furrykidmom
Completely Boxer Crazy
Does anyone know exactly why raising the dishes increases the risk of bloat?
Bloat risk factors
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Nope. Nobody even knows exactly why or how bloat happens in the first place, so it's a little difficult for anyone to be able to say how the various factors that contribute do so.
All that is known about raised feeders is that it increases the risk of bloat occuring - by a little more than 100%.
All that is known about raised feeders is that it increases the risk of bloat occuring - by a little more than 100%.
As gmacleod says there are no definitive answers - BUT since rapid eating can contribute toward bloat, I think at least part of the answer is that dogs can eat faster with a raised feeder. I had a raised feeder, and when I took it away, it doubled the time it took Guinness to consume his dinner. Again, I know there are no proven answers other than knowing that they contribute to bloat somehow, but this may be at least part of the reason why.furrykidmom said:
Well, it's possible there's something in that too. Speed of eating is another factor that increases the risk of bloat.
Incidentally, if you have a speed eater, two good ways of slowing them down are to eithr put a couple of large (too big to be swallowed) rocks in the food bowl that they have to eat around, or to ditch the food bowl altogether and feed kibble spread out on a towel (can't gulp it when each bit has to be picked up individually
).
Incidentally, if you have a speed eater, two good ways of slowing them down are to eithr put a couple of large (too big to be swallowed) rocks in the food bowl that they have to eat around, or to ditch the food bowl altogether and feed kibble spread out on a towel (can't gulp it when each bit has to be picked up individually
).
jennw
Boxer Booster
another question-
earlier in the post it was mentioned that large volumes of food contribute to bloat. i think someone mentioned that if you feel 2-3 cups of high quality you should be safer.
we 2 cups of cannidae with canned innova mixed in 2X a day. Am I feeding him way too much? He's 8 months and a little over 50lbs. he's also very lean and muscular from all the excercise.
thanks for any info-
earlier in the post it was mentioned that large volumes of food contribute to bloat. i think someone mentioned that if you feel 2-3 cups of high quality you should be safer.
we 2 cups of cannidae with canned innova mixed in 2X a day. Am I feeding him way too much? He's 8 months and a little over 50lbs. he's also very lean and muscular from all the excercise.
thanks for any info-
I don't think 2 cups of food in a meal is really too much in respect of food volume, so I wouldn't be concerned about it from a bloat aspect. Or if you want to play really safe, you could split his food into three feedings instead of two (same overall amount, but smaller meal size more frequently fed).
4 cups a day seems like a huge amount for a high quality food like Canidae though! I think most people feed closer to 2 cups daily. And the feeding guideline is 2-3 cups... Now the guideline is only a guide - good for Mr Average. But you're exceeding it by a pretty wide margin, and feeding canned food on top of that. Yes, you may be overfeeding here
4 cups a day seems like a huge amount for a high quality food like Canidae though! I think most people feed closer to 2 cups daily. And the feeding guideline is 2-3 cups... Now the guideline is only a guide - good for Mr Average. But you're exceeding it by a pretty wide margin, and feeding canned food on top of that. Yes, you may be overfeeding here
daziegirl4
Boxer Booster
OK - so I've been reading alot about bloat lately - in particular the Purdue Study and contributing factors such as raised feeders. I was on a Great Dane discussion forum (not sure if I can mention which) and I have found the following link in response to the studies. Just wondering what the professionals here thought....thanks in advance 
http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/on_my_soap_box_purdue_bloat_study.htm
PS - I see that the article was written by a "Canine Nutritional Consultant" not sure how relevant
Also, in reading other discussions on that board, many of the posts stated that the Purdue Study has been picked apart and shot down many times by experienced breeders....that the raised food bowls are considered by most as correlative, not causitive. But that STRESS was the most significant trigger of bloat....
I'm not challenging the Purdue Study by any means...just curious to see what everyone here thinks of the opposing discussion? Are there any other studies out there that support the Purdue findings?? It seems that every book I read (on great danes that is) advises to raise the feeders: Are there that many large/giant breed experts out there that either really don't know about the Purdue Study or just don't buy the findings? Just seems that there is an awful lot of people with giant breed dogs using raised feeders (unless feeding raw) ?? If the Purdue Studies are in fact a legitimate source, why the disregard of their findings?? Confusing to the average dog owner who wants to do what's best for their dog....do you take the advice of a statistical study OR the advice of an experienced breeder who has real-life experience with these breeds???
http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/on_my_soap_box_purdue_bloat_study.htm
PS - I see that the article was written by a "Canine Nutritional Consultant" not sure how relevant
Also, in reading other discussions on that board, many of the posts stated that the Purdue Study has been picked apart and shot down many times by experienced breeders....that the raised food bowls are considered by most as correlative, not causitive. But that STRESS was the most significant trigger of bloat....
I'm not challenging the Purdue Study by any means...just curious to see what everyone here thinks of the opposing discussion? Are there any other studies out there that support the Purdue findings?? It seems that every book I read (on great danes that is) advises to raise the feeders: Are there that many large/giant breed experts out there that either really don't know about the Purdue Study or just don't buy the findings? Just seems that there is an awful lot of people with giant breed dogs using raised feeders (unless feeding raw) ?? If the Purdue Studies are in fact a legitimate source, why the disregard of their findings?? Confusing to the average dog owner who wants to do what's best for their dog....do you take the advice of a statistical study OR the advice of an experienced breeder who has real-life experience with these breeds???
Um. Yes, several other studies have been done. This thread is actually about research that supports and builds upon the findings of the Purdue study. Not the original study itself. Didn't you read the first post?daziegirl4 said:
Yes, there are a lot of people out there with giant breeds who use raised feeders. And these are the dogs who're statistically the most at risk of bloat. The dogs that most commonly suffer from it are the ones that most commonly fed from raised feeders. LOL - you know, one possibility here is that there's a relationship between those two things
Or at least, that's what these studies have found to be the case.
daziegirl4
Boxer Booster
gmacleod said:
I must have misread - it looked to me like the same people that reported on the research that "supports and builds upon the findings of the Purdue study", were in fact the same people cited on the article I read from the Purdue study (I must be wrong). From the first post: Lawrence T. Glickman, VMD, DrPH; Nita W. Glickman, MS, MPH; Diana B. Schellenberg, MS; Malathi Raghavan, DVM; Tana Lee, BA. I'm just seeing the same names over and over again - unless I'm missing something - but I see the same names on this link: (http://www.vet.purdue.edu/epi/bbi.htm)
That wasn't my only point though....I was wondering what the thoughts of the opposing article written by the Canine Nutritional Consultant were? Like I said before, I wasn't challenging the studies - just seeing some difference in opinions. Thanks.