when to feed a dog its meals,help about bloat.

Question:
 hi. ive been reading up about different dogs foods on here,but have read some stuff about bloat.some people feed their dogs (adult) once a day, some twice, and some 3 times a day.
what are your views about how many times a day and why?
what do you know about bloat?
thanks.

Answer:
Bloat is a serious concern especially in large, barrel chested dogs. I feed my adult dogs one time a day but they aren't consuming that many cups of food. My GSD who is 7 months eats twice a day. I make sure that they haven't been exercised for at least a hour before or after eating, that is supposed to help.

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not that i agree with linda arndt on all points (or on all the specific brand products she endorses), but this article has good information:
http://greatdanelady.com/articles/bloat_and_torsion_is_nutrition_a_factor.htm
personally i think it's not as much about how often you feed per day, but about avoiding stress and poor quality foods.

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Wow Mordy, thanks for clearing up some myths for me. So is it acceptable to walk my crew after a meal. Sometimes it is hard to wait an hour after they eat to walk them.

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I have experience with bloat with my Rottweiler. She has never flipped, but, she has bloated up a few times. With her she will bloat on ANY food with Chicken or Turkey in it. The first time it was on Innova, the second on Nature's Variety. With her I can only feed these protein sources raw, or canned...never in a processed kibble. So, with my dog it was the better food products that caused her to get gassy. She just seems to have a food intolerance to these 2 proteins only in kibble sources and it doesn't matter if its a high quality food or not...she cannot tolerate them and I have proven over and over again that these have caused her to bloat...for awhile I found it hard to believe that my dog could bloat on Innova or Nature's Variety...but, she did. She does well on the same brands different protein sources. Currently I feed Lamb, Beef or Venison Nature's Variety.
I do feed 2 meals a day, I ALWAYS add water and canned food to her kibble...even breeders will water down food for bloat prone dogs. Any breeder I have ever known with bloat prone breeds do feed 2 meals a day and never just one meal. You can't really prove that this is the reason her dogs have never bloated, but, it works for her. ;) when she sells pup's she also tells them to feed 2 meals a day and water down the food. One owner didn't and almost lost his Newf to bloat before the age of 1 year. The dog had both side of his stomach stapled as the first time it was stapled it then flipped the opposite way :eek: that doesnt happen often. He then switched to feeding twice daily and fed only Eukanuba...the dog never bloated again. So, who knows if the dog was suffering from stress or if it actually was the change in feeding. My friend breeds Newfoundland dogs and only feed Eukanuba (not my choice of dog food brands :) ). None of her dogs have ever bloated and she always has at least 9 Newf's living with her at one time.
Raw is the best choice for a bloat prone breed, I would choose raw over kibble if you have a dog prone to bloat. Make sure your dog is not suffering from any stressful situations, exercise before eating and about an hour after eating...although I never found that to be a trigger for my dogs to bloat. I always keep a bottle of Nux Vomica 30C on hand and watch for any signs of discomfort after meals. My Rottweiler has usually shown signs of discomfort by drooling and only slight stomach swelling...I give her the Nux Vomica and this helps her expel the gas. I also burp my Newf's and Rottweiler after each meal, my Newf's burp easily, my Rottweiler has problems burping. I rub their bellies until I get a burp...great time to form a special bond with your dogs, all 5 of my dogs line up after meals to be burped. It's very sweet.
My Rottweiler has been bloat free since I stopped feeding kibbles with Turkey or Chicken...some dogs just have a food intolerance to some protein in kibbles and they get gassy and can't expel the gas. This is just from my past experience. I also had a Standard Poodle prone to bloating about 20 years ago, she bloated a few times and I was lucky we were able to get a tube down to expel the gas...we started feeding her smaller watered down meals which elimenated bloating. Stress did not trigger her bloating. It seems that different dogs have different triggers.

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Sorry for posting twice.... :( I can't get rid of the first one now. :confused:

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Got it for you, Athe :)

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Shiva got gassy twice before she was old enough to switch to the EVO. It would have been comical if I hadn't been so panicked and trying to impress upon Charley the potential for something serious happening to her. I poked a couple of Phazyme capsules down her gullet and and sat there and patted her sides gently until she belched.
She'd obviously eaten SOMETHING other than her food . . . what a reek!
I was so relieved when she burped and made a big fuss over her, so she belched again. She really liked the attention. She liked it so much that now whenever she feels a belch coming on she runs over to me and lets it fly in my face :rolleyes:

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I have never heard of burping a dog...I wonder if that would work for mine? I don't think he's bloat prone, he eats too slow.

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I wonder if that would work for mine? I don't think he's bloat prone, he eats too slow.
Zoom
It's when they eat too fast that you have to worry about bloat ;) That can be a concern in a multi dog household when a dog prone to bloat tries to gobble down their food before the other dogs get over. This would be a source of stress, and one of the reasons my friends who breed bloat prone breeds water down the food...some people have even put big rocks into the food bowl so the bloat prone dog has to work around the huge rock.
I am lucky I figured out my Rottweiler's problem...due to her build she is not as prone to flipping...but, bloat enough times and flipping is ineveidable.
I meant to mention that I can't even feed her EVO, I found that to be a very gassy food for my dogs. To burp my dogs they stand in front of me and I rub their belly up and down with some pressure...but, not too much. I get a burp from my Newf's after each meal. It's when that gas stays in their system and they don't get a burp out when I worry. Some thing like burping a baby after they eat. ;)

Answer:
I've been a litte worried about my collie pup getting bloat. I divide his daily rations into about three bags which I use for training session outside the house. He eats part royal canin baby dog and part "pro peak" which I thought had a great list of ingredients, its a wet food in roll form. He does eat in a hurry, and sometimes is too intent on training to take a quick drink from the bowl I carry with me.

Answer:
Sorry for posting twice.... :( I can't get rid of the first one now. :confused:
I didn't want to repost all of your first post, lol. I wonder if giving dogs prone to bloat enzymes would help....such as using Viokase???
Just a thought that popped into my sleeping brain.

Answer:
I've been a litte worried about my collie pup getting bloat. I divide his daily rations into about three bags which I use for training session outside the house. He eats part royal canin baby dog and part "pro peak" which I thought had a great list of ingredients, its a wet food in roll form. He does eat in a hurry, and sometimes is too intent on training to take a quick drink from the bowl I carry with me.
bridey, how common is bloat in the bloodline of your collie pup? genetics play a large role in bloat as well, as a friend of mine (long-time collie breeder) told me.
if you like, i can put you in touch with her, just PM me. :)

Answer:
thanks for the help guys!

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we let our dogs gorge on meat every few days, and they have constant biscuits and watter out.

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i always feed yoshi twice a day. one in the morning when i eat breakfast and one in the evening when i eat dinner. mainly because she was in the shelter and starving and she has this tendancy to gobble her food down and drink a ton of water at the same time and i get a bit worried.
as for burping i remember one time she had eaten and come over to me and i looked at her and though 'omg what's wrong??' her stomach was huge. and right when i put my hand on it she burped huge and it was gross but she was back to normal lol

Answer:
My breeder says that virtually none of her collies have ever had bloat, maybe a great great grandfather way down the line. I havn't had a problem with Azlan as of yet, I've put drinking on cue so now I know that he's had a drink. Sometimes he forgets if he's in the middle of learning something. In puppy class he will eat a half a bag of kibble, and I will say "You don't want to get bloat do you?" and he'll go and have a drink. People think he understands everything I say, just like lassie:)
I would water down the food, but it would be a very tricky sloppy thing to carry around with me.