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Nutrition: Is it Factor in Bloat and Torsion? Linda Arndt has been involved in breeding Great Danes for 25 years, having produced champions in both conformation and obedience. She is the author of "Watchword", a column published in The Great Dane Reporter as well as articles in The Great Dane Quarterly and other breed magazines, here and overseas. The primary focus of the column is canine nutrition and diseases plaguing the large and giant breeds. Linda's breeding philosophy: "My primary concern as a professional breeder is the improvement and preservation of the breed through a "designed", limited breeding program with emphasis on temperament, intelligence, longevity and classical beauty." Also to her credit, Linda is an accomplished Artist and Professor of Fine Arts at Ball State University, where she teaches Structure/Design and chairs a major crafts program. Her porcelain works have been shown in national and international exhibitions, museums, galleries and public and private collections as well as represented in textbooks, documentary films and national television. Linda Arndt is also listed in "Who's Who of American Women" and "Who's Who of American Artists". It has been some time since I have written an article, so before I discuss the topic of nutrition and its potential role in the cause and prevention of bloat and torsion, I would like to take this opportunity to pass on some other information that will be of interest. I want to make breeders aware of a product that is helpful: "Liquid Chlorophyll"-100mg. I have found it to be extremely helpful in masking season and urine odors. For seasons I use 1 teaspoon in A.M. and P.M. feeding and I have found my males will continue to eat even when caged right next to a bitch in season. Do not, I repeat, do not trust putting the animals together or you may end up with a litter and, of course, don't use chlorophyll if you are intending to breed your bitch. It may interfere with the male's interest in your girl! I have found the liquid works much better than the capsules and it can be purchased from health food stores or contact: World Organics Corporation, P.O. Box 8207, Fountain Valley, California 92728. The cost is approximately $10.00 per pint which will last for more than one season.
There are herbal remedies available for prostate problems as well as to
aid in the prevention of future problems. Several breeders have reported
using these products on their males with great success. For information on
the following products call: Prostata-Nutritional Support for Prostate
Health 1-800-926-9601 MSM (Nutritional Sulfur) is one of the nutrients I will discuss in this article and its potential relationship to bloat and torsion, but this nutrient has many other benefits too. I was working with a breeder that had a 12 week old puppy that appeared to be a wobbler, or had some growth problems, metabolic disorder or injury that has manifested itself in "wobbler-like" symptoms. MSM is frequently used for yearlings when there are growth problems present. We have noticed the adoption of MSM (Nutritional Sulfur) to this animal's diet has made a considerable difference in simply 3 days and by six months of age everything was back to normal. We have been using 1/4 teaspoon in A.M. and P.M. feedings and will continue along with Phyto-Sprout Plus for joint soreness, a product which I will be discussing in a future article. To order: 1-800-937-1104. I would like to take a look at the potential role diets can play in these diseases. I refer to these as two separate diseases because we can have one without the other as well as spleen torsion. Of all my articles, this one is probably the most difficult to write because of the painful subject matter. The topic of bloat and/or torsion conjures up a multitude of feelings for any individual who has had first hand experience with these terrifying diseases. The feelings of frustration and helplessness are only compounded by the fact that there has been no new research information on the cause or prevention of these diseases. We have been told to watch the consumption of water, particularly after exercise and to soak food before feeding (which can destroy nutrients and actually cause fermentation). Then we have the controversy over the use of beet pulp as well as the concern regarding extruded versus pelletized foods. Frankly, I am not sure, in the final analysis, how much any of these concerns have to do with the cause and prevention of bloat and torsion. Therefore, I would like to offer another viewpoint for you to consider. For the past 25 years research has been looking at these diseases, as well as other health issues, through old paradigms (models) and with no input from the professional breeders and their practical experience. In spite of the thousands of dollars donated to the Morris Foundation, we are no further ahead in solving these problems. I believe there must be input and dialogue between the research and professional breeders. Gathering data, after the fact, really does little in addressing the cause or prevention and thus calls for a more creative approach to solving these dreaded diseases. It has been my ongoing personal investigation into nutritionally caused diseases that has led me to question our approach to bloat and torsion. It is important to understand what I am about to discuss is only my opinion, based on 22 years of experience in this breed, personal nutritional investigation and information on health issues shared by researchers, nutritionists and thousands of other breeders. I believe there are things we can do nutritionally to narrow our chances of having bloat and torsion. I have found it very interesting to see a significant drop in the number of incidents of bloat and torsion over the past few years in my animals and animals of my friends and breeders across the country. Understand, I am not guaranteeing if you follow the program I choose to use that you will never have a case of bloat, torsion or spleen torsion. There