Gastric Dilation-Volvulus (GDV), or bloat. New facts as to the possible cause

Gastric Dilation-Volvulus (GDV), or bloat is serious for a dog; the stomach can fill with gas because the dog has gulped in air, or the stomach is blocked. Whilst everyone has heard of bloat it can kill your dog in half an hour because the gases make the stomach turn - anything from ninety degrees to 360, which is a full circle. It is capable of killing an otherwise healthy animal in thirty minutes unless the correct action is taken immediately.  

The symptoms you may see is a bloated abdomen, sudden weakness, collapse, attempt to vomit or actual vomiting. It used to be said that a vegetarian diet encouraged bloat. However in 2006 The Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association reported that feeding a dog vegetables does not increase the risk of bloat. Dogs are not carnivores they need vegetables in their diet.

Large dogs are more at risk of bloat than the smaller breeds. JAAHA investigated whether or not there was a link cereal and Soya protein based dry foods. They were working on the premise that a decreasing number of animal to protein ingredients among the first four ingredients in dry dog food aggravated the condition.

Using food label information, they tested  85 GDV cases and 194  dogs as a control eating a single brand and variety of dry food. They concluded that it did not increase the risk of bloat. However a by product of the study was that dry foods that list fats as one of the most predominant ingredients can trigger a higher incidence of GDV in dogs that have a high risk of suffering from bloat. In simple English, the foods, which contain animal fat or sunflower oil amongst the top four ingredients, were associated with a higher risk of bloat, often doubling the risk.

The cause of this is less clear though there is a certain amount of unsupported speculation that the weight of the fat in the food as a ratio weighs down the stomach and causes the ligaments to distend.

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