Bloat in Great Danes is deadly. It’s painful, dangerous, and as many as 1-in-4 Great Danes are likely to experience it in their lifetime.
For decades now, people have cited that resting after meals would prevent bloat from happening.
The occurrence of bloat in large and giant breed dogs has increased dramatically in the last decades, despite ‘resting after meals’ being cited as the most common preventative.
I mean, I hate to say this…but it’s pretty clear here that resting after meals is not working.
Not only that, but research has emerged which indicates that moderate movement after meals may actually help prevent Great Danes from developing bloat!
In other words, have people had this all wrong? Have we actually been increasing our dogs risk of bloat by diligently resting them after meals?
Does Resting After Meals Prevent Dog Stomach Bloat?
We’ve been reading journals and publications for a while, and it’s actually fascinating to learn that there is absolutely NO research or science (that we’ve found) proving that resting after meals prevents bloat.
As a matter of fact, I have yet to find anything that shows that it could even reduce the risk of bloat.
Of course, if you google this, there are 100’s of blogs and social media posts, even from veterinarians, who say that large and giant breed dogs should always rest after meals.
But none of it is backed by science, research, or data.
It’s all anecdotal. Speculation.
The Great Dane community has eaten this up, too. Some people are so dedicated to resting their dogs that they do so for an entire hour before meals and two hours after.
Imagine the heartbreak when their dog experiences deadly bloat and torsion despite the caution that had been taken.
It happens more often than you might think…
Should Great Danes Rest After Meals?
We’re going to take a scientific, although controversial approach to this and make a statement that may rattle everything you think you know about keeping Great Danes safe from GDV bloat and torsion.
The practice of resting dogs after meals to prevent bloat is hopelessly outdated and may actually contribute to higher bloat risk.
A 2013 study, done as part of ongoing bloat research, found something alarming and interesting.
Dogs that received moderate exercise (for example a walk or playtime) after eating were less likely to suffer from bloat!
This is the exact opposite of what we’ve all been told for decades.
Combing through the 2,551 questionnaire responses, what the researchers found is that moderate physical activity after eating, including playing with other dogs or “running the fence,” appears to reduce the chance for developing bloat by almost half.
Moderate exercise, including running the fence and playing, may reduce the chances of bloat by 50%!!!
Does Exercise Cause Bloat in Dogs?
It’s been said for years that dogs who exercise on a full tummy can get bloat and end up at the veterinarian in dire straits. As we can see from the research, this issue isn’t quite so cut and dry.
To further back up our claim that resting after meals is outdated and even wildly inaccurate advice, I’m looking towards another study that was done by Tufts University. (Remember, we like science here, not anecdotes).
Several popular theories regarding bloat were not substantiated during the study. There was no correlation of bloat risk to exercise before or after eating, as most dogs bloated in the middle of the night with an empty, gas-filled stomach.
In other words, not only have they found that moderate exercise after eating can potentially cut bloat risk in half, they found that movement has no correlation to bloat occurring.
Food and movement are not the enemythat they’ve been made out to be!
Common Sense for Bloat in Great Danes Prevention
This is not to say that you should feed your Great Dane a big fat meal and send them off-leash on a wild adventure.
Humans don’t like hard exercise on a super full stomach, either. Doing this can also stretch the hepatogastric ligament, which over time might increase bloat risk as a whole.
Great Danes should never be fed single large meals. Smaller, more frequent meals are healthier.
So let’s use some common sense here when it comes to bloat prevention in Great Danes and other large or giant breed dogs.
Feed a normal sized meal (we recommend 2-3 meals each day) and then let your dog be a dog.
Because bloat risk is affected by many factors, I’ll outline some other (science-backed) risk reduction techniques below.
How to Prevent Bloat in Great Danes
Prevention is a misnomer. You cannot prevent it from occurring. You can, however, drastically reduce the chance that your Great Dane has bloat or dies from it.
Bloat in Great Danes are influenced by three major factors: genetics, temperament, and gut health.