is no such thing as a guarantee, but I feel this is a healthy step in the right direction. I lost my first Dane to bloat/torsion over twenty years ago and it changed my life and the way I view these dogs. I now realize they are extremely fragile and every day with us is a gift. I have learned to love the breed as a whole because of this fragility and not a day goes by that I don't think about bloat and torsion especially when I leave the house. My whole life's schedule is geared around my dogs and would not think of traveling to a dog show without a bloat kit. (To purchase a bloat kit call "The Farmacy" 1-800-733-4981.) It has been my experience that the number of incidents of bloat/torsion have dropped dramatically over the past few years probably due to better quality meat based foods and the incorporation of whole foods, probiotics and digestive enzymes into the diet. I base this comment on the fact that I have had very few calls regarding bloat and torsion in 4+ years. Before that, I would average 2-3 calls for assistance per week. It is because of this experience and my interest in the prevention of disease through quality nutrition that has made me consider taking a closer look at the effects diet can have on the cause and prevention of bloat and torsion. It
is no news that most breeders and research people believe these diseases
have multi-factorial causes: I
would like to list some other elements, seldom considered, that need to be
addressed as potential factors in the cause of these diseases: It is my opinion the disease of bloat/torsion manifests itself when the animal is under stress due to many factors. Sometimes the stress is external and obvious and other times it is internal and goes unnoticed. Bloat and torsion may appear to be triggered by one event when in reality it is a condition that has been building due to a number of circumstances. I believe the disease is multi-factored and is in response to a chronic deterioration of a total system affected by environmental, dietary, psychological, physiological factors. These factors, singly or in combination, cause excessive wear on an animal's system, changes the pH balance and can encourage pathogenic bacteria growth causing bloat and alters the body's electrical and chemical balance which under the right conditions will cause stomach or spleen torsion. It is important to look at solving this problem from a holistic viewpoint. Instead of looking for a single cause for these diseases, like excessive water intake or the size of the animal's chest, we must understand the total picture. "The parts are not greater than the whole" and, therefore, everything has a tremendous impact on the animal's total well-being.
Stress and the Effect on Bloat and Torsion
Diet
Environment
Genetics
Temperament
Dietary Concerns The research done by F. Pottenger, M.D. in his book "The Pottenger's Cats - A Study in Nutrition" is a fascinating look at a controlled study of cats fed raw versus cooked foods. This study detailed clinical and pathological findings in cats as well as humans which provided convincing evidence that processed foods are a modern day villain. The book includes several photos of animals and human dentition (teeth), showing the actual difference in those eating a modern processed diet to those of isolated cultures where whole raw foods are the natural diet. There are actual physical changes in jaw structure with teeth overlapping and decay present in individuals raised on modern processed diets. I believe there is a direct correlation between the lack of whole, fresh, raw foods in our animals' diet and the problems of bloat, torsion, disease, short life span, fertility and numerous degenerative diseases. The vast majority of the problems we have been told are genetic are actually the result of feeding inadequate, incomplete, inferior grade, processed, fractionated, synthetic, hormone raised and pesticide ridden food stuffs to our animals and ourselves. We have come to use a commercial processed diet in a matter of a few short years, yet our animal's dentition (teeth) and digestive process have not evolved slowly or had ample time to catch up being fed a processed commercial food. Just take a look at those teeth. They are still waiting to tear, chew and saw for survival. It is no wonder doggie dentistry is a fast growing business these past few years. Some companies even have a dog food that removes tartar! There are a handful of commercial dog food companies that are visionary and are working to add back to the diet those important missing components. I commend the Eagle, Wysong, Nutra, Innova, Martin, Solid Gold Companies to name a few who have worked to incorporate some of these "life supporting" missing components into their products and pride themselves in working with professional breeders in the improvement of these feeds. In my previous articles ("Vegetable Soup" and "Blackwatch Feed Program", for a copy send SASE-4 stamps) I have discussed in great detail the fact that heating and processing of food stuffs kills or alters the "living" elements normally found in fresh raw whole foods. Therefore, dog food companies spray vitamins, minerals, amino acids back onto the dog food after processing and before bagging. Most of the vitamins are synthetic and minerals are in such crude forms the animals cannot use them. (Example: milk and chalk are both calcium sources. Milk is a usable form derived from a whole food but chalk is a mined mineral and not a very usable form of calcium because it is not from a food). Then there is the even greater issue of getting each of these synthetic and mined nutrients from separate sources and mixing them together and thinking they will work together like they do when found in a natural state. Wrong! When we extract the part from the whole it is not the same. I
believe the following nutrients can be most critical in helping to prevent
bloat and torsion and are often disregarded by the majority of
nutritionists, veterinarians, physicians and of course dog food
manufacturers.
