Feeding Once A Day?

[OSoSwift]

Small dogs can be prone to suffering from hypoglycaemia if fed once a day. I was always taught they should have two feeds a day. Even if one is a small bone or treat or whatever.

I feed my whippets once a day as such but they often get a bone or treat or something in the morning. If I don't one will vomit bile, the other two are fine.

[melzawelza]

My girl (25kg) was always fed twice a day while on kibble but since being switched to raw she eats once a day at breakfast.

Edited January 2, 2015 by melzawelza

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

My dog - she's 22kg ish - she gets dinner at around 6:30pm ish maybe... but she gets yogurt for breakfast and something small at lunch (when I'm home). And her dinner is reduced size accordingly.

[LisaCC]

Twice a day. I will always do twice a day now. 3 x as a pup.

My first dog was originally once a day, it was changed as he was at high risk of bloat and vets suggest multiple small meals instead. There was an improvement in his energy levels too.

[Jemmy]

We still do 3 meals a day. It just works with our schedules

[denali]

I feed twice per day, mainly I guess i am personifying the dogs- but i just imagine they'd get hungry otherwise. I couldn't imagine eating only once per day

Thy dont get the hunger vomits, and this has always worked for us- so no reason to change.

ETA: I don't know for sure, but also i feel blood sugars could spike too much too quickly if only fed once per day. Id rather they be more constant.

Edited January 2, 2015 by denali

[Kajirin]

My guys get fed twice a day, what their one meal would be is broken up into two smaller meals. If I don't they do biley chucks and feel seedy.

[Scottsmum]

We always did once a day until our vet suggested smaller more frequent meals as part of a weigh loss plan for my last dog. It kind of just became habit. I find it helps with medicating too.

Generally Scottie gets the bulk of his daily ration in the AM and a top up at night.

[Rascalmyshadow]

I haven't read the other posts but having tiny dogs I wouldn't ever feed once a day, little dogs blood sugars drop easily and they shouldn't be fed huge meals unlike bigger dogs.

[Brandiandwe]

We feed twice a day because we otherwise get hunger vomiting. It seems to work.

[Yonjuro]

I feed prey model raw twice a day to my husky and the meals are roughly the same volume, because I rotate a different main meat each meal there will always be a bit of up and down with volume. I reduce volume slightly to have training treats which are all 100% meat.

As a random side note on a topic I find fascinating...

It is a funny thing that I do get asked quite frequently at the dog park what and how I feed Ronin - I think he looks pretty great but I am biased :D but when our breeder commented on how good his condition was, it made my day. Our vet who is primarily a 'recommender of kibble' also commented that to stick with whatever I am doing, so I am pretty happy that he is getting fed well...but I digress :D Most of the people that I meet out and about that ask me about his diet have very obese dogs What seems to be the constant is that these very obese dogs are all fed once a day. The next common theme is that they get a few snacks and treats to 'tide them over'

So it seems to me that two meals make more sense ( if possible in a daily routine) as it will not expand the stomach to the level of a once a day fed dog so the period and degree of an empty stomach/hungry dog will be less and also allow for an easier digestion and healthier gut. One large meal possibly expands the stomach, creates more hunger when empty and leads to temptation for sneaky bits of food or the old "slice of vegemite on toast for brekky"

Dunno really, just my random thoughts and I am know that most of the people here that feed once a day are not the average dog owners with overfed and under exercised blimps, but I am saddened when I see so many obese dogs around the park and streets - I can only imagine how bad the ones are that don't get out at all

PS. All my previous dogs were fed kibble once a day when adults and I have given the odd slice of vegemite on toast to them :p

[Podengo]

Elsie is raw fed, and fed once a day in the evening. I've found if I give her breakfast she leaves it until about 2pm then won't eat her dinner. And it attracts flies. Just easier feeding once in the evening, when home from shows/training/long walks.

[Steph M]

Yonjuro I suspect that's more to do with the treats than the once a day feeding. I can tell you now, my dogs are not fat and I bet others who regularly feed once a day don't all have fat dogs either.