All Great Danes are at risk. However, Great Danes with the highest risk of getting (and dying from) bloat include Danes that:
Have a 1st degree relative that got bloat
Are timid, unsure, flighty, aggressive, nippy, anxious, or unstable
Have poor gut health, including chronic loose stools or IBD
Are fed only a dry-kibble diet and no fresh or canned foods
If you want to reduce the chance that your dog bloats, go down the high-risk check list above and remove as many factors as possible. We’ll outline more of this below.
Bloat GDV Risk Reduction
Let’s dig into this a little further!
It’s critically important when purchasing a Great Dane puppy from a breeder that your breeder can prove that the pedigree is free of bloat, DCM, and unstable temperaments.
Talk to your veterinarian to address issues with gut health. There are many things that cause chronic loose stools in Great Danes including poor quality food, unbalanced nutrition, low fiber diets, adult foods fed to puppies, overfeeding, health problems, and parasites.
Add balanced canned, fresh, or raw food toppers to the kibble, and feed 2-3 small, stress-free meals each day.
Remember to keep toppers balanced. If they cannot be served as a fully nutritious meal, they are considered treats and should be less than 5% of overall intake.
Lastly, consider a preventative Gastropexy for your Great Dane. This simple procedure can help keep the stomach from flipping (also called torsion) and save your dogs life if bloat were to occur. Statistics show much better outcomes for dogs who have had a Gastropexy.
We’ve been closely watching and monitoring information and studies in regard to dietary DCM in dogs. DCM is a deadly heart condition that often results in the sudden and unexplained death of otherwise ‘healthy’ looking dogs. This condition is often seen in relation to feeding grain-free or boutique dog kibbles.
A new DCM dog food study came out this week (December 2022) and the results are unfortunately concerning.
We are now several studies on nutritional DCM, and every single one has shown this same correlation: certain diets are causing heart disease in dogs.
If you have a dog and are trying to find the healthiest and safest dog food to feed them, you need to read this update.
Before we dig into the nitty gritty of this study, I will summarize the results with a quote directly from the abstract:
“Healthy dogs eating nontraditional diets had lower indices of systolic function and larger left ventricular volumes compared to dogs eating traditional diets. Screening of apparently healthy dogs eating nontraditional diets might allow for early detection of diet-associated DCM.”
In other words; dogs fed certain diets had alarming changes to their heart muscle. Whether we want to hear it or not, there are dog foods on the market that are causing heart disease in dogs, and you may be feeding one of them!
The results of this study were published in the Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine and can be viewed HERE.
Defining the ‘Non-Traditional’ Dog Food Diet
To better understand this study, we have to define what a non-traditional dog food diet is.
“Nontraditional diets were defined as those that contained pulse ingredients as main ingredients”
Pulse ingredients may include:
Peas
Garbanzo beans/chickpeas
Lentils
Potatoes
Sweet potatoes
Beans
Here is an example of an ingredient list with a lot of non-traditional ingredients, including lentils, pinto beans, peas, navy beans, and chickpeas.
Dietary DCM in Dogs Study Details
For this study, they recruited 46 healthy adult dogs over the age of 3.
They did not use dogs with a known genetic link to DCM such as Great Danes, Boxers, Doberman Pinschers, Irish Wolfhounds, Newfoundlands, or Portuguese Water Dogs.
All 46 dogs chosen were determined to be healthy at the onset of the study. Dogs that were not chosen were excluded for a number of reasons, including existing heart issues and other health conditions. Those receiving medications or taurine supplements were also excluded.
This means that at the beginning of the study, all 46 dogs had normal, healthy hearts.
They tried to match breeds between the two groups.
For example, if a Viszla was in the non-traditional diet group, they tried to place a Viszla in the traditional diet group as well.
90% of the food that the dogs ate had to be provided by a single dry-extruded food, and the dog’s diets and the ingredients in them were well documented.
This study shows that many efforts were made to ensure a clean, accurate, fair, and informational result. It’s important to note that there are ethical dilemmas associated with studying something that, based on current knowledge, could potentially harm one of the groups in the study.
That makes dietary DCM difficult to study, because more and more evidence is showing an alarming correlation (note: likely causation). We also have to take note of the fact that studying something like this takes years! Each study can really only look at one small factor.
