Bloat (gastric dilatation-volvulus / GDV)
A life-threatening emergency in deep-chested dogs where the stomach fills with gas and twists. Without surgery within hours, it is fatal.
GDV is one of the few true minutes-matter emergencies in veterinary medicine. The stomach distends with gas (dilatation) and twists on its axis (volvulus), cutting off blood supply to the stomach and spleen and compressing major blood vessels. Shock and death follow within hours.
At highest risk: deep-chested large and giant breeds — Great Danes, Standard Poodles, Weimaraners, German Shepherds, Setters, Boxers, Doberman Pinschers, Saint Bernards. Risk also rises with age, fast eating, exercise around mealtimes, eating one large meal a day, and elevated food bowls (counter-intuitively — recent evidence is mixed, but elevated bowls were once recommended and are no longer).
Signs to recognise: distended abdomen, repeated unproductive retching (heaving with nothing coming up), restlessness, drooling, pale gums, collapse. Any of these in a deep-chested breed is a vet emergency now, not in the morning.
Prophylactic gastropexy — surgically tacking the stomach to the body wall, often at the same time as de-sexing — substantially reduces lifetime risk in high-risk breeds. Worth discussing with your vet for any Great Dane, Setter, or other top-tier risk breed.