I think that's a huge stretch.

[Christina]

little dogs blood sugars drop easily and they shouldn't be fed huge meals unlike bigger dogs.

As above. A pomeranian would only weigh about 2 to 4 kilos max & couldn't possibly eat a large enough amount in one meal to meet its body needs.

Maybe leave a little dry food out all day if you are working or out & then feed a meat meal when you get home.

Most toy breeds don't overeat as long as you are not giving them silly treats. My toy poodles get a meat mix am meal & dry goes down about 5 pm if I am home & they never eat too much or get fat.

[huski]

I always feed my adults once a day in the evening (generally early evening not just before bed).

Pups I feed all meals to through training, and the same with any dog I am training in food drive.

At the moment wiz is getting two meals a day as she's in whelp and is running out of room in there! Lol :) when she's feeding pups she will get a lot of food throughout the day.

ETA: I feed raw too

Edited January 2, 2015 by huski

[VizslaMomma]

I would not consider restricting a little toy size dog to just one meal a day. If you feed only once a day you may find the dog will frequently vomit bile due to having an empty stomach for so long.

May I ask why you want to feed a tiny dog only once a day?

My small breed dogs (Cavaliers) are fed a raw diet twice a day. I also fed my large breed dogs twice a day because I think 24 hours is too long between feeds.

Bingo!

I asked about the age and size for that very reason.

Small dogs I always feed x2 daily.

Large ones bones and a main meal works.

Gabor was a vacuum so I had to be careful of what he got feed.

[melzawelza]

I feed prey model raw twice a day to my husky and the meals are roughly the same volume, because I rotate a different main meat each meal there will always be a bit of up and down with volume. I reduce volume slightly to have training treats which are all 100% meat.

As a random side note on a topic I find fascinating...

It is a funny thing that I do get asked quite frequently at the dog park what and how I feed Ronin - I think he looks pretty great but I am biased :D but when our breeder commented on how good his condition was, it made my day. Our vet who is primarily a 'recommender of kibble' also commented that to stick with whatever I am doing, so I am pretty happy that he is getting fed well...but I digress :D Most of the people that I meet out and about that ask me about his diet have very obese dogs What seems to be the constant is that these very obese dogs are all fed once a day. The next common theme is that they get a few snacks and treats to 'tide them over'

So it seems to me that two meals make more sense ( if possible in a daily routine) as it will not expand the stomach to the level of a once a day fed dog so the period and degree of an empty stomach/hungry dog will be less and also allow for an easier digestion and healthier gut. One large meal possibly expands the stomach, creates more hunger when empty and leads to temptation for sneaky bits of food or the old "slice of vegemite on toast for brekky"

Dunno really, just my random thoughts and I am know that most of the people here that feed once a day are not the average dog owners with overfed and under exercised blimps, but I am saddened when I see so many obese dogs around the park and streets - I can only imagine how bad the ones are that don't get out at all

PS. All my previous dogs were fed kibble once a day when adults and I have given the odd slice of vegemite on toast to them :p

Raw fed once per day. I think the fat-ness is more to do with being fed too much food than how often they're being fed it. :)

[aliwake]

I feed twice a day, but his larger meal is in the morning. I feel like he would need more energy through the day?

For those that feed one meal at night, is there a reason you choose night time, or is it just habit? Curious to know if there's something I haven't thought of.

[Her Majesty Dogmad]

I own and rescue small dogs and I don't believe in once a day feeding personally, it might emulate what dogs do in the wild but we aren't in the wild and I find that snacks in the morning and an evening meal works for me.

I like my dogs to be settled when I go to work, they've been walked and have a biscuit or two (or similar) before I leave.

I take on many dogs that are underweight and feed them 3-4 small meals a day until we can revert to the same routine as my own dogs.

It's not good to have your dogs get obese as it's bad for their joints and I often see chubby dogs at the vets. You can overdo snacks etc but with young dogs they are generally a lot more active so it can be hard to keep weight on them.

[korbin13]

I feed twice a day, but his larger meal is in the morning