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Are German Shepherds prone to bloat? What age is it deadly and why?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | German Shepherd | Male | unneutered | 11 months and 29 days old

are GSD prone to Bloat (Gastric dilatation-volvulus) then how and why ? also at what age this problem can start also does this has any cure or it is life threatening? according to your experience have you ever seen this in any GSD ? usually it causes in what age and at what age mostly dog is prone to have this ?

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Dr. Melanie, BVSc MS

Veterinarian

Published on November 16th, 2016

Yes, GSDs are prone to GDV (gastric dilatation volvus). This is because they are large breed, deep chested dogs, which research has shown have an increased risk for GDV. It has been reported in puppies, but risk increases with age. It is life threatening, and it requires immediate medical attention as the dog will die if not treated. That being said, because a GDV is so serious, there is still a risk of death even with being treated. The treatment is to decompress the stomach, and surgery to fix the stomach to the thoracic wall using the ribs to prevent it from happening again. As a preventative measure, you have have surgery done on Bruno to fix his stomach to his thoracic wall now, which would prevent GDV from happening. Yes, I have seen this in GSDs, and when it does occur, it is an emergency.

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

Related Answers from Veterinarians

Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM
Veterinarian
Published on September 24th, 2017
I am not sure if I understand you correctly as I am not familiar with gbt surgery. If you are talking about GDV surgery (bloat) which is what I think you mean, I will elaborate here. If you are talking about something else please post again and be more specific.

The best way to prevent GDV is to have the dog's stomach "tacked" to the body wall when they are young. This surgery is call gastropexy. As it stands the stomach is not attached to anything and can basically flip over on itself causing the bloat. If you pexy the stomach to the body wall, the chance of this happening decreases exponentially. It is not impossible for it to flip after a gastropexy but it is highly unlikely to occur.

That would be my recommendation in the future if you get more large breed, deep-chested dogs. Everything else you can do to help prevent it are all management issues:

1. Do not feed and then allow the dog to exercise. Wait a minimum of 2 hours after feeding before exercise.
2. Feed multiple small meals instead of one or two large meals per day.
3. Feed the dogs in an elevated fashion - bowls off the ground.
4. Slow down the dog's eating

Here is a good article that talks about this:

https://www.veterinarypartner.com/Content.plx?P=A&S=0&C=0&A=672

Sometimes no matter what you do, it still happens. The gastropexy is the best way to help prevent it in my opinion.

Hope this helps. If you have more questions feel free to post again. I am sorry for the loss of your dog :( I'm sure that was tough.
1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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