Hya all,
I am curious to know how many of you feed 1 0r 2 meals daily,I am knocking myself out trying to get my dogs to eat breakfast and dinner(adult shih-tzu's) But then i thought my dogs know what they need and how much they WANT to eat,so i should just leave them to their own devices.The usual pattern is,if they eat a meal in the morning then they dont really want much for dinner and vice versa.
My question is what are your dogs eating habits and what breeds do you have?

christine :)

Now have Elkhounds but used to have GSD's and I feed twice a day, think the habit comes from the GSD's as in those days we fed twice to keep the meals smaller to hopefully keep bloat at bay. Others in my breed feed only once. If you are having trouble with them not wanting food, feeding only once may work for you, do you feed between at all, dog treats or the corner of your food, table scraps or anything like that, if so stop. Know you have problems with one of your dogs and think a change in what you are feeding may help with that, (different thread) but feeding anything that is not going to help put on weight is better left out even if it seems that a titbit is better than nothing.

Not sure I am making sense what I mean is it is better for the dogs to eat the sort of food you want them to have and not treats but I understand it your dogs are difficult to feed you will feel that treats are better than nothing. What do your dogs like, if anything?

Thanks Jackie :) i wanted to reply on the steroid thread but it got locked before i could
It's commercial food they dont particularly like,they have a mixture of raw and sometimes cooked food.I have been adding suit to some of emma's meals which does seem to be helping.I have stopped giving so many treats during the day,i think the biggest killer of hunger is supplementing with treats all day long which is what i USED to do,now they will only get a treat if they finish their meal,i think it's starting to sink in!
I am just very curious on what other dog owners feeding protocols are.
I know it is beneficial for dogs to try and leave as bigger space inbetween feedings,so their digestive tract can have a rest and detox.
Jackie yes i do understand what you are trying to say,it does make sense.

Christine

I have just noticed my huge spelling blunder,sorry.meals not mals!!

LOL, did guess that 2 Mals a day would be too much for your little ones to cope with.

When I have had difficult dogs I have made a thick soup with offal from the butcher, cook the meat and then liquidise. Then I would feed the dog with a suitable complete food and dribble the 'thick soup' over the top, found this worked with most, also found tuna in oil and pilchards in tomato sauce served in the same way also worked. Know you are making up the dogs diet yourself so you are already serving I would think raw meat so if they are no wanting to eat the mixer or veg why not try giving the mixer and veg with the 'soup' poured over and then serving the odd chicken wing as a treat.

idealy id like mine to have their meals spilt into breakfast & dinner,but mine just cant cope,so they have it all in the evening. they are border collies who think eatings for wimps,& theres 100 better things to be doing!
since i started barfing they have got better,& generally have got better as theyve got older.
i sometimes do give them a bit of yoghurt or poorridge for breakie but this is a treat & not very often,when ive tried to do it regulary it all goes wrong!!!
i also do not feed them at the same time each night,its mainley around 5/6,but sometimes its more like 8/9,& after club its 1130! this seems to make them less comeplacent,as if if they arent sure when its coming next,theyd better eat it all!

I now give Toby fruit or veg for breakfast and then his Burns complete in the evening :)

Heidi

Hi Christine,
I feed Alfie (pointer) twice a day, breakfast and dinner.  Not one single one of his mates from the park has two meals a day and the owners wonder why I give him two, but he eats so much I couldn't imagine him eating his daily quota in one go!  I wouldn't be able to fit it all in his bowl anyway!  Alfie's breeder advised two meals a day and it works for us. 

Owning a breed prone to bloat I feed twice a day; I probably would still feed twice a day with others as I think it breaks the day up.

I have never had a problem with any of my dogs eating; if it hits the floor they are probably not feeling 100%. :D

They are raw fed if that is of any help, and they carry no extra weight.

If my dogs were not eating I would probably halve what they had, and split it into two so they were hungry for both.

I don't have set feeding times as I don't want to become a slave to my dogs; they get fed when it suits me; I don't like dogs telling me it is time for food, walk etc etc.

I like to keep them on the edge..................................... :D

thats gundogs for you!

Hi,

Have to admit I feed once aday a commercial food to the Goldens a part from the younger ones,they are in stunning condition with super teeth to.
They are walked at different times from one day to the next.I do admit feeding between 3-4pm regularly and there there is no excess fat on them.
So nocomplaints here

Briony:-)

My dalmatians have two meals a day, partly because there have been numerous cases where dals have died of bloat and feeding smaller quantities buys more time if it happens, and partly because it means that, if I am late for a regular mealtime then I know they're not starving and can wait a little longer. (Less guilt for me!). One of mine has a dodgy digestion and sometimes doesn't want his breakfast, but that's his choice. It gets taken up and he gets his normal dinner at the usual time. I've never known him refuse that!