At least 12 studies to date have shown that this is happening; nutritional DCM is real. It is not a scam cooked up by large dog food companies.
If we are to think logically, feeding dogs diets that are heavy in peas, legumes, pulses, or potatoes isn’t going to be good for them…no matter how we spin it.
DCM Study Results: Changes in Heart Function
None of us here are veterinarians, but we can all agree that the following statement from the DCM study is alarming:
“In this study of apparently healthy dogs, those eating nontraditional diets had lower systolic function compared to those eating traditional diets using 2D and 3D echocardiographic measurements of EF, as well as GLS.”
In other words, 23 dogs who began the study with healthy, normal hearts in the “non-traditional diets” group ended the study with signs that their heart muscle and function had changed for the worse.
Many Veterinary Cardiologists and veterinarians have been alarmed and concerned about a potential link between certain dog food diets and dilated cardiomyopathy. This study along with many others (which can be seen here) are collectively building a strong and concerning case that not all dog foods are created equal.
So what makes a diet safe or not safe for your dog? Let’s dig in.
Non-Traditional Dog Food Examples
Here are some examples of the kind of non-traditional dog food brands that are similar to or identical to the foods fed in the study. Please note, that these are just a handful of examples in a dog food market with literally thousands of choices.
This is not to say that these diets below are going to hurt your dog’s heart, but we highly suggest avoiding foods like this until additional information comes out regarding dog food and nutritional DCM.
Please note that some companies use ingredient splitting to move pulse and non-traditional ingredients lower on the list. A food with peas lower on the list could still actually be very high in peas.
Often present their food as “high-quality”, “holistic”, “natural”, and “free of fillers and by-products”
Are often sold at a premium price point
NOTE: by intentionally splitting single ingredients into 2 or more parts (peas + pea protein + pea fiber + pea flour) or using multiple different pulse ingredients (lentils, peas, potatoes), food companies can make the recipe appear to be meat-focused.
Add those ingredients up, however. If you put them all together in a bowl, it’s likely they actually outweigh the meat that was included in the formula.
Ingredients in Wellness Core Large Breed Dog Food:
Deboned Chicken, Chicken Meal (source of Glucosamine), Turkey Meal (source of Chondroitin Sulfate), Lentils, Peas, Dried Ground Potatoes, Tomato Pomace, Ground Flaxseed, Pea Fiber, Chicken Fat (preserved with Mixed Tocopherols), Natural Chicken Flavor, Potassium Chloride, Taurine, Vitamin E Supplement, Spinach, Broccoli, Carrots, Parsley, Apples, Blueberries, Kale, Choline Chloride, L-Carnitine, Zinc Proteinate, Mixed Tocopherols added to preserve freshness, Zinc Sulfate, Calcium Carbonate, Niacin, Iron Proteinate, Ferrous Sulfate, Vitamin A Supplement, Copper Sulfate, Thiamine Mononitrate, Copper Proteinate, Manganese Proteinate, Manganese Sulfate, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Sodium Selenite, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Biotin, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Chicory Root Extract, Yucca Schidigera Extract, Calcium Iodate, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Folic Acid, Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C), Dried Lactobacillus plantarum Fermentation Product, Dried Enterococcus faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus casei Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus acidophilus Fermentation Product, Rosemary Extract, Green Tea Extract, Spearmint Extract. This is a naturally preserved product.
Ingredients in Blue Buffalo Large Breed Rocky Mountain Recipe
Unfortunately, a large percentage of studies show a correlation between DCM and grain-free foods. This is because many grain-free diets have replaced grains with suspect ingredients such as peas, potatoes, and legumes.
However, dogs fed grain-inclusive foods are also turning up with nutritional DCM. While it’s more commonly seen in dogs fed grain-free foods, the lack of grains itself is not necessarily to blame.
This is 100% a formulation issue that is complex and likely has many factors.
This information can be scary for pet owners who, understandably, aren’t sure how to choose safe and healthy dog food for their pets!
Here is what we do know:
A shiny coat and good stools are nice, but, it’s not an indication that the food is healthy or safe.
Many dogs with nutritional DCM show few signs at all until one day, they have a “heart attack” and die. They may even have been ‘healthy’ just moments before their death.
