You’ve seen these right? They come in really pretty stands? Very well decorated. Gives you the idea that it’s going to help you keep the floor clean.
And the company selling them want you to think that it’s going to reduce your risk of bloat in your dog. Or maybe it reduces strain in your dog’s neck – that’s what they say anyways.
There is an epidemiologic study from 2000 documenting that an elevated feed dish contributes to increased risk of bloat, technically called gastric dilatation volvulus.
The fancy term means stomach fills with gas and then flips. Dilatation is filling with gas. Volvulus is flipping and twisting.
So again and again and again, I tell people to put the dish on the floor.
Dogs were invented to eat off the ground. They were not invented to eat sitting upright like us humans. Dogs are more likely to swallow air when they eat with their head elevated. Swallowing air is more than likely to cause bloat and then stomach twist.
So if your dog burps a lot after eating, how about if you burp him like a baby?
If your dog has a stiff neck? Get acupuncture, chiropractic, and herbal pain relievers. Don’t get an elevated dish cause now he has neck pain and is also swallowing air. Great combo right?
Please. Put the dish on the ground!
Still seeing patients in Tampa, Clearwater, and virtually.
Here’s the citation to the study linked above:
Glickman LT, Glickman NW, Schellenberg DB, Raghavan M, Lee T. Non-dietary risk factors for gastric dilatation-volvulus in large and giant breed dogs. J Am Vet Med Assoc. 2000 Nov 15;217(10):1492-9. doi: 10.2460/javma.2000.217.1492. PMID: 11128539.