Torsion: Could it be an Electrical Short Circuit? Minerals are what spark our body's electrons and they are absolutely critical in the diet because they affect the electrical impulses and the body chemistry. Did you get that? Minerals are what effect the electrical impulses and the body chemistry. As owners, we are told to feed our animals the same processed, pre-packaged food day in and day out. We have all seen the television ad from a large well known company that promotes this idea in selling their product. "Why, everything they will ever need is included in this one package." Of course, this short sighted theory assumes we all have the same dietary needs. When an animal is not part of the food selection process and not allowed to hunt and scavenge, how can special dietary needs and cravings be addressed? The best example is the mineral and micronutrient issue, particularly the micronutrients. There have been no minimum or maximum determined for most of the minerals and micronutrients. Therefore, these components are simply "overlooked" or disregarded as being unimportant in a diet. However, it is these "essential" minerals and microminerals that are the nutrients necessary to run the body's electrical and chemical system! Although minerals were at one time abundant in our soil and transmitted into grains, fruits, grasses and vegetables, modern farming practices have depleted soils of these minerals. Herbicides, pesticides and mechanical leaching and intensive farming has leached minerals from the soil. We must then go to another source for high quality minerals, such as the cereal grasses and marine plants. Yes, kelp is good to use but is like a weed compared to seaweeds and blue green algae.
A Part of the Solution: Diet
"Daily Greens Plus" "MSM"
"Source" (SBGA
blue green algae)
Lyn
@ 603-668-8157
Part of the Solution: Sulfur/Microminerals There may be a possible connection between bloat and torsion and inadequate amounts of or an absence of sulfur and micronutrients in the processed canine diet. This one mineral, sulfur, is of such great importance in body electricity and chemistry that I feel is an important piece to this whole picture. Most dog foods are low or absent in sulfur content in the nutritional assay and if they do put it back in the food it is in an amino acid supplementation. This mineral is really given no importance in light of the whole health picture yet here is some information about sulfur you will find very interesting. Sulfur is a mineral and has the same toxicity as water. There is practically no research done on sulfur and nothing is assigned as minimum or maximum requirements by nutritional standards. The National Research Council (NRC) and Affco does not even list it as a nutritional requirement for the dogs/cats. You will not find sulfur in the vitamins you purchase either. Sulfur is fragile and lost during heat and processing.
Sulfur is important for the following functions: Now if that isn't enough, where do you think sulfur is normally found in abundant quantities.....in raw meat! Yes, you heard me right, raw meat. Something we no longer feed unless we live in Europe, England, Australia and now many breeders in those countries have switched to processed foods. Sulfur is found in protein containing foods and in eggs, green vegetables, cereal grasses (barley, wheat, rye, grasses), alfalfa and fresh grasses (like the ones they tend to graze on in the yard, crab grass and young ragweed leaves, seaweeds and algaes), all things missing from most commercial diets.
Another interesting fact, nutritional sulfur (MSM) is used in horses to
correct epiphyiutis, their equivalent to H.O.D. in over-fed yearlings, as
well as in spondolysis and nutritional wobblers. Previously I discussed my
recent experience working with another breeder and using MSM on a young
puppy with wobbler-like symptoms. They saw a considerable improvement in
just a few days. Grains/cereal products are high in nitrogen and ferment quickly and raw meats are high in sulfur.
