importantly quite a healthy one but unfortunately he died last October before his 3^rd birthday but not from bloat. Certainly all the bloating ruined his stomach and by the time he had his Gastropexy the damage had already been done.

We gave a Zantac tablet ½hr before each meal in addition to the Windeeze.

But I reiterate find a vet that has good experience of treating the problem.