If a dog engages in strenuous exercise immediately after eating, especially activities such as rolling around or running up and down the stairs, it can easily lead to gastric torsion. At this time, the dog's stomach is full of food, and the gastric ligaments are violently and suddenly rotating. It may cause torsion, causing the dog's stomach to turn over completely. At this time, the dog will feel unbearable abdominal pain. When gastric torsion occurs, the upper and lower exits of the stomach will be tightly closed, and the stomach will not turn back on its own, so surgery must be performed to treat it. If it is not discovered in time and sent to the hospital for surgery, the dog can only survive for a day or two before dying, so it is a very difficult situation. . .

Which dogs are prone to gastric torsion?

In fact, not all dogs are prone to gastric volvulus. Generally speaking, large dogs and dogs with narrow chests are prone to gastric volvulus. German Shepherds are especially prone to gastric volvulus.

Causing factors:

The occurrence of gastric volvulus is also related to the dog's food. Compared with dogs eating wet food, eating dog food seems to be more likely to induce gastric volvulus. Because some dogs eat dog food in a hurry and do not chew enough, the dog food easily forms a ball in the dog's stomach, making the stomach form a substantial whole, which is easy to digest when the dog is exercising. The whole flip. There is also a gender factor in gastric volvulus. Male dogs are more likely to suffer from gastric volvulus than female dogs.

Symptoms of gastric torsion:

Dogs suffering from gastric torsion will have sudden abdominal pain and rapid abdominal distension. They will stand or lie down in a dazed or lying position. There will be a drum sound when percussed, and the globular sac (stomach) can be palpated on abdominal palpation. Breathing is highly difficult, the sick dog vomits, and the pulse beats very violently, which can even cause death.

How to prevent:

Although gastric torsion can kill your dog, it is not impossible to prevent. As long as you follow the following methods, you can effectively avoid the occurrence of gastric torsion in dogs:

1. Feed your dog regularly and quantitatively, and don’t let your dog eat too much: Some owners feed their dogs at any time every day, and the amount of dog food will fluctuate. In fact, this approach is very unscientific and is not good for dogs. For dogs, it is best to eat a fixed amount of dog food at a fixed time every day.

2. After the dog eats, it must be allowed to rest for at least 30 minutes: Some owners believe that the dog will excrete immediately after eating. In order to prevent the dog from excreted at home, they rush to take the dog downstairs after eating for convenience. , and dogs often run around happily after going downstairs, and gastric torsion is easy to occur at this time.

3. Don’t give your dog a lot of water immediately after a meal: Giving your dog a lot of water after a meal will cause food to clump in the dog’s stomach. The more scientific method is to wait until the dog eats.Give them water after 15-20 minutes.

4. Don’t feed your dogs too much before taking them in the car: Some owners are worried that their dogs will be hungry in the car before taking them on a long journey, so they feed their dogs well before going out, but they don’t know that they will be too full. Dogs are prone to gastric torsion after being jolted in the car.