Hi Everyone!

brandie-red · Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 1:31 pm Post subject: Hi Everyone!

I am so glad I found this forum. I used to visit one very close to this one while I had my great dane.

Well My name is Brandie and my Husband I just got our first weimaraner last Friday and we love him to death! His Name is Willy and he is 3 months old. We also have an 8 months old Rat terrier named Emily.

2 years ago I lost my Great Dane to bloat and I swore I would never get another deep chested dog, It was so depressing. But after a lot of research I fell in love with the Weimie breed. I still am scared to death of that happening again but am taking all the precautions to prevent it...multiple small meals, no play after eating, raised bowls etc etc.

I do have one question that I can' find an answer to....last night after a bath I noticed Willy's skin and fur is a little dry...his back pads have a little crack kinda of like a person's heel when their feet are too dry. Do you think it would hurt to put a little Vaseline and rub it into his pads or is there a special shampoo you use for their dry skin? My vet is out until next Monday so if anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them.

Thanks everyone
Brandie Very Happy

anne · Posted: Tue May 08, 2007 6:02 pm Post subject:

Another Southern Californian! Smile

Where did you get your pup from? You know that one of the biggest risk factors for bloat is family history of bloat, so I hope you researched your lines. Danes and Weims are some of the "top" dogs to bloat and any time you see a tendency in a particular breed means that there is a genetic component to it. Of course the chest size and everything else contributes.

Vaseline shouldn't hurt. Bag Balm is also good. A lot of dogs will like to ingest though.

For dry skin, don't bathe as often and don't scrub unless he got into somethign really stinky. The soap is drying to the skin. Also feed essential fatty acids to keep the skin healthy. A good brush with a rubber curry comb should get the oil glands going and will get rid of excess hair and dirt. That's the nice thing about short-coated dogs.

brandie-red · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 9:16 am Post subject:

I actually got him from a breeder in San Diego. I had to be on a waiting list forever!!! I did get to see his family history and no problems with bloat. They also gave me a 3 year health guarantee which I thought was pretty good.

anne · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 3:31 pm Post subject:

Missed the raised bowl thing in your first post.
See Purdue's bloat site. Raised bowls in this epidmiological study has shown to be an increased risk for bloat.

brandie-red · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 5:34 pm Post subject:

Well Now I am confused because everything thing I have ever read about large breeds say to use an elevated dish....I found this article contradicting the purdue study...it is about great danes though

http://www.greatdanelady.com/articles/on_my_soap_box_purdue_bloat_study.htm

wildlifecr13 · Posted: Wed May 09, 2007 7:20 pm Post subject: raised bowls

i have raised bowls. my dogs take food by the mouthful, find a spot on the floor, drop it, and eat it from there. any research on that Smile

anne · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 1:05 pm Post subject:

Yep, I've seen the great dane lady's thing on the elevated food dish. And yes, she's right, the purdue study is an epidemiological study. Gotta weigh the data availabe and make the best choice you can.

I personally feel that elevating the dish or not is really of minor concern. Genetic predisposition (the line the dog comes from), stress, and feeding a dry kibble diet vs a raw or homemade diet, have the most to do with bloat -- but that is just my opinion. No one really knows what causes bloat, and likely it's a combination of things.

I'm just curious, how do you see a family history concerning bloat?

brandie-red · Posted: Thu May 10, 2007 5:15 pm Post subject:

Well I didn't "see" a history...We discussed their history, she let me know that none of her dogs have ever had an issue during her 17 years of raising and breeding weimies. I asked alot of questions about it since it was one of my main concerns.

jenns1382 · Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:10 am Post subject:

I do not understand how bloat can be a genetic trait. My weim suffered from bloat from eating trash and we took him to the vet and luckily he is fine. I think it is a matter of weims being deep chested and so all of them are able to become bloated and it does not matter if any weim in their line has suffered from bloat because if they eat and run around right afterwards they are going to susceptible to bloat.

Duchess · Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 9:41 am Post subject:

I was told by several weimie and a couple of dane breeders that it is genetic... I don't know. So many things are genetic now. Who knows??!!!

anne · Posted: Fri May 11, 2007 11:45 am Post subject:

It's one of those things like HOD where there's a genetic predisposition and then some enviornmental factor can trigger it. Any time you see a population that has a tendency, you can assume there is a genetic factor. When you see something concentrated in a breed, then there's probably something genetic. I know certain lines in Weims that have bloat.
But since there's no conclusive evidence, i.e., no bloat gene mapped, we can't say 100% for sure.
JMHO