Do you Feed and LEAVE? - Page 2

Though mine was a medication reaction more than typical bloat, it was on an empty stomach. Hadn't eaten since breakfast, was in shock by the time I got home at 5:30, though he'd been just fine at 1pm when I was home for lunch. Beware of medications' side effects. Surgeon feels mine was a combination of the prednisone causing stomach distress and the gabapentin (nerve med) causing too much sluggishness/retardation in reaction in all nerves, thus preventing the body from expelling the gas the prednisone caused. Apparently, similar issues have occurred but typically in dogs who had a compromised quality of life anyway, so the theory was that there wasn't much to lose. My dog's case was quite different, as it was a temporary experiment to see if surgery would release the pressure on the spinal cord from bone fragments due to injury. I would never have put him on either of those as a treatment, but it was a necessary evil to see if surgery would help his discomfort, and it did. He was jumping 6' fences again the day before he died. 

The Great Dane Lady has some good info on bloat on her site. 

I know this is a big No No to most, but my dogs have access to food 24/7. I find they eat a lot less this way, no gobbling it down, and with as many dogs as I have, there is no food aggression My yorkies eat right alongside my Shepherds. I live on a dirt road, and have Huge areas of my yard fenced so my doors are open all day and all night so my dogs take full advantage of "free run". I have a couple that a 4 foot fence means nothing to, like my horses, some do believe the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. I don't know why so many object to free eats for dogs, I find many benefits "for my own" dogs this way and have not seen any problems this way.

Mine usually eat at set times and don't get to run/rough house 30 mins prior/after. Service Dogs and all dogs in training if training, certifying or work don't get fed say breakfast if all the above listed are going to to take place in morning/day. And same for evenings if schedule is flipped.

The GSD is prone to bloat so the answer is no for me.

I always feed twice a day.

I am usually up for over 30 minutes after they are fed before going to bed, but this is one of the reasons that I insist that my dogs sleep in our bedroom.  I hope that if during the night any were distressed I would hear them, and I often wake during the night anyway. Most cases of bloat I have heard of (very anecdotal) seem to be at night time, although of course that is not always the case, but it does seem to frequently occur llate at night. The last case I know of personally was night time after feeding.
 

I have the dogs sleep in the bedroom too and I feed them at least an houror two after an activity.  My old female bloated about an hour after dinner, right before bed.  She was uncomfortable and was doing a lot of whining.  She was 9 at the time and although dogs cannot speak, she was intent on getting my attention, looking right at me while whining.  I got her to the e-vet in time and she recovered.  In retrospect, I think something was bothering her most of the day becuase she was shifitng around more than usual, but she didn't show any signs of painful discomfort until after her dinner.  The vet said I got in earlier than most, so it makes me wonder if boat can have a slow onset, maybe even days before.
 

 

My dogs have access to food for most of the day.  They arnt really interested in it most of the time. 

I feed in the crate, raw usually, leave them in the crate for an hour (unless really young then a quick trip outside right after eating then crate). Never feed after 7. If I am feeding a kibble treats meal outaside for training they go inside and crated or kenneled right after. No food before training. Crats are in same room as me and I don't work. Dogs have sleep crates in the bedroom as well.

I try to stay around for a few hours after I feed them, but always at least an hour.  I have to watch the GSD because she likes to try and play after she eats - she'd play/roughhouse all day if I let her.  I find that a routine works best for us - basically after any significant activity, they have to lay down and be calm for at least an hour before they eat, and I prefer them to lay down for a couple of hours after they eat.  I can let the Lab out after she eats and she'll just lay in the yard, but I have to keep the GSD close by or else she'll start playing.  Additionally, I find that if I'm up moving around, so are they - so I try to plan some sit-down work to do during these times as they can just stay in the same room with me and not worry about where I am or what I'm doing.

My husband thought I was overreacting about all these 'rules' at first, but fortunately he's content to defer to me with these types of things, since I'm the primary caretaker of the dogs.  Better safe than sorry, imo.