If I wasn't paranoid before, I am now. My aunt is practically starving the other dogs. She's cut their food in half and is feeding it twice daily. I think her dogs could lose a few pounds anyway.

Tigger went outside yesterday after eating and gagged. I got really freaked out. It turned out he was probably choking on a piece of grass, but that scared me

Hi gems

Yes Leonbergers can suffer from bloat. If you feed them to condition rather than weight and soak dried food and no exercise an hour before and after food then you should have no probs.They are not greedy dogs and tend not to gulp their food like Labs do.
Dont worry to much any dog can suffer bloat.

Thanks hectorsmum

Is feeding wet food better than dry for preventing bloat, or does it not make a difference??

I feed dried food but I soak it first, but I think any food will cause bloat. If you follow the rules ,which have been written above, then you know what your looking for and can act quickly to get them to the vet.
When you think the amount of people that have large dogs and the percentage(which is small) that get bloat then you see that it is not a great worry but something to be aware of.
Ask your breeder if bloat has been found in their lines.They are the best people to talk to.
Hope this helps.

I read this story on another forum, posted by a friend of your aunts.

So sad, please pass on my love and thoughts to her and the family.

Thanks for the advice hectorsmum

Jazzi, what forum is that? Please pass the link if you could

There is also something someone on another forum told me about; bowel torsion. I've never heard of that. Does anyone know what it is? I've only found sites using it interchangeabley with bloat

I have pm'd you Barbara with the information.

Thanks Jazzi, I just PMed you back. The link didn't come through because there is a block on certain 'other' dog sites. Could you email it to me so it goes through? Thanks Jazzy

barbara62572@yahoo.com