Some dogs with nutrition DCM do show signs. We’ve shared the signs of DCM in dogs below.
IMPORTANT: adding grains or taurine to a poorly formulated diet does not prevent or treat nutritional DCM.
Many common signs of nutritional DCM are easy to write off as ‘aging’ or ‘laziness’.
Dogs with nutritional DCM typically have normal taurine levels.
If you have been feeding a suspect diet, in particular a diet with a lot of pulse ingredients or legumes including peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, chickpeas, garbanzo beans, or lentils, it may be smart to see the veterinarian and request an echocardiogram. We also recommend changing your dogs diet.
What are the Signs of DCM in Dogs?
DCM is primarily a genetic disorder, and yes, Great Danes are prone to it.
That makes the nutritional aspect of DCM even more alarming: for dogs with a genetic risk, choosing the wrong diet effectively increases the chance that they may suffer from heart problems.
While many dogs with DCM (especially secondary DCM, caused by nutrition) will show no signs at all (and may even appear healthy and shiny), many others will show symptoms. These symptoms can be subtle and mistaken for other things.
Low energy (including being “lazy” or the assumption that it’s normal because they are “getting older”)
Poor muscle tone, including a loss of muscle tone or even atrophy
Anorexia and weight loss
Intolerance to heat or exercise
Panting
Pale gums
Coughing
Irregular heart rhythm
Weak pulse
Distended abdomen
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As a whole, nutritional DCM is considered “rare”. However it’s important to note that many cases of it are never officially diagnosed and documented. If an otherwise “healthy” dog dies randomly, it is most often considered to be caused by a heart attack.
These cases are not often included in nutritional DCM statistics. Most people understandably do not pay to have advanced diagnostics done on their deceased pet. Documented, verified cases of nutritional DCM have to meet certain guidelines.
(To see cases of nutritional DCM being documented in real time, as well as information regarding brands that were being fed at the time of diagnosis, visit the Diet Associated Dilated Cardiomyopathy page HERE: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1952593284998859)
What Dog Foods Do Not Cause DCM?
Because we don’t entirely yet understand why some foods cause DCM and not others (though, the picture is becoming more clear, as we’ve seen in the recent DCM study), it’s hard to say definitively whether one particular food will cause or not cause DCM.
There is one common factor that is worth noting, however.
Dogs being fed well-researched brands that have board-certified Veterinary Nutritionists formulating the diet are not turning up with Nutritional DCM.
As a matter of fact, time and time again, dogs with nutritional DCM are recovering when they are switched to a properly-formulated grain-inclusive diet.
Catching the disease early is a key element to treating N-DCM with a diet change.
What is a properly formulated, grain-inclusive diet?
It will meet the following guidelines:
They will have at least one Board-certified veterinary nutritionist formulating the diets (ideally several of them) and they should be employed by the company – not working as consultants
Those companies should also employ qualified staff focused on food science, toxicology, microbiology, and quality control
Have a commitment to peer-reviewed science and research, indicating that they are advancing our understanding of veterinary medicine, nutrition, disease, growth, and health; all knowledge that can be applied to nutritional formulations
Will do feeding trials, proving formulations and bioavailability in “real life”, not just on paper (which is the bare minimum)
Owned facilities, not co-packed
Strict quality-control procedures and guidelines
Traditional formulation containing meat meal, meat by-product meal, and traditional (well-researched) grains such as rice, oats, or corn
The primary brands that check all of these boxes include: Purina, Hill’s Science Diet, Royal Canin, Eukanuba, and Iam’s.
If you are unsure if your pet food meets these basic ethical guidelines, send them an email! Be a saavy consumer, watch for signs that they are intentionally misleading you.
For example:
“We have a team of nutrition professionals” (Note the avoidance of the word ‘we employ’, implying that their team is likely made up of consultants who may do nothing more than check a box)
“Our food is packed in a USDA facility” (Making a co-packing situation sound good; this company doesn’t own their facilities and has less control over the final product)
“We do our research and feeding trials in-house” (This often means that they aren’t willing or able to have their research peer-reviewed and critiqued and thus, anything goes…including the ‘results’)
Did you know that your Great Dane may be missing out on important nutrition that could reduce their risk of experiencing bloat? If you are looking for the best nutrition to prevent bloat in dogs, this post is it. We’re looking at the actual science and research to help ensure that you and your Great Dane are happy, healthy, and stress-free!
