post GDV recovery

[labrasaurus]

My dog became acutely ill Tuesday night, about 15 minutes after eating. He was having unproductive retching, and looking very restless. I checked his belly then rushed him in to the vet where he had surgery for GDV with gastropexy. No complications during surgery except for a bout of low BP. He stayed about 24 hours in hospital, came home, was rechecked the next morning, and was given a shot of nausea med. He is home and day 4 post surgery.
I have been feeding him small amounts of white rice mixed with either cottage cheese or a small amount of high quality canned food and he is on tramadol 200mg every 8 hours. He is belching a fair amount, and they are the stinkiest belches I have ever smelled. He still has not pooped. Has had about 3 cups of food total since surgery. Acting otherwise normal.
Should I be feeding something else? Should I back him off to fluids like pedialyte until he stops belching so much?
Should I ask for some reglan or give him an antacid? I think he is full of gas. We have been doing small walks to try and stimulate his GI function, and I did listen to his bowel with a stethoscope and he does have positive bowel tones.

Can anoyone give me an idea of how his recovery should progress in terms of GI function and what potential complications can occur at this point? I have read a lot, but have not found much about what to do in the short term after something like this happens.

I don't know what triggered the volvulus, but I suspect that he may have been bloated due to oatmeal and/or dried apples that I have made for him last weekend (I did not realize about oatmeal) or that he had not gone on his usual walk prior to dinner that day. I have always tried to be cautious about trying to prevent this from happening as he is a very large, deep-chested dog who loves to snarf down his food in seconds.

I know we were lucky because he could have died from this. I just want to make sure I am taking care of him properly during recovery.

[worldclass]

I just had this happen to my great Dane a few weeks ago.  I found that small meals of the cooked rice, small amount of cooked hamburger and then I added 2 TBS of plain yogurt to each of his meals. With this mixture, I fed him 4 small meals a day, and he had a bowl movement the next day.  The yogurt puts good bacteria back into the stomach.
I would not feed the canned dog food unless it is for GDV as it will cause the gas and some upset.  

[Aleda M Cheng, D.V.M., C.V.A]

It sounds to me as if he is progressing nicely and I would not change his protocol unless he was actually retching or vomiting.  

He has really undergone a very serious surgery.  If he were a human in the hospital he would probably still be eating jello at this point of recovery.  

You could try some holistic remedies for the gas that are very safe.  These are: fennel or peppermint  either made into a tea or available as a tincture.  The dose would be 1 and 1/2 times the human dose for a giant breed dog.  Ginger in capsule form is also highly effective for nausea and other gastrointestinal issues and the dose is also 1 and 1/2 times human dose.   Fennel, Peppermint and Ginger are all widely available at health food stores, and some pharmacies and online.