Consider this: I believe one of the reasons we see less bloat and torsion these past few years is because dog foods are improving foods by going to a meat-based food. The old-timers will remember one particular "yellow" grain based food, the one that went in "yellow" and came out "yellow", and seemed to sour and ferment within a matter of minutes if left standing with water on the food.
Part of the Solution: Probiotics/Digestive Enzymes
These are some examples of common probiotics found to enhance health and
nutrition. I believe we will soon see a decrease in the excessive use of antibiotics which tend to be non-selective and kill both bad and good bacteria. Those of you who have had fever blisters, cold sores, diarrhea, or yeast infections after antibiotic therapy no doubt experienced this problem. Using probiotics simulatenously with antibiotics and continuing to use them for at least a week to ten days after you have run your course of antibiotics will help to re-establish the system with beneficial bacteria and can help prevent or lessen the time in which you have these negative effects from antibiotics. This is true in animals and a little extra added to the diet daily, over and above your normal dosage of the Daily Greens Plus, is very helpful in reestablishing the system. One current example of this particular use of probiotics (good bacteria) in fighting pathogenic (bad) bacteria was that of the E. coli scare from the "Jack-in-The-Box" food poisoning incident in California. Some of the individuals were given a very high powered "probiotic" in order to fight off the potential effects of the deadly bad bacteria found present in the contaminated meat. (Probiotics)
are often referred to by several names: Probiotics (good bacteria) should be ever present and in good balance within our system and in the digestive tract (humans and animals). But when an organic system responds in a negative way to stress, this can alter the pH balance of the body which can have a powerful negative effect by killing off good bacteria in the digestive tract which frequently leads to diarrhea. This negative change in a system can also set up an environment that promotes the growth of bad (pathogenic) bacteria. Poor quality diet is another factor in the wearing down of a system. If an animal's digestive system has to work over-time processing foods it is very hard on the system plus the continuous feeding of poor quality, processed foods only adds to an overall breakdown in health and well-being. The canine intestines are short and meant to process primarily meat. A cereal-based diet is more difficult to digest, takes longer to go through a system and tends to ferment quickly. This sets the stage for a condition which helps promote the growth of bad bacteria and may increase the risk of bloating. Hydrochloric acid is necessary for proper canine digestion but I have observed that dogs do not drool over cereal based foods like they do over meat-based or raw meat diets. I suspect this limited amount of hydrochloric acid being produced by the animal when fed cereal-based foods may also contribute to this build up of gases in bloat. Maintaining a slightly acid system in these animals is very important to digestion as well as a quality diet. In addition, you can use a squirt of apple cider vinegar in the daily water which helps maintain this balance. I
choose to use the Daily Greens Plus, which in my opinion, has numerous
benefits in helping to minimize our chances of bloat. This probiotic/digestive
enzyme plus vitamin C and vegetation in the form of cereal grasses are
important to my animals because it: I keep on hand a variety of forms of probiotics. It comes in a paste which I use for new puppies or during emergencies. Because it is not necessary to keep the paste refrigerated, it can be carried in a grooming bag or purse for traveling and dog shows. I use probiotics daily in the form of the Daily Greens Plus and I also keep plain probiotics on hand in the form of "Probiotic Power Pack" or "Fasttrack" which can be mixed in water and put down a tube if an animal has bloated. You can use 1/3 cup mixed in a cup or more of tepid temperature water or any liquid you can get your hands on and dump it down the tube. If there is considerable foam present dump a cup or more of grapefruit juice down the tube to break up the foam--plus it makes the system acid again and then follow up with the probiotic mixture. This buys you time until you can get to the vet. This past summer my partners, the Bennetts, saved the life of one of the top producing collies who was exhibiting at our local summer show. By tubing and using the grapefruit juice and probiotics, they were able to buy enough time to get the dog into surgery thus saving the life of this valuable and loved animal. We carry a bloat kit with us at all times plus grapefruit juice, paste probiotics in a tube and powder probiotics in a dark container. Beet Pulp - Does it Have a Role in Bloat?
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