There are two things your Great Dane needs in their diet if you want to reduce their chance of GDV Bloat.
Bloat is the #1 killer of Great Danes. It can happen suddenly when you least expect it. Bloat in giant breed dogs is painful, traumatic, and often results in death.
Let’s dig in…
What is Bloat in Dogs?
First, you have to understand what bloat is. I’ll keep this short.
Bloat is when the stomach fills up with gas, fluid, or air. Left untreated, the stomach can then flip over on itself. This is called torsion. Torsion is deadly.
37% of Great Danes might experience bloat in their lifetime.
RUN, don’t walk, to your nearest emergency veterinarian if you see any of these signs of bloat in your dog:
Bloated stomach
Distress including pacing, crying, whining, head hanging
Foaming at the mouth or excessive drool
Attempting to vomit (but may be unable to)
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Two Things Your Great Dane Needs in Their Diet to Prevent Bloat
I mentioned there were two things you can add to your Great Danes’ diet right now to reduce their risk of experiencing bloat. Here they are:
A kibble with meat meal or meat by-product meal as a primary ingredient
Canned or fresh foods
I’m going to dig into BOTH of these in depth below, but here is the scientific study I am referencing:
“Conversely, feeding a dry food containing a rendered meat-and-bone meal decreased risk by 53 percent in comparison with the overall risk for the dogs in the study. Mixing table food or canned food into dry food also decreased the risk of bloat.
During the past 30 years there has been a 1,500 percent increase in the incidence of bloat, and this has coincided with the increased feeding of dry dog foods.“
Meat meal and meat by-product meal are GOOD in kibble! Reduced bloat risk aside, let’s talk a bit more about why.
Fresh meat or fresh deboned meats (not meat meals, in other words) are 70% water. This makes them heavy before cooking, so they show up on top of the ingredients list, but not after.
Just imagine what happens to fresh meat when it’s extruded into kibble! Only 30% of it will be left, even if your kibble brand says ‘meat is the first ingredient‘.
Yikes!
Meat meal and meat by-product meals are rendered and dehydrated before they go into the kibble. At just 10% water, that means your kibble will contain a LOT more actual meat and meat-based nutrition!
Not only that, but unlike fresh meat, meat meals (including those made with by-products) contain organ meat, cartilage, bone, and skin which are highly nutritious and species-appropriate.
No wonder meat meals reduce the risk of bloat!
If your kibble brand is mostly ‘fresh meat’, it’s time to find something better.
What dog food brands reduce the risk of bloat?
While no correlation between specific dog food brands has ever been made when it comes to bloat in Great Danes, the information we’ve learned about meat meals can certainly help point us in the right direction.
The second important thing mentioned in the Tufts University Bloat Study was that canned or fresh foods may reduce the risk of bloat!
What does this mean? Your dog gets a TASTY topper on their food, and you can feel good knowing that you are not just feeding a dry kibble (which is correlated with an increased risk of bloat).
You don’t need expensive, fancy ‘toppers’ from the natural pet food store. As a matter of fact, most of those are, expensive, unbalanced and a waste of money. We have much better ideas for this, including helpful links below!
When choosing unbalanced toppers of any kind, including table scraps, meat, goat milk, eggs, treats, or incomplete raw blends, they must be less than 5% of the overall intake.
Encourage SLOW eating! Toppers may be fun and enticing, but fast eating increases bloat risk. Use puzzle feeders (like this one on Amazon) to slow your pup down.
The Best Canned Foods for Great Danes
I personally use and love Purina ONE canned food, because it’s economical and full of meat! Depending on your budget, you can offer a spoonful or an entire can. Anything is likely to be better than nothing!
Address poor gut health, nutritional deficiencies, and the gut microbiome by choosing a quality well-formulated diet and sticking with it. Poor gut health is a major risk factor for bloat.