I am the sort of person who is physically sick and suffer stomach pains if I go too long without eating something, so I can appreciate it's possible that dogs suffer the same.

My labradors and Jack Russell get two meals, although the morning feed is normally just a small amount of food in the bottom of their dishes. This is a 'complete' food fed dry in the morning and soaked in the evening. No particular reason, more habit than anything else, I just never ended up completely phasing out my first dogs morning feed and have carried on ever since.

My two pups (a lab and a springer 16 & 14 weeks) have three soaked meals a day.

All my dogs eat immediately the food is put down, if they dont they are ill or having a phantom pregnancy! I'm quite sure that they would keep eating until they physically couldnt eat any more!

Any dogs that have come to stay with me have ended up exactly the same within a few days, even if they were fussy or picky when they came! No food is ever left down.

The springer was fed ad-lib dry food by her breeder and took a few weeks to change whilst I gradually phased out leaving food down in her kennel. I must admit she was in fantastic condition when I got her, but a bit under-socialised.

They are all fed at a time to suit me on the day, rather than a specific time. This makes life so much more flexible.

Quantities are regularly adjusted based on the amount of work & exercise they are doing, their seasons and how easy it is to see and feel their ribs. I dont think I've ever read the bag to see how much they "should" get! Getting fat is not an option!

No food between meals other than a couple of biscuits when out on a shoot, plus whatever disgusting filth they pick up during a walk before I can tell them to leave it! :-D

I wont name the brand of food as Tohme will tell me how much c**p there is in it! ;-) However, they do pretty well on it. I'd prefer to feed more bones, but the Jack Russell ends up stealing them all anyway and gets a bit 'emotional' about guarding them from the others! :-D

"I wont name the brand of food as Tohme will tell me how much c**p there is in it!"

Is that decision based on what you don't know can't hurt you? :D :D

Your method of food management sounds suspiciously like mine, must be a gundog thing.................................

<<Is that decision based on what you don't know can't hurt you? >>

this is what I feel when I dont look at my bank balance :D :D

"Is that decision based on what you don't know can't hurt you?"

Amazing how women can read men's minds! ;-)

defintally a gundog thing!
in my head im that "strict",but in reality.....well collies are quirky!so i have to adapt!!

Thank-you all so very much for your replies,very inlightening and amusing :D

keep the replies coming

christine

Funnily enough I just changed mine from 2 meals a day, to 1, just this very day!  She's still a puppy so has been on 2 meals a day for a while until she reaches 9 months when she goes down to 1, but as with each stage so far, she has dropped one meal herself long before the 'landmark' stage, and I have noticed now that at 8 months she is just not interested in eating her 'breakfast' anymore and starts tucking into it around dinner time which gets me all confused and messes up my amounts lol.  Then she sits waiting for her next dinner, waiting for our dinner to see what she can nab,  goes back to her bowl around 10pm to see if anything is left over...

So i have decided today that I will put a full bowl of food down for her around 5/6 o'clock (but I don't plan to stick to the time rigidly, like tohme says, a time that suits me, keep her on her toes!), but give her the full daily amount, then she can pick at it through the evening if she wants.  She wouldn't eat a whole big bowl full in one go, but you can virtually guarantee that she won't go to bed until she's cleared the bowl.  and although a)small dogs often have 2 meals and b) puppies of this age are suggested to have 2 meals until 9/12 months old, it seems to be the way that suits her and rather than work against her, from now on I've decided to go with it and see how we get on.

I was told by my vet it is much easier on the throat and stomache to eat 2 meals a day then just 1, better to break the meal up into 2 feedings :)

Me I free feed and my dogs eat when ever they want and I have never had a problem :) If I had to schedule feed it would be 1 meal broken up to 2 meals :)

I feed mine twice a day.  Breakfast is usually in the same half hour slot each morning but an evening meal can range from 6.30pm-9.00pm!   If it's summer and I fancy a long walk they don't get fed until at least an hour after we've returned from walking.    A few of my breed have suffered bloat and it's something I bear in mind with my feeding.

At one point I was trying to get 3 meals down Curtis because he just doesn't carry any weight, well not enough for the showring, now he's down to 2 fairly large meals and his buttered toast first thing in the morning!