raised food bowls

cowsmom · May 8, 2012

ok so i bought sarah some raised food bowls a few months ago as she chokes on her food sometimes and the slow feed bowl did not work out. i had only been using it for a very short time before gunnys passing and i read that raised food bowls raised the percentage of maybe getting bloat by i dunno 100% or something. so i took her raised bowl away. well now i would like to use it again as it did seem to help but i wonder about this bloat issue. anyone use them or have been using them? any thoughts from my bulldog friends on this issue?

bullmama · May 8, 2012

[MENTION=959]kazzy220[/MENTION] [MENTION=572]Libra926[/MENTION]

I think both may be able to give you some insight

paperweight · May 8, 2012

curious for an answer on this as well.

RescueMe · May 8, 2012

me too as I have heard arguments both ways..It helps from getting bloat it causes bloat?

karenben · May 8, 2012

raised bowls are to try and prevent bloat,karen

ChanelnBrutus · May 8, 2012

I use the raised bowls for both Brutus and Chanel. :hmm:

Am I doing something wrong?

MamaAndi · May 8, 2012

Bre eats out of a stainless steel crate dish that is raised to the height of her shoulder (it just hooks on the side of her bedtime crate). She's never had any issues from it yet. Actually if anything she eats better than when she was first using a stainless steel dish on the floor.

Bizzymammabee · May 8, 2012

Yes this should be good. I just purchased new food bowls and had looked at the raised set. I didn't get them because I have heard different opinions regarding the bloat issue, also Raven sometimes likes to push her bowl around.

Poppy · May 8, 2012

I disagree with the other posts. Raised food bowls alone do not *cause* bloat but it substantially increases the risks when combined with other factors. If your dog is deep chested, older, gulps his food, plays right after eating etc. then it is a recipe for disaster.

There has been one extensive study (Purdue study) on it that strongly suggests they should not be used for deep chested dogs. Of course it's only one study and more is to be learned on the subject, but there is very little known about bloat as it is.

Find another type of slow feed bowl instead IMO.

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-04-23/...nn_1_bloat-large-dogs-dog-owners?_s=PM:LIVING

http://momandpawshop.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/the-myths-of-elevated-dog-dishes-and-bloat/

http://m.petmd.com/blogs/fullyvette...nd-bloat-ratcheting-controversy-risk-gdv-dogs

cowsmom · May 8, 2012

gosh now dont know what to do. its all so confusing this different info. :cursing:

2BullyMama · May 8, 2012

I never used them for feeding, but I did use them for Nitschke and drinking water -- he seemed to struggle with breathing when the bowl was on the floor and it also slowed Banks down in gobbling the water

ChanelnBrutus · May 8, 2012

2BullyMama said:
I never used them for feeding, but I did use them for Nitschke and drinking water -- he seemed to struggle with breathing when the bowl was on the floor and it also slowed Banks down in gobbling the water

Good Idea! I will just use it for water! Brutus sticks his whole face in it when its on the floor!

kazzy220 · May 8, 2012

@cowsmom We were recommended to use raised bowls because Maggie aspirated on her food and this led to a bad case of pneumonia where she had to have quite a few breathing treatments at the vets. She has now finished the antibiotics but I am not convinced that she won't need to go back for more.

Her vet was ADAMANT that in future she MUST eat out of raised bowl at a level where the bowl is approximately chin height. All of this was going on shortly after the news of gunny's sad passing, and the subsequent posting of the warnings of what can cause bloat. So you can imagine my horror that raised feeding bowls were said to increase the potential for bloat in deep chested dogs by 110%. It was like ... you are doomed if you do and you're doomed if you don't!!!

So I had to call the vet again. My daughter and I are stood there in Petland looking at this huge selection of raised feeding bowls. Well when your bully isn't in front of you and you're told it has to be a raised bowl then you start to question what is a raised bowl cos I'm looking at some that are 3" higher off the ground and some that are more suitable for a doberman!! Maggie at that time was still at the vets receiving breathing treatmenst so I decide to call the vets. As soon as I get through, I bring up my concern (so far the hubby has had to deal with the vets because it's always been when I'm working). Her answer was that bloat was more common with the deep chested dogs like a german shephard, and they feel that a bulldog is more WIDE chested. They are unofficially known as bulldog vets, and she said that they had never had an occurrance of bloat in a bulldog so far. She then went on to let me know about the chin high height for the bowl etc.

I did read about how to avoid bloat and I have to say that I do a lot of those things anyway .... small meals more than once a day. higher protein etc.

So for me it was choosing the lesser of two evils ....

cowsmom · May 9, 2012

kazzy220 said:
@cowsmom We were recommended to use raised bowls because Maggie aspirated on her food and this led to a bad case of pneumonia where she had to have quite a few breathing treatments at the vets. She has now finished the antibiotics but I am not convinced that she won't need to go back for more.

Her vet was ADAMANT that in future she MUST eat out of raised bowl at a level where the bowl is approximately chin height. All of this was going on shortly after the news of gunny's sad passing, and the subsequent posting of the warnings of what can cause bloat. So you can imagine my horror that raised feeding bowls were said to increase the potential for bloat in deep chested dogs by 110%. It was like ... you are doomed if you do and you're doomed if you don't!!!

So I had to call the vet again. My daughter and I are stood there in Petland looking at this huge selection of raised feeding bowls. Well when your bully isn't in front of you and you're told it has to be a raised bowl then you start to question what is a raised bowl cos I'm looking at some that are 3" higher off the ground and some that are more suitable for a doberman!! Maggie at that time was still at the vets receiving breathing treatmenst so I decide to call the vets. As soon as I get through, I bring up my concern (so far the hubby has had to deal with the vets because it's always been when I'm working). Her answer was that bloat was more common with the deep chested dogs like a german shephard, and they feel that a bulldog is more WIDE chested. They are unofficially known as bulldog vets, and she said that they had never had an occurrance of bloat in a bulldog so far. She then went on to let me know about the chin high height for the bowl etc.

I did read about how to avoid bloat and I have to say that I do a lot of those things anyway .... small meals more than once a day. higher protein etc.

So for me it was choosing the lesser of two evils ....

thanks so much for this. i have already started sarah back on her raised feeding bowl. she does not choke when i use these so im going to continue to use them. she will eat then cough i guess it is then continue eating. i have started also feeding her half her canned then when shes done with that wait a few minutes then give her the rest. i think im going to continue to use them. thanks for your response. i so hope your baby gets better soon :hug: