In 2021, Maestro bloated. We will get into why he did soon, but it is important that anyone with a Silken Windhound, any sighthound, or dog with a deep chest know the signs and what to do in the off chance you experience this. Thankfully it does seem fairly uncommon in Silken Windhounds, but it does happen, and can happen to any deep-chested breed, so you should always have a plan in place, just in case.

Symptoms

The dog will be restless, sometimes vomiting, but only foam will be expelled. They may cry in pain and be unable to get comfortable. Their stomach will be large like a basketball and hard to the touch. There is often the tell-tale symptom of the hunched position like the picture of Maestro to the left.

If your dog is experiencing this - you have 30-90 minutes to get to an emergency vet and get them into surgery. Call the vet on the way. Do not panic.

I hope you never experience this, and likely, you won't!

Causes

1. Stress. Based on my experience and research, I believe that stress is the most prominent cause. Maestro is our most sensitive silken and feeds off of our emotions tremendously. We were receiving threats from someone at the time of the event... his people (Seven and I) were stressed out and he fed off of that.

2. Weight Loss. Maestro was extremely obese when we got him. He healthily lost weight while living with us, but that left a lot of extra room in his body until his skin and muscles would tighten up again.

3. Ate too fast, and too much. Unfortunately I gave him the wrong slow feeder at the time because I was so frazzled that day, and his skinny little nose was able to eat from it like it wasn't a slow feeder at all.

Those are the main things. It was terrifying and definitely traumatized me more than him. I was very lucky that so many people donated to his emergency surgery and it was paid in full by the Silken Windhound community. We are forever grateful!

Prevention

We now use very intense slow feeders suited to our individual silkens and stop the dogs to sit/burp in the middle of their meals to make sure they don't eat too fast and that the gas is expelling. We feed them on the ground only and soak their kibble until it's puffy and soft so that it does not expand in their stomachs. We also often use digestive enzymes to aid in digestion.

We keep gas meds (Simethicone - keep ingredients as minimal as possible!) on hand, keep our stress And their stress minimal. We keep activity before and after eating minimal for 30 minutes. If the humans or dogs feel worked up, I wait to feed them.

Preemptive Gastropexy?

We have Maestro's daughter and we did NOT preemptively gastropexy her as it doesn't guarantee that they will never bloat. We don't like to mess with the natural movements of their bodies if we can help it. Bloat can happen in the breed, but it is not common enough to do this in my opinion, especially if you take precautions.

Bloat Studies

• Inherited and Predisposing Factors in the Development of Gastric Dilatation Volvulus in Dogs

• Non-dietary risk factors for gastric dilatation-volvulus in large and giant breed dogs

• Occurrence and recurrence of gastric dilatation with or without volvulus after incisional gastropexy

• Outcomes and complications of prophylactic incisional gastropexy in 766 dogs