[Dailydrool] BLOAT

[Wendie L Prince]

Our old gal, Bess,  bloated on us,  not once, but 4 times.  
Bess was our first basset and we did not know a thing about the breed, except hound type personality, as I have had beagles all my life. 
ANyhow, the first tims BEss bloated was from drinking water,  only water.  I didn't know what was going on,  but she was sitting there and water was coming back up her pipes and just draining out her mouth.  Her belly was hard and protruding on one side.  She drank heavily as my neighbor was supposed to let them out,  she did, only forgot to check their water bowl, so when Bess did get water, she drank like a camel.   ANyhow,  not knowing what was going on, I just kept a close eye on her and in about an hour,  her belly did go down. 
The next blat was when I took her to BHRG BAsh,  back in 2000, or 2001.  She ended up eating alot and bloated,  spent the entire weekend at the ER vet.  Thanks to some very wonderful people I know,  her life was saved as they knew the signs and gpot her into the ER.  Her stomach had twisted, so sugery and tacking was done.  
I THOUGHT, afetr this, she could not bloat any more.  She did,  2 more times,  from gas build up in her belly.  One of thsoe times she sepnt in the ER vet again, watching her till she was alright, the other time,  she burped, really big, on the way to the ER and her belly went down, so I turned the car around to go back home.  
Now,  during all this time,  what we did, as far as her feeding was to do 3 meals a day,  to keep something on her belly, to hopefully not get as much gas.  We fed raw, and used guidelines from our vets, holistic and traditional.  I also burped her after each meal as she would eat very fast.  I could always get 2 burps out of her.  Also, when I did feed kibble,  I was told to wet it down and let it get soaked up before putting it down. 
We have not had a bloater since Bess, she gave me more than enough experience with this.

wen
www.seniorhoundsabound.org
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