How Often Do You Feed Your Dog? Once Every 2 Days?

[BigPaws]

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Stop panicking We feed ours twice a day - the title was just to get your attention. But, having said that, I was told recently that dogs are designed to eat lots in one go and then burn it off over a period of a few days. This is based on the idea that, in the wild, they would have caught and eaten their prey and then lived on that for a few days before catching the next one...?

How often do you feed your dog (tell us what it is too!)? And is it the same amount each time, or more or less at different times of day?

 

[eingana]

In the wild they may have had feast or famine food, but since then there have been lots of changes to the physiology and anatomy of the dog which makes them fundamentally different to wolves and there is lots of evidence that particularly with the really deep chested dogs, like the molossers but also extending to most solidly built big dogs, having a huge meal and then fasting for 24 hours or longer dramatically increases the risk of suffering gastric torsion (bloat).

For this reason alone with bigger dogs it's advisable to split feeding into at least 2 meals a day and being very careful to avoid exercise for at least an hour or two after eating.

Molly was determined to be a once a day feeding dog when we got her and it took us a couple of years to get her into the habit of eating twice a day. Even now she sometimes will just sit and look at her breakfast until mid afternoon and then have her dinner only 3 or 4 hours later.

She has a chicken carcass or back, 3 or 4 chicken wings or half a turkey neck for breakfast and then has 500g of mixed mince meat and offal with ground up bone and blood for her dinner, and this has bits of cheese, an egg, offcuts of whatever meat we may be eating or similar added several days a week as a treat. She won't eat any of the vegetables that we've tried her with and will leave any food that happens to have vegetables anywhere near it, so we don't follow the full raw feeding plan with minced up vegetables added to her dinner. She does, however, love fruit and will happily eat a ripe pear or apple off the core or queue for any dropped berries or plums, so she does have plenty of fruit.

 

[BigPaws]

Cheers for the reply and explanation on the history.

Our dog, while growing up (she's 3) used to eat everything immediately and with some gusto But has recently developed a technique where she eats almost exactly 50% of her breakfast and then leaves the rest - to the point where the remaining 50% is neatly stacked in half the bowl, collie madness! She then munches this remaining 50% around lunchtime. However, she always eats her dinner in full. Both morning and evening meals are the same size.

 

[DogzRUs]

My dogs have 2 meals a day, the larger meal in the morning and a smaller one at tea time, they have CSJ complete with a spoon full of Chappie, chicken stock, or left overs that are suitable for a dog, just to make it a bit more interesting for them...they do love their food and rarely leave anything.

 

[TTT]

Cheers for the reply and explanation on the history.

Our dog, while growing up (she's 3) used to eat everything immediately and with some gusto But has recently developed a technique where she eats almost exactly 50% of her breakfast and then leaves the rest - to the point where the remaining 50% is neatly stacked in half the bowl, collie madness! She then munches this remaining 50% around lunchtime. However, she always eats her dinner in full. Both morning and evening meals are the same size.

Do you only have the one dog? I have 3 and they eat separately and eat EVERY crumb immediately..........in case they have to share with the others! (w00t)

Mine also eat CSJ - usually 2 meals per day - breakfast and late supper - but occasionally just 1 - depending on if there is any special activity or change in routine.

 

[Blue wrecking it]

I feed mine 6 days a week and on a sunday pure gravy. Flushes their system out

 

[lurcherman]

a very small amount first thing bout 6am then 6 pm main meal, thats a new one to me blue gravy? if it works thats good,

 

[masta]

I feed mine 6 days a week and on a sunday pure gravy. Flushes their system out

why does their system need flushing out??

 

[*Duck*]

twice a day here, 1-2 scoops of in the morning as he doesnt tend to eat alot in the mornings then 2 scoops in the evening. he occasionally will have extras mixed in.

 

[Northolm]

We feed our lot twice a day. I always think that with the modern way of feeding with dried foods etc. that the metabolism of our dogs change. I also find it interesting that from our customers and the people we know that people who feed twice a day have less chance of experiencing bloat.

 

[meddling]

Mine have a snack usually when I leave them in the mornings and main meat meal in the evenings sometime between 4 and 8...depending on working hours

 

[Strix]

I get fed up of all this wolf theory stuff being applied to dogs

Beagles hunt hare in packs of about 30 hounds. They're not going to last long on a 30th share of a hare if you think about it

Brude's breeder suggested feeding once a day as an adult, but he was always sick when we tried to drop the puppy breakfast feed, so he still gets fed twice a day...

... except for when I first came down with this damned horrid chest infection. I was ill enough to retreat to bed, so fed the hound before heading upstairs. I later found he'd been fed again by his dad! When I quizzed the dog on it, he said it was his dad's fault, pointing his nose in Mr Strix's direction! For about a week later he was trying to convince us that BOTH of us are supposed to feed him!!

Beagles

 

[Blue wrecking it]

I feed mine 6 days a week and on a sunday pure gravy. Flushes their system out

why does their system need flushing out??

It was a joke!!

 

[lurcherman]

lol :thumbsup:

 

[carlburt78]

2 times a day

 

[tinabow]

i feed my pups six times a day adult dogs 3 times a day

breakfast cornflakes

tea time at 5 oclock(if home) main meal complete

supper at 10 oclock weetabix

i have six dogs

 

[Mahooli]

I free feed!

 

[rachelransom]

I have three dogs and to be honest got fed up with the bickering so i worked out how much they should have a day according to the packets. put the food on the floor and leave it all day. Initially they ate them selves silly however after just a few days they manage their own diet. I have three healthy and not obese dogs.

This i need to say is dried dog food it would not work with wet food or the barf diet.

 

[Blue wrecking it]

No dog guideline can tell you how much to feed your dog.

You should adapt the feed depending on YOUR dog.

If they look skinny feed them more, if they look heavy feed them less.

Dogs will go through 'fat' and 'thin' stages throughout their whole life so you adapt the amount of feed to what they are doing.

For example:

In the winter i feed my dogs on gain 28 as they are working.

In the summer i feed gain 20 as they arent doing as much as in the winter.

But just now my youngster is on heat and has a sore leg so it indoors for 10 days and is getting gain 28 but less of it.

 

[masta]

pups 1st meal on Monday fed raw meat from 3.5 weeks