Mar 24 2008
Feeding Highs and Lows
Because I have a greyhound, one of my big concerns is the dreaded bloat, a serious, life-threatening condition of large breed dogs.
When I first brought Greta home, I was told that it’s important to use raised feeders with greyhounds, because that way they don’t have to hunch down to drink/eat, and raised feeders also prevent bloat.
So I bought this.
I noticed two things immediately.
First, Greta would jump every time she had her nose in one of the bowls and it would bang or clank.
Two, she would always cough after she drank water.
So I started researching this mysterious cough, and I found a lot of research regarding “high” and “low” feeding.
According to a 1998 to 2004 Bloat (GVD) Study at Purdue University by Malathi Raghavan, DVM, MS; Lawrence T. Glickman, VMD, DrPH; Nita W.Glickman, MS, MPH; and Diana B. Schellenberg, these four (4) factors ARE associated with an increased risk of bloat in large breed dogs:
1)Raising the food dish more than doubled the risk for bloat
2)Speed of eating -Dogs rated by their owners as very fast eaters had a 38% increased risk of bloat
3)Age: The study found that risk increased by 20% with each year of age. Owners should be more alert to early signs of bloat as their dogs grow older.
4)Family History: Having a first-degree relative (parent, sibling or offspring) that had bloated increased a dog’s risk by 63%.
The Purdue research team concluded these are the things you can do to prevent bloat, including:
1)Do not raise the feeding dish.
2)Slow the dog’s speed of eating.
In case you hadn’t guessed, Greta now eats and drinks from bowls placed directly on the floor, and she hasn’t coughed since the switch.
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