Raised Bowls

We have Dingos ( heeler x) bowl raised, including his water. The other two (min. pin. x and corgi) have their dishes on the floor. Tootsie, usually lays down to eat anyway. I read that raised bowls for larger dogs help them digest better. I don't know if its true, but he sure looks more comortable.

i believe this dog had a deep chest...


not sure if that helps clarify or not.

My friend has a Boxer (which is considered a deep chested dog). She's really worried about bloat. From my understanding, bloat is when dog's inhale too much air or eat too quickly after exercising. Their stomachs can increase 3-4 times in size and flip over. I read about that in "Marley and Me" and it sounded absolutely awful.
 
Anyway, my friend has raised bowls for her Boxer, but then she read that raised bowls actually contribute to bloat. She's confused and there seems to be mixed info out there. But from my understanding, bloat is really only a serious concern in deep chested dogs. I've thought about getting raised bowls, so there isn't so much strain on their necks.

i found this link that describes bloat pretty good. ...
[linkhttp://www.canismajor.com/dog/bloat.html#Prevent]http://www.canismajor.com/dog/bloat.html#Prevent[/link]

this particular article states that dogs eating rapidly may contribute to bloat, as well as exercising too soon after eating.

edit:  this article may be even better....
http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_bloat.html

I got a really neat set of bowls here on dog.com for Max - the dishes fit in a stand that keeps them just maybe an inch or so off the wood floor, but the set also comes with extension legs so the bowls can be raised really high if you needed to do that. I just use the stand because I didn't want water pooling on the floor under the bowl as sometimes happens.

Joyce

Here's a link to information on bloat
[linkhttp://www.dru.org/bloat.htm]http://www.dru.org/bloat.htm[/link]
Most of the research into what can cause it still doesn't have any concrete answers.  Much like babies and what sleeping position works to lessen the chance of SIDS (on their sides, back, stomach, which?) it's all debated.
I have personally witnessed 7 Dobes bloat, despite following all the generally believed processes (no exercise before or after eating, no cold water, no tanking up on large amounts of water, etc)  I know the signals well now, but still missed it in one dog who died overnight.  It's fast and not-easily detectable to the inexperienced, and the pain the dog endures while you're rushing them to the emergency vet is horrific.
 
Personally, despite the latest research results, I still use a raised feeder.  That's the one thing that wasn't followed with the dogs I mentioned above.  Whether it had anything to do with it or not, who knows.  Granted, some could argue "dogs in the wild" eat off the ground... but that means they can bloat, too, I'd think.

Wow, thanks for the great links on bloat.  That seems really scary!  I dont know whether to get a raised bowl or not still, lol.  I would hate to contribute to that possibility, then again... I want her to be more comfortable when eating and it may not contribute to anything.
 
I think Bailey is deep chested and she definately inhales her food....
 
Ahh, I dont know! 

We have 7 raised feeders for our different heights of dogs and 2 little ones who have bowls on the floor.They seem more comfortable eating with them.Especially my older dog who has some joint problems.My Dane looks terribly uncomfortable if she has to eat from the floor and will usually have to lay down without the raised feeder.

I decided not to raise the dishes...but I am still not sure if that is the best decision. I've read and read on bloat, since Marley is a deep chested dog. I do everything I can. One thing I did to slow Marley down was to put a tuna fish can in his dish so he has to work around it! Just a suggestion. I'll keep reading this, because I have been going back and forth about raised dishes too.

See, it used to be that folks believed raised feeders helped AVOID bloat.  Now some studies are saying otherwise, but even those studies don't seem to have concrete proof, to my knowledge.
A few things I'd consider in making the choice. (And you can change your mind back and forth, too, remember that.  It's not like it has to be a permanent decision.)

• How much does Bailey "wolf" down her food - ie, is she a fast eater who gobbles it up quickly, maybe taking big gulps? 
  
• Do you feed kibble or raw or something else?  If dry kibble, do you add liquid (water or broth) before she eats it?  If not, take a few kibbles and get them wet to watch just how much they expand... many of us would be surprised.  Baked or extruded, I've seen expansion.  Imagine that in your dog's stomach sloshing around.
  
• How active is she in the house - ie, does she come running in from play time to eat breakfast then go running back out?
  
• How "hectic" is she?  ie, how much time does she spend anxiously barking or panting?  (Sounds like she lives the life of Riley, so probably not much, but for others asking themselves the same questions...)  Most of the dogs I've seen bloat were dogs who would bark a fair amount.  Aerophagia (gulping too much air) is thought to contribute. 
  
• How normal and regular are her stools?  Since some think it can be caused by poor/abnormal function of the stomach muscles and nerves, I wouldn't test already sticky "plumbing".

Honestly, it's horribly quick how fast this comes on.  By the time you see the signs you may have less than an hour and the dog is dead.  Aside from that, if the dog does bloat (ie, the fill up of gas plus the torsion/twisting) but you do catch it in time, there's still a long road ahead.  The recovery from this type of surgery isn't easy, and even when the stomach is tacked down to prevent the torsion, they can still bloat again (the filling up of gas.)  Of the 6 I knew who bloated and were caught in time for emergency care, 2 still died because their stomachs continued to bloat more than once post-surgery.

I do and I don't mean to scare anyone else reading this... I don't want to send anyone into a tizzy about their dogs.  But you should know that if your dog is susceptible, and it happens, you don't have much time to save him-within hours your friend could be gone if you don't know what it is or what to do.

So, raised bowls or not.... there's no right answer, IMO.  I think it's in conjunction with all of the above.  Surveying your risks, her behavior, and making a choice for your dog since you know her best.

In addition to the above posts, I heard that if the dog bowl is too deep it may make them uncomfertable or pose food aggression. For example if you have a littel dog with a big bowl and he has to strain to reach the bottom leaving his eyes below the top of the bowl inhibiting his view. Thats not good either.

I have small dogs, so I don't need to raise their food bowls, but I do raise their water bowls, since if I don't, they do burp up water after a drink.  Seems more comfortable for them to drink without having to dip their heads so low.

Talus uses a raised bowl...my husband made it from an end table he bought at IKEA....
His water bowl is always out, and then we have his food bowl for his lunch and dinner...
We always make sure Talus rests before he eats (at least one hour) and he's usually really good when he's drinking water...never too fast...

I do add a little bit of room temp water to her food before she eats...is that bad?  I usually also add jack maceral and some veggies to her innova... then a little water just to moisten it and thats it.  She does eat very fast, sometimes burps after but not usually.
 
She doesnt bark a lot or get too crazy right around eating time...
 
Now that Ive been looking shes got a very deep chest.. so did Kayla though.  I dunno... I want to raise it for her but I guess Im worried about which is right... but theres no way to know I guess...