Puppy Bloat: Signs, Causes & Prevention (+5 Crucial FAQs)
Bloat, or to give it the full name – Gastric Dilation-Volvulus (GDV) is rare in puppies, but when it happens, immediate veterinary care is essential to save your puppy’s life.
Understanding Bloat
GDV or bloat occurs when the stomach fills with gas and the stomach twists creating a blockage. Bloat can occur without the stomach twist, and it is equally as serious for the puppy.
The consequences of the gas-swollen stomach and the twist are:
- The puppy can’t get rid of the issue by burping, vomiting, or defecating.
- Blood supply stops reaching parts of the stomach and the spleen, and these start to die.
- Impaired circulation from pressure blocking the returning blood flow to the heart from the lower part of the body.
A puppy with bloat can die painfully within a few hours, but thankfully the condition is rare in puppies.
What Causes Bloat in Puppies?
Despite numerous studies and research, veterinary medicine is unable to tell what causes bloat in dogs, but the identified risk factors are:
- Breed – larger dogs and those with a significant chest depth to width ratio.
- Age – bloat is more likely in a middle-aged or older dog, but puppies still get it.
- Family history – a sibling or parent with bloat indicates a higher risk.
- Being underweight is a factor in susceptible breeds.
- Personality – nervous dogs are twice as likely to bloat as calmer dogs.
- Diet – indications are that food containing soybean meal or listing fats or oils in the first four ingredients increase the bloating risk.
- Lifestyle – a raised food bowl, eating or drinking too fast, and a single daily meal.
Puppy Breed and Bloat
All puppies can potentially suffer from bloat, but some breeds are more susceptible than others. Great Danes, for example, have a 40% risk of developing bloat in their lifetime.
Giant and larger breeds have three times the bloat risk of mixed breed smaller dogs. Smaller dogs like dachshunds have an increased bloat risk because of their chest depth to width ratio.
Bloat is not a problem confined to the larger breeds.
The breeds identified as having a higher risk than usual for bloat are:
- St Bernard,
- Great Dane,
- Irish Setter,
- Labrador Retriever,
- Standard Poodle,
- Old English Sheepdog,
- Weimaraner,
- Rottweiler,
- German Shepherds,
- Bloodhounds,
- Irish Wolf Hounds,
- Doberman Pinchers,
- Rhodesian RidgeBack,
- Shar-Pei,
- Boxer,
- Collie,
- Great Pyrenees,
- Basset Hound, and
- Dachshund.
Puppy Personality and Bloat
Calm, happy dogs suffer fewer illnesses than anxious, nervous, or aggressive dogs, and bloat is more risk for fearful, anxious dogs.
Sometimes anxiety is an innate trait in a puppy, but you can encourage calmness through careful puppy socialization and training with appropriate tools like a puppy playpen.
Puppy Diet and Bloat
Research indicates that diet has a role in increasing or decreasing the risk of bloat in susceptible puppies and adult dogs.
The rise in feeding puppies (and dogs) dry food corresponds with an increasing prevalence of bloat.
Feeding dry food with fat or oils listed in the first four ingredients increases the bloat risk by 170%. Soaking a dry mix containing citric acid increases the bloat risk by a staggering 320%.
It’s not exclusively what you feed, but how you feed that increases risk – raising the food and water bowl off the floor increases bloating risk by 110%.
Providing only one large meal a day increases bloating risk – especially with age.
The theory is that weighing down the stomach with one large meal stretches the hepatogastric ligament keeping the stomach in place.
How Can You Spot a Puppy with Bloat?
Puppies tend to get pot-bellied after eating and then sleep off the meal and get up ready to play.
The signs of a puppy with bloat include:
- Swollen tummy, tender and painful when touched.
- Retching but unable to vomit.
- Trying to poop but without success.
- Restlessly whining and crying in pain and discomfort.
- Drooling – more than usual.
- Shock signs – rapid, shallow breathing, racing pulse, and pale gums.
If you suspect bloat, get your puppy to a vet as quickly as possible – better a false alarm than having your puppy collapse and die.
Other Reasons for a Puppy’s Bloated Belly
First, always take an uncomfortably bloated puppy to a vet for a check-up and some advice.
