When a dog dies of bloat is the abdomen HUGE or does fatality set in before it gets that large?

The abdomin gets very distended prior to death. It's very horrific! My first Labrador bloated at age 11. I was very fortunate to get him to surgery in the nick of time. He survived the surgery and lived to be 16 1/2 yrs. old....

It gets huge and the legs stick straight out. Like a sausage with legs.

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When a dog dies of bloat is the abdomen HUGE or does fatality set in before it gets that large?

The dangers of bloat are: the stomach or the first part of the small intestine can die from twisting closed and lack of oxygen.
The heart can go into arrhythmia and stop secondary to bloat. Sometimes this does not occur until a couple days later, even if surgery is done. The sooner tacking surgery is done, the less chance of cardiac arrhythmias.
The dog can go into shock, and untreated shock can kill.
Do not rely on your dog's abdomen getting huge before seeking medical attention. I remember once seeing a dog awaiting an elective surgery, a shar pei, panting heavily and salivating. I alerted the veterinaian on duty, and thank God he decided to take a second look. The dog went into bloat surgery two hours later, and barely survived.

I recently had a 9 day old puppy die from intestinal torsion. The vet said the twist was below the stomach and could have been from a blood clot--that it can happen at any time or age to anyone. The poor pup was fine at 12:30 and had nursed. Then at 2 he had a belly ache. I got him to the vet by 3 and he was dead at 3:30. The necropsy showed that the intestine had already died.

I'm so sorry to hear about the pup. It's something that I keep in the back of my mind but thankfully have never had to deal with yet.

Well there is going to swelling and if you haven't tubed the dog or induced them to throw up(or if they aren't doing it on there own) then yes, often they will die with an obviously larger than normal stomach. You can also tap the side of the dog and it will be taught and sound like drum. Often torsion(twist) occurs, sometimes just stomache, sometimes with spleen. Trick with bloat(beyond not having your dog do it)is to catch it PDQ Or its too late

We had a GSD bloat and have torsion years ago.
His abdomen DID NOT show any distention until he was critical. He did have symptoms off and on for hours as well, which is NOT classic of bloat. A call into a vet clinic didn't result in our bringing him in right away because the symptoms would subside. Finally we decided that we weren't comfortable with how he was acting and brought him in. Right before the ride he drank a small amount of water, and it was then that we noticed his stomach was distended. He was in shock when we arrived, but luckily after surgery, losing half his stomach and his spleen, and being tacked, he ,lived another 2 years.
The symptoms I now look for are inability to produce vomit or defecate, and restlessness. He clearly had all 3 symptoms the entire time.