Can anybody tell me the best way to cut down my lab's meals from 3 to 2 a day???  She is coming up to 6 months next week and the vet has told me to cut her down to 2 meals a day eventually cutting out her lunch.  Should I be doing this gradually ie give her a little more for breakfast and dinner and less at lunch time until next week or should I just give her lunch time amount to breakfast and dinner and totally give her nothing at lunch time???
What is the best way to go about this?
Thanks
Van

There is no hard and fast rule that as soon as they reach six months you have to cut out a meal.  I usually keep three going until around nine months unless they stop eating one (unlikely in a Lab).  If you want to cut it down now then I would gradually cut down the lunchtime one, you can spread the cutting down over whatever period you feel happy with.

Whether you up the others will depend entirely on her weight.  If the vet has advised this he may feel she is overweight, if this is the case then leave the others as they are.  If she is a correct weight then add a little more or wait until you see if she is losing any. 

You can always just pop a few biscuits in her bowl at lunchtime, just so she has something if you feel it is necessary.

Most important is that you are giving her a quality food in her two feeds, if she is on proper food at lunchtime and not at breakfast, then make it two meals of proper food.

Sandra

In my experience, most dogs will drop a meal naturally when they no longer need it - and it may be breakfast rather than lunch.  Be led by your dog :)

I on the other hand are more inclined to make the rules and cut the meal which I find the prefer to drop, lunch. The reason for this is that I am often out all day in the field with my dogs so that is the hardest meal to cover. Also by feeding a lunch it would mean taking a dog out in the afternoon training on a full stomach.

As a puppy gets towards full size and growing slows so the requirement for food drops. Trouble is, with a canine dustbin such as a Labrador they will almost never stop eating whatever they can get their mouths around so you will need to be the limiting factor. If you have fed a puppy food up to around this time it is a good oppertunity to change. I would start adding adult to the two meals you intend to keep and reduce the puppy food in the third meal until this is finished with. This could take a couple of weeks to make a slow steady change. I then continue to gradually cut the puppy food out completely.

All the above is only a rough guide and to a certain extent would depend on just how much puppy food I have around. I would not throw any away but would not go out and buy more (Cheapskate that I am) so would organise the change to suit the food I have around me at that time.

Regards, John