Lethal GDV is rare, but only a vet can diagnose the causes behind your puppy’s bloated belly. It is far better to be cautious.
Potential other reasons for a bloated puppy include:
- The puppy is too young (under eight weeks) to digest solid food.
- The puppy needs worming – most puppies do need worm treatment.
- The puppy eats too fast and too much and ends up with a full, gassy belly but not GDV.
- Congenital condition – heart disease, for example, can result in belly bloating.
Treating Bloat in Puppies
Your vet will establish the cause of your puppy’s bloat.
If GDV is a potential cause, your vet needs to act fast using a tube to the stomach to decompress the pressure and surgery to remove dying tissue (stomach and spleen) and any twisted sections.
Gastropexy currently has an 80% chance of effectively treating bloat. Previously the odds of survival were 50%.
Unfortunately, fast treatment is necessary, and your puppy still has the potential to die despite surgery.
Suppose the puppy was given to you at too young an age by an inexperienced or disreputable breeder. In that case, your vet can recommend a diet and feeding protocol to give your puppy nourishment without upsetting its stomach.
Whatever the cause of the bloated belly, your vet is the best person to give your puppy a health check and assessment.
The prevalence of GDV in giant breeds like Great Danes may mean your vet recommends preventative gastropexy (stitching stomach in place to prevent twisting) at the same time as neutering your puppy.
Modern keyhole surgery minimizes the physical trauma of these procedures.
Your vet may recommend preventative surgery because if bloat occurs, it progresses rapidly, and your adult dog may die within hours. A relatively straightforward process performed on a puppy may save future heartbreak.
Your vet knows which breeds face the highest risk of bloat.
How to Prevent Bloat in Puppies
Prevention is better than treatment options.
Although you cannot eliminate the risk of bloat, you can act to reduce the potential for your puppy to suffer this terrible condition.
Choose Your Puppy Wisely
Unless you have a strong desire for a pedigree, giant breed, there are thousands of potential puppies with minimal risk of bloat. These include most crossbreeds and smaller pedigrees.
If you have your heart set on a giant breed prone to bloating, check the family history and consult with your vet about preventative surgery.
Leave Your Puppy Food and Water Bowls at Ground Level
Raising the feeding stations for puppies and adult dogs is a recent fashion promoted to decrease neck strain and reduce the risk of bloat.
Sadly, this practice increases the risk of bloat, and as for the neck strain – the jury is out.
Wild dogs and wolves do not dine from mini-tables, and there is no logical reason why raising a food bowl benefits your puppy.
Feed Little and Often
By reducing the size of the meal, you reduce the risk of bloating and overstretching the stomach.
Small frequent meals for your puppy keep a consistent energy level and are easier to digest.
As your puppy grows, you can reduce the frequency to twice a day – avoid feeding your adult dog once a day.
Pay Attention to Diet
Avoid an exclusive dry food diet – if you must feed a dry food mixture, opt for one with a high proportion of rendered meat and bonemeal, as this reduces the risk of bloat by 53%.
Mixing your puppy’s dry food with wet food decreases the bloat risk.
Avoid dry foods with a high proportion of fats, oils, and citric acid.
Moderate the Speed
Gulping down food and slurping too much water in a hurry can increase the bloating risk.
Put a heavy chain in the food bowl, so your puppy needs to eat around it to slow down its consumption rate.
A bucket of water may mean you don’t have to refill the water bowl too frequently, but it can encourage your pup to gulp down too much water in one sitting – use a shallow bowl and possibly an automatic refill system.
Reduce Stress
Stress and anxiety can increase the potential for bloat. The stress can arise from abandonment issues or fear of car journeys, amongst others.
You can reduce stress levels in your puppy by gradually accustoming it to accept new experiences and possibly using calming music and scent.
Past advice suggested that reducing exercise before and after mealtimes is beneficial in reducing bloat. Research indicates that this practice doesn’t increase the risk of bloat, but neither does it diminish it.
Finally
Bloat in puppies is distressing and potentially fatal. Although bloat is rare, some breeds are more at risk than others, and it is better to be aware of what bloat is and can do.
Regardless of breed type, please consult a vet if your puppy is in distress and has a tender, bloated stomach.
In the early stages of development, it is best to be safe with your puppy’s health.
References:
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