hi my 20 week old dogue de bordeaux Brock had a bloat episode a week and a half ago well he had 2 actually, he bloated at 10pm on the sat night i rushed him in and they did could not tube him so they opened him up and his stomach had twisted so the put it back and closed him up, when he was coming round he filled with gas and bloated again and guess what his stomach had twisted yet again so they did a gastropexi (stiching his stomach to somewhere?) to stop it happeneing again (not always the case) any way he has pulled though it all really well he had to go back in last sunday for 24 hours was a bit dehydrated and off his food, he is on prescription food from vets only at the moment has been for  just over a week now i have spoke to the vet who did the second op and he said i should feed brock (well wean him slowely) onto chappie? tinned, as i shouldent put him on any dry food or mixers. i am a bit concerned today as he seams constipated and caught him eating another dogs pooh? all this is new to me has anyone had any of these problems or any advise for me and brock? he is on 6 small feeds at the moment with hardly no exersice at all just nipping out for a wee. i do know that once a dog has bloated he is at risk of rebloating!!! thx for your time Donna

hi guest,
we have experience bloat with our bordeauxs and last year lost one of our lovely boys due to this, the thing with bloat is sometimes it can happen so quickly you dont notice it in time,and unfortunatly for us we did'nt.as you have said your vet has tacked his stomach this can help in a reoccurrece,when it happened to us nothing unsual had happened during the day ,no strenous exercise ,no over eating and the weather was fine not to hot or cold,as these can sometimes be a factor in a dog with bloat,now we always feed our dog's off the floor,and give two -three small feeds aday,other precautions taking in hot weather is never to feed in the strong heat of the day,and we only feed tea after sunset when cooler,we also never exercise before or after feeding .
your puppy will most probably be constipated due to the change in food,but if your wooried i would contact your vet,hopefully you wont experience this again,but as you know now you just have to be extra careful,with a dog that has suffered bloat.does your puppy eat really quick when having his meal(like he's never been feed before) if so you can put a tennis ball in his bowl with his feed,this will slow him down,although i would'nt like to see the mess after been hurled round the dish with chappie EEH!,did your vet say to feed him on this indeffinetly,as with a bordeaux i think he would need a higher quality food,i would ask your vet if you can give him a complete food soaked as now we soak all our dogs complete,and hopefully touch wood not had anymore problems.if your worried about anything no matter how trivial just ring your vet for a little advice.
edited to say: nothing wrong with chappie just thought he'd need a little extra and not fed solely on chappie

Hi Angel1 does your dog get quite gasey  i know my bullmastiff does, what does the stomach feel like when they have bloat hard or soft, not that she has this conidition  but after meals her stomach does get quite big, bigger than i feel it should be but she has never been off her food or distressed.  Any info took on board, it's a very serious condition and i would never wont to miss the signs. thanks frank

Studies done fairly recently into bloat have found that feeding from a raised bowl actualy increased the chances of bloat.

My freind who has expereinced bloat in her dobes always has fed slightly raised though.

She never feeds an hour before or after excersise and also doesh;t allow more than a few sips of water after a walk and takes the bowl up for half an hour so they don't drink too much in one go.  After half an hour the water is put back in place for free access.

It wouod seem sensible to feed littel and more often, so feed 3 meals a day like you would yourself, as they eat a lot comparted to a smaler dog.

My dogs only get between 150 and 200g of dry food a day so ther isn't the same amount to swell or ferment.  I would guess that a DDB would eat 4 times that a day?

At least with an elective gastropexy he should not get torsion, just bloat which is easier to deal with.