one meal a day?

[Jack & Cooper]

Cooper at 16 months has started refusing morning feeding. Formerly ate morning and early evening.

Raw food diet w/ basmati rice and vegetables. He is about 35 pounds and is full grown. Is it customary for some dogs to eat only once a day?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Jack, we had a recent discussion on one meal a day versus two, and got quite a few responses. You may want to read through it and see what others had to say about it:
http://www.doodlekisses.com/group/thefoodgroup/forum/topics/how-man...

Most of us are feeding twice a day for various reasons, but some people feed once a day and that works out for them. I don't think there are any hard and fast rules. As a mini, Cooper is not at high risk for bloat, which is one of the reasons some of us want to spread the food out in two or more meals.
I think there are other owners with dogs who only wanted to eat at certain times of the day who commented in the above discussion; your situation is a little different, because you can't just leave the food out for hours as you could with kibble.
I know you are looking for a good kibble for Cooper, and maybe you could try that in the a.m. and then feed his raw diet in the evening. Or possibly feed less at each meal? But there are lots of dogs who only eat once a day and seem to do fine with that.

[Jack & Cooper]

But introducing new food at the same time he is eating less seems problematic. There are also issues w/ soft stool which may be problematic if we attempt to introduce fnew food at this time. He has also had episodes of throwing up bile.

Skin testing set for 7th of Sept. So Cooper has been w/out steroids for 2 weeks now, and we are dealing w/ intense bouts of itching which are worse at nite since there are fewer ways to distract him.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I agree with you about this not being a good time to introduce new foods.
From what I've read, throwing up bile usually happens when they have an empty stomach, most often in the early a.m.
And I know what you mean about trying to distract them from the itching; Jack is having a full-blown flare from ragweed pollen, and I've been trying to do that, too. I did find frozen raw bison & elk marrow bones that seemed to occupy him for a while. Maybe you could try those for Cooper?

[Jack & Cooper]

Karen,

Where do you let Jack eat those marrow bones (never tried them; only bully sticks). They sound messy and could be dragged almost anyplace. Also have read not to leave dogs alone w/ them even if frozen. Is that warning alarmist and don't they get dragged everywhere?

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

They are perfectly safe; they are so big and so hard, I'm perfectly comfortable leaving any dog alone with one.
The mess is another issue. I usually sterilize the bones in the microwave for a few minutes, put whatever comes off easily into Jack's food bowl, and then cool the bone in the refrigerator. That helps a lot, but there may still be grease from them left on a sofa or bed if the dog decides to chew on one there, lol. Fortunately for me, Jack prefers to chew them while lying on the floor.
Antlers would be a non-messy alternative, too. Jack doesn't like them, but the dogs who do really love them. All natural, North American sources, and safe. The deer antlers are harder than the elk antlers but also cost a lot more.

[Sally loves Maple & Lucky]

My Corgi-Shepard mix changed herself to one meal a day between 3-5 years of age. She had a crunchy treat in the morning and then was hungry for a big meal around 6:00pm. The Vet was fine with this, she thrived and after a few years she started eating breakfast again.
ps - I like it because there was only one poop to clean up a day :)

[Donna K & Quincy]

Quincy will only eat once a day at dinnertime. He eats when we eat. If he doesn't finish all his food he will go back and finish it before bedtime and sometimes want more. This used to stress me out in the beginning as he wasn't eating as much as he should. I thought he was a little thin but the vet said he was just right.Quincy is 18 mos old now but he started doing this before he was a year old. He gets 3 cups of food a day(amount he should get for his weight according to the bag) he is 62lbs.If Cooper is eating as much as he should, I guess the when is immaterial.

[Ann]

Samson eats only one meal a day, in the morning when I wake up, he goes out at 7 am, then, I feed him two and a quarter cups of kibble and 6 ounces of wet food mixed. That's it for food. Then, when I leave, I give him several snacks. At lunch time, I come home and walk him, give him several snacks. Sometimes, he doesn't eat the a.m. meal and it's still there at lunchtime, but by the time I come home at 3 pm, it's gone. Then, we go out and he poops. VERY on schedule and prompt. Everything is organized with him! At night, he gets snacks from Dad....sometimes, too many I tell him!!! He is 72 pounds and with very long legs! Vet said he was fine! Perfect weight for his size.

[Frannie & Callie]

Callie eats once a day, in the evening. She has no interest in eating in the mornings (unless I'm keeping my friend Hallie's dogs and then she gets super interested in their morning meal because they eat wet food)

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

I am just making sure - is Cooper still completely interested in his nightly feeding??? No issues with poo, throwing up? If he is totally fine and just choosing not to eat in the morning, don't worry about it! Just feed more at night! My chihuahua will want breakfast some days, others he will only eat at night (and I give him more).

[Jack & Cooper]

There have been issues w/ mushy stool for several weeks and some throwing up. The latter mostly bile. Throwing up food less often. This morning ate some. Giving smaller portions to adjust to his demand for less frequent feeding and seeing how that works out.