Ankle Express wrote:Brent, that is a twisted gut in my opinion. Not all twists are the same but the result usually is. The stomach lining dies during a twist due to lack of mainly oxygen and blood. This can take anywhere from an hour to several hours for the stomach lining to die off. Hence the reason some dogs are diagnosed and possibly even saved. A severe one will only take a couple hours tops. In the mean time gasses are building from the feed or water or both that the stomach is trying to digest. Once the stomach lining gets to a point it loses its expandability and actually may begin to dissolve but at that point and along with the gas pressure, the stomach will rupture between the twists. Its over at that point. The gasses will release, the contents of the stomach are released. Visually if you didn't see your dog bloated (the term for the swelling after the twist and gasses are building) and found them dead you really wouldn't see anything out of sorts much. An autopsy would then reveal the twist. Lots of dogs die from this. Way more than get the credit for it. Typically they are just found dead.
Knowing the breed of dog B&T and their typical build they are highly succeptible. Deep chest and long bodies. The thought is there has to be enough room for the gut to twist. Typically on these first day out type of deals in the big dogs the blood vessels that supply blood and oxygen to the stomach are already strained. They stretch from the bouncing around. Stomach isn't tight to the spine like an in shape hunted dog would be. We have all seen this, example- just a little water or feed in an out of shape dog and they look somewhat pot bellied or sway backed. Their stomach is dropping low. So what happened was the stomach wasn't digesting at full speed like normal because the area around the strained blood vessels isn't working at full capacity. Digestion is slowed or put on hold there. The gasses begin to build at that point. It swells the stomach. Its believed the gases will then flip the stomach and completely sever the blood vessels feeding it causing it to die off. We all have gutted critters. Once you get by the diaphram in anything you can basically pull the stomach free from the spine. That little bit of stuff connecting the stomach cavity to the spine is the blood vessels that supply the blood and oxygen to that stomach. Its not much. Unfortunately roading is not complete conditioning. Over rocks, boulders, logs and under much of the same is more of the real deal. Treeing takes a lot from a dog. Just the barking for an extended period will spend a lot. As well as help strain those blood vessels feeding the stomach. We’ve all seen sore dogs from treeing, right? Hunting in other words is the only complete conditioning. Sometimes the dog is truly spent and the thought is electolytes are spent as well. Thus causing the same slowed digestion and same process. Usually the gas has to be present and enough room to let it all roll over. Always exceptions to the rules as well. I’ve buried some great dogs over this. When in doubt withhold feed and give very little water. Let the dog completely recover. Then bring them back slow. Some believe its just the dog and will eventually happen. IDK. Its real and it happens though. Real sorry for the guys loss.
Yep, you nailed it.......
Something I`d like to add is, kibble takes a long time for the dog to digest and for the stomach to empty, as in hours. way longer than a BARF meal would take to empty. For this reason, my dogs who eat kibble do not get any food the morning of the hunt. They will get fed hours after the exercise, in two smaller meals, even if it means spacing the meals out by only a few hours. Day to day feeding is always two smaller meals, morning and evening.
As ankle express explained, twisted gut, or tosion, is a by-product of the canine barrell -chested anatomy and a full stomach of food. Add vigorus activity to the mix and the risk for torsion goes up exponentially. Hounds are in the susceptible breed catagory. All we can do is minimize the risk factors.
