feeding times

[Tina, Dylan & Lucy]

This may well have been a discussion aready but I couldn't find anything just now.

 

We have a 11 month old labradoodle and from a tiny pup he's never really been consistent with his feeding. He does enjoy his food (when its his favourites like cheese or fish) but his regular food he takes just a bit at a time and I'm wondering if we should be concerned about this.

 

He has a crunchy kibble feed as everything seems to suggest this is the best but the only time he will eat a whole meal in one go is if he has tinned fish (he cleans the bowl and returns several times to make sure) or if he has tinned 'wet' meat. Again he'll eat it all with relish.

 

The kibble stays in his bowl all day but we're never sure whether to take the bowl up or just let him dip in and out. But it nevers looks like he's enjoyed a whole meal..

 

any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

[Adina P]

How is his weight? Is he at a good weight? If so, I'm personally a fan of the 'you eat what I feed you or you don't eat' philosophy. It's okay if he's a grazer...some dogs just aren't HUGE eaters and prefer to nibble. As long as he's healthy I don't see a problem. But if you prefer to know he ate X amount then you might try putting food down for 10 min and pick it up at the end of that 10 min if he isn't in the middle of eating. Repeat at dinner and daily.

[Tina, Dylan & Lucy]

thanks Adina

Yes, he''s a good weight - 11 months and about 31 kilo's (68 pounds). He does have huge paws still so still some growing to do I think. I'll try your suggestion but maybe like you say, he's just a grazer. Unless it's cheese!

[F, Calla & Luca]

I have one grazer and one gobbler. Even my gobbler is leaving some of her food in this hot weather. But for the most part they both get in about the same amount ----different for each dog --most days no matter when they do it, Since their weights are good and when they eat is not a problem for me, I just make certain I've given them the allotted amounts for the day and start in again the next day. Life is so regimented, why make it more so for no reason?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

I have one grazer. She eats all day. Walks around with food in her cheeks. Gets a bite before she goes out the door--just because it is there, gets up in the middle of the night because she is dreaming about food. She is growing.

The other......... well he eats when he feels like it and that might be on Monday, Thursday, and Saturday at 9pm

The next week he will eat 3 chews a day. The next week he will eat Tuesday and Wednesday at 8am only.

Both of mine are healthy. Skinny but healthy.

I do have complaints about my dinners though. I prefer ice cream for breakfast. My husband wants a meal. I prefer ice cream sometimes for dinner, my husband wants a meal. I think I would survive much better with just ice cream and not a heavy dinner.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Because ice cream is as light as a feather.

[Ron Carnes]

Zack has always been a poor eater. At 16 months his weight is 77#'s,30" tall and quite thin.. I changed him to Halo about 2 monthss ago. Recommeded amount is 3.5 cups per day. Very seldon can we get him to eat that much. He had only ate about one half cup today and I decided to put a couple squitrs of I can't believe it's butter and he finished his whole 3.5 cups. No calories or fat. I don't think that small amount would hurt him. What does eveyone think?

[F, Calla & Luca]

What's in it?Maybe you could use something simple like shaking on Parmesan cheese, or a little plain yogurt or cottage cheese. My doodles like these and most often I'll give them some of the Parmesan shaken on their food if I want to get them stared.

[Eva (Lilo and Rocky)]

Perhaps he is totally bored with the kibble. You could try alternating between a couple of different types of kibble and add something extra to make it interesting: canned tuna fish, chicken broth, cottage cheese, cooked chicken/fish, shredded carrots, salmon oil, apple sauce, canned pumpkin, anything healthy goes. If he's not overweight, grazing is fine. I allowed my dogs to graze until I discovered they had put on too much weight during the winter! So now I feed them once/day and make sure they love their dinners and finish eating within 5-10 minutes.

[Pat & "Tucker"]

I mix a little (about 4 ounces) wet food in with the kbble and Tucker eats well. If I give him just dry food- he ignores it until he gets real hungry. I figure why not make him happy - if he likes it better that way.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I like that philosophy.

[Tina, Dylan & Lucy]

thanks everyone - I'll be trying your ideas

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