Recently, I had a scare with my dog and thought she might have a case of bloat. The first dog I had as girl growing up, a GSD, passed away due to bloat so I know how sudden and seemingly out of nowhere it can appear.
It happened when we left for a weekend road trip. We took off early in the morning and because she is prone to car sickness I opted not to feed her breakfast until after we arrived (1.5 hours later). A full stomach before a car ride can cause an upset stomach for some dogs, but I did try to feed her a few biscuits so she’d have at least a little something in her stomach although she had no interest. After we arrived, she had no interest in eating or drinking and she could not relax. She walked around restlessly and vomited white bile twice while outside. It was a Sunday so I called the emergency vet who agreed that her symptoms were cause for concern. However, we were in a remote area and hours from vet much less familiar with the area and it had grown dark at that point. I’m always one to favor better safe than sorry, but as the evening progressed her behavior improved – she finally relaxed and her appetite returned. In Baby’s case, my regular vet told me she likely had a build up of bile in her stomach due to missing breakfast which caused her upset stomach and discomfort.
The valuable lesson I learned from this is prior to any future long car ride a dog should have their regular meal during the given time of day and to wait at least 30-60 min afterward before piling in the car and heading on the road.
That said, I found a helpful and interesting article online from the Purdue University Bloat Research Program and thought it was well worth sharing.
http://users.erols.com/gr8rswis/CRITICAL%20BLOAT.htm
