feeding schedules....

[Brandi]

just curious as to everyone's feeding schedules.....

 

When I had my older dog, Juggs and Lucy they were fed on a schedule, of 6 am and 6 pm.  Juggs woofed her food down in 30 seconds flat, Lucy would eat 1 kibble at a time and it would take her an hr or more to eat her ration of food.  When we lost Juggs and Magnet came in our lives we decided to give the community food bowl a try.  We left food down all the time and it actually worked out great.  No one got over weight and there were no fights over the food bowl.  Then Smudge came, she was a little piglet and ALWAYS had her head in the food bowl, so we went back on a schedule of 6 and 6.  All the girls have their own food bowl now and all is well and everyone's happy.

Here is the logic on the community food bowl thing.  I know that standard poodles, labs, and retrievers have a high chance of bloat.  That is one of my worse fears.  When I got my first doodle, Magnet, I talked to my vet about bloat.  He was the one that mentioned to me that little meals, several times a day, would cut the chances of bloat.  Feeding one big meal a day would up the chances.  That is when I approached him about leaving food down all the time.  He said for some dogs it would work out great, others who are "piggys" not so much.  Well, now that Smudge, the baby, is a yr old, Magnet is 2, I am thinking about leaving food down all the time again. 

Does any body leave food down all the time??  What kind of schedules are your dogs on??  And how much do you feed them?  My girls get 1 1/4 cup at 6 am and 6 pm.

 

[Jane, Guinness and Murphy]

That would never work for my two guys.....Murph would eat ALL the food and Guinness would get nothing.  I feed my two at 7:00 AM and again at 5:00.  It works well for them.

[Sharon & Monty]

Monty has access to his food 24/7.  He eats very slowly and hasn't emptied his bowl since he was a tiny puppy.

[Jennifer,Chloe & Myla]

We NEVER leave food down all day. We feed at 5:30am and 3.30pm usually

[Barbara B., Sasha & Oliver]

I feed my 2 doodles twice a day.  Once in the morning 6 am and 6 pm, Oliver is 80+ lbs, 1 yr. old and gets the recommended 4 cups a day (2 cups a.m. and 2 cups p.m.)  Sasha (50 lbs, 2 yr old) is on the same time schedule but her brand of food (Wellness) suggests 2 cups a day, she gets 1 cup in a.m. and 1 cup in p.m. 

When Oliver was a baby he would inhale his food and I would have to physically hold him back from Sasha's food when she ate.  Now Oliver could care less about food and at times I have to coax him to eat.  Miss Sasha is now a little piggy, she can eat all of her food AND finish off Oliver's too.   I plan to feed them twice a day forever... because of what they say about the bloat.  I do have raised bowls for them and its getting too confusing whether to put low or keep elevated !!!!  I never let my babies run around and play right after they eat.  I have them relax about an hour after they eat.  

[Becka]

Sadie (6 months) gets two cups of dry with a spoonful of canned pumpkin between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning and then a cup and a half between 4:00 and 5:00 in the afternoon. She doesn't usually inhale it, but it's still all gone within 20 or 30 minutes. Every once in a while she seems to leave a little bit in the morning and eat it as soon as we get home from the dog park.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper gets 1 cup at 8am and 8pm. I dont leave food down (she would probably quite like that, as even though she scoffs her food down she sometimes needs coaxing to start eating. Id just put 2 cups down each day, and when it was gone it was gone) but 1 of my 3 cats is a piggy and will eat EVERYONES food.

[Beverly Wright]

When we first brought Millie home our other dog (an American Spitz) was 4 years old.....so I tried different bowls..one with puppy food and the other with adult....they never worked they ate each others...then I tried mixing it together half puppy and half adult....I explained this to my vet and he laughed and said to just use the adult Taste of the Wild food for both and leave out all the time .....this is what we have always done...I fill the bowl at about 6 a.m ..probably 3 cups for the both of them...then usually again at 7 or 8 at night...sometimes there is a cup or so left the next day....they sleep in our bedroom and do not have access to the food in the living room....I put a gate up.  This has worked great for us.

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Daisy eats twice a day...morning around 7:30 and evening around 6PM. 1 cup of Acana + 2 tbls of Wellness canned. She eats with no issue and typically all of it. If she leaves anything after 1/2 hour I take it up and throw it away.

[Fred, Sheila and Baxter]

Baxter weighs 56 lbs and is 22 months old.  He gets feed at 5:30 am and 5:30 pm and I feed him just shy of 2 cups each time.  He eats extremely fast and I have a divided bowl that slows him a little bit.  It is gone in about 3 minutes.  He is very, very active but such a sweet boy.  I think he would eat all the time if possible.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Fudge and Vern have food down all day. Vern might graze a little during the day, but mainly, they both eat at night.

[Christine & Shelby]

Shelby eats twice a day....  1 cup in the morning around 8:00 and another in the evening around 7:00pm.   She's never been a big eater, so it is not unusual for her to skip a meal or leave some in the bowl.

[Cindy M, Zachary & the Frenchies]

My adult dogs eat once a day in seperate areas. Zach eats three times a day in his Xpen. Everybody eats relatively quickly. Gracie savors her food and actually chews but she still eats everything in one sitting. After they are done they all move from bowl to bowl and make sure that nothing was left behind. Cruising the empty bowls was one of the first household rituals that Zach learned.