an item of interest for those with large dogs:::

[davet]

[ShelbysMom]

I have always fed my Dobermans twice daily because of this.

[Marty]

My Bassets get fed 2x daily also, for that reason. I have heard that dry food increases the risk as well. Also, exercising right after eating. Bloat has always scared me. Knock on wood......no problems with it yet.

[Tambrey]

When our Great Dane was living...we fed him three smaller meals a day, on a raised table to make it easier for him to eat...I have heard pros and cons about the raised table, but he seemed more comfortable eating from it than the floor, so we left it that way...his water dish was also raised...that gave him the avantage of tossing water into higher and further locations when he drank...

Of course, he really preferred to eat whatever was on our raised table, and he had no trouble grabbing a taste every now and then

******************************

We did have a bloat scare once when he was younger...I went to let him in after a casual day of laying around the backyard and he could not get up..he grunted and wheezed...of course, my husband and son had just driven off, but were stopped uptown (small town) so I hopped on a bike and caught up to them...we carried him in and called the vet...got him right in and the vet even thought at first it was bloat, but after checking him and listening to his tummy and thenlungs, he had a bad infection that we had not caught sooner antibiotics and a temporary diet of canned cat food...he was back to his usual self...but we all slept downstairs that night!