I have been there Jason, and it is horrible. I used to have danes and one of my girls had bloat, almost the same happened as with yours, it was real early morning and she started to puke, or rather try to puke, just foam and some kind of yellow gue, by then her belly was not bloated up, but I figured what was going on, so called my vet and he went into the office, she wasnt too bad that time, but when it happened again, we opted for the surgery. Scary isnt it..
I also feed on sched. but some of the big dogs I have had have been on 3 feedings a day. The bloat is a constant concern, and they keep changing what they say about how to prevent it. What they say today is partly but not all together the same as they said 20 years ago. So It can be hard to know how to deal with it and how to best prevent it. One study they have done shows that as good as all the dogs that come in with bloat has an empty stomach, so the key seems to be to not feed too much as once but rather make sure they get food more often so they dont totally empty their stomachs, since it is the muscle bands that hang the stomach up that get stretched out and allows the belly to "turn" when it is empty. So freefeeding is I am sure a good way to prevent it, but for me it has never worked. I have always had older dogs and puppies or younger dogs at the same time, and for different reasons it has been easier to feed two or three times a day, and the potty training is so much easier on a dog that is not freefeeding. Had I only had one or maybe two, I probably would try it but for now it works well. One other thing that Linda Arnt, a K-9 nutritionist spec. in giant breeds say is that if we give the kibble in a little water (not warm or hot) just mix it in and feed straight away, that prevents moisture from the stomach having to be used when they eat, and that she states can prevent bloat.
Marit