[Mary M]

I found a link to the study: http://juliet84.free.fr/Articles/bibliographie/SDTE/javma.2000.217.pdf

This is an old study, 2000. 14 years old. That’s the first problem.
The second problem with this study is that it enrolled 1,637 dogs, (all large or giant breed) and only 98 of them developed gastric-dilatation volvulus (GDV) or bloat…and out of those, only 29 died. That’s a very small percentage number from which to make ANY major conclusions.

As related to “moistening dog food” the authors even state in their discussion about it and some other factors they mention: “most likely, however, many of these factors were sig-
nificant only because of confounding.”
If you want the definition of confounding in statistics read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confounding

It’s really important when discussing research to not just throw quotes or information around, but to look at the article critically, and evaluate it on the merits of the study. The researchers did not “control” for any of these factors, they simply sent out questionnaires to owners and then “associated” certain factors with the dogs who developed bloat.

The authors have a “discussion” section, but not a “conclusions” section, meaning they really couldn’t come up with any hard conclusions. It’s an interesting study, but it’s not very well designed.

I moisten my dog’s kibble with a tablespoon of warm water (filtered water, warmed in the microwave), and she does just fine. 😉

• This reply was modified 11 years, 10 months ago by Mary M.
• This reply was modified 11 years, 10 months ago by Mary M.