My Vet wants me to feed raw diet for bloat.

[imported_Matty]

:o :o
I havent a clue how to go about this. My Vet gave me some recipes from his copy of Dr pitcern and Dr billinghurst. He said that Billinghurst is long term and pitcern is for getting started. :(
He said I could continue with kibble, but my dog has bloated twice again this week back on his normal kibble :( I really thought it was the Turkey in the Innova. My Vet (and TDG) told me that no its really not the Turkey. My Vet said that the only reason my dogs belly is not flipping is because of the shape of his body :o He said some thing like dogs with shorter bodies and wide chests don't flip as easily as say a Great Dane or Standard Poodle. But, he said where he has bloated so many times that his chances of flipping is really getting high.
The Vet really wants me to feed raw and feed 3 meals a day. One meal he wants low glemidex carbs and raw meat, mid meal he want only raw meaty bones and supper meat muscle, organ meat and carbs and every thing else like veggies, fruit, garlic (he said I should give a clove a day). He gave me tons of suggestions and he seems really concerned about Kavik. He said to save money I can feed the Kibble but make sure its fed at a time when there will be no stress for my dog.

Any how, found out that there has been a neighbors dog coming around the kennel during the day when Im gone. I just found the tracks when we had a snow storm. I asked the vet and he said this may have been the stress factor that broke the camels back. Its sad that this had to happen and its baffling how a dog wandering my property could cause my Kavik to have such stress. I know that this is what it is cause no one lets there dogs run, these people just moved here and let their dog run. Kavik never started bloating til these people moved here. Ironic. I never in a million years could imagine that stress could cause a dog to bloat. The vet tried to explain that it doesnt just happen like that that there is an underlaying reason as well like yeast and stuff. Oh yea, I have to feed Kavik yogurt every day without added fruit for some reason only ground wheat germ or flax seed.

Any way just had to share that I was mouthing off about Innova for no reason. I am very sorry :oops:

[Horsefeathers!]

Matty, maybe I'm oversimplifying since I'm certainly no expert on this stuff (especially since I had one of my own dogs die with bloat recently :( ), but perhaps "stress" could mean the barking and boundary running that dogs often do when they see another dog out of reach. Several of my own dogs don't care one bit about another dog they come face to face with, but let them be inside our fence and see another dog outside of it that they can't approach and they'll run and bark like crazy at that dog (or cat or squirrel). Perhaps that is the stress factor? The additional activity it's causing?

Good luck with this and I hope you find something that helps. Since we lost Rocco to bloat, I'm absolutely terrified and paranoid beyond belief about bloat in any of my other dogs... especially since I have Standard Poodles and another Dobe. For some reason, I don't tend to worry about it as much with my Lab since he's not so deep chested. It would be my luck that HE would be the one to get it. :-?

I'm positive that when the time comes that I don't have umpteen dogs in my household, I'll feed a natural diet.

TDG will probably be a great wealth of help regarding this. I look forward to seeing what advice she has to offer.

[imported_Matty]

Horsefeathers,
I feel so bad for you about Rocco :( I don't blame you for being paranoid.
Your right Horsefeathers, it must be that he is getting upset and running back and forth barking. If not barking (my dogs arnt the biggest barkers) then he is still getting upset. What I was doing (my routine) was come home, bring in the dogs, feed them, let them settle for about an hour or two, then take them for a walk. The vet told me to come home, take dogs for walk, then settle, then feed a smallish raw meal. He said change my routine and he STRONGLY advised I don't leave Kavik out during the day. I don't know what to do, every one in my house works a 8 hour day and some times it can be up to 10 hours cause I like some times to stop and pick things up after work. I don't know any one who does dog walking, plus I don't think Id trust some one to take Kavik out. Hes a rescue Husky and is kinda distrustful of most people. If he ever got off lead with a stranger he would take off and never come back :( a dog walker would probably have a really hard time getting him out of the house...he would go to my bed and not move. I know this cause even members of my family can't get him out of my room when Im not at home. My sister has tried to take him out with my other dogs for a pee when Im not there and he won't budge unless Im there. I can't even get home on lunch to feed him a mini meal. My work only gives a half hour lunch and I live almost an hour away from work.
I thought about a doggy day care, but he hates going to a strange kennel. He likes the kennel I have for him and my other dogs. He doesnt really care for other people and dogs. I know that wouldn't work at all, hes just not that type of dog. My other Husky's would make out fine.
I think Kavik is a highly emotional dog that kept things bottled up inside cause I never knew he was stressed.
Any how, Ill find a way to work this out I just have to stop over analizing every thing. The stuff the vet gave me for gas works great, he also mentioned that you can stick a tube down a bloating dogs throat to get rid of excess gas :o he told me that its really hard to mistakenly get it down the lung because the dog will swallow and get it down the right passage. He said the only danger is the dog biting the tube in half.

Thanks for listening.

Any suggestions for feeding raw diet I am all ears. And any book suggestions I would love to hear them. :wink:

[Carolk9s]

Yahoo Groups has several lists dedicated to BARF or raw feeding. Just go to Yahoo Groups and type in keywords such as BARF or raw feeding.
Good luck.

[TDG]

sorry for such a late reply, but i was out of town over new year's. :)

matty, i do agree with what your vet recommends. he's worth his weight in gold, because most other vets would just sell you a bag of some prescription diet crap and your dog would probably be worse off than before. :(

if you want to do some more reading on the topic of feeding a natural diet, one book i can [b]highly[/b] recommend is dr. lonsdale's "raw meaty bones promte health". it's quite detailed and if you don't enjoy reading much it might take you a while to read through it all, but it's information that (in my opinion) everyone should be aware of.

personally i don't follow his feeding regimen 100% either, but the advice is excellent and can alleviate a lot of fears and hangups people have about feeding raw. :)

[imported_Matty]

Thanks TDG, my Vet seems to be really supportive (and a litte worried) about Kavik. I am going to get the book dr. lonsdale's "raw meaty bones promte health". that you recommend. I think I am really concerned about feeding properly, I am so afraid of bloat and flipping. ONe of my friends said that Im going to come home some day to a dead dog. I thought that was really unthoughtful of her :evil:
The vet thinks stapling at this time is premature cause of my dogs body type.

Thanks every one, Ill keep y'all updated an his new diet and style of life. I was able to make it home the other day to let him out on lunch. My boss seems to be really understanding, this I find scary :o

I really appreciate the book reference. I didn't want to go out spending a small fortune on books. I also want to make sure I find one easy to follow cause I have a hard enough time as it is.

[Guest Anonymous]

Sorry to hear about your dog, I hope everything works out for you.

Wow! i'm relieved to hear that finally a vet reccomends the raw diet. i spoke to many in the past months since acquiring my bernese nov.1. Allof them suggested that it's a waste of time and scientifically unfounded. i think otherwise.

Been feeding stella barf since we brought her home. the vet says she's in great shape, so i must be doing something right. before even bringing her home, i searched and finally found Dr. Ian Billinghursts latest book "the barf diet". It proved to be very informative and easy to understand i highly reccomend it.

i now prepare at home stellas food, and portion-freeze a month's worth at a time. i bought a grinder and scale, followed various recipes from "the book" and get my raw meaty bones (RMB) from my local butcher for next to nothing $.

good luck, hope i helped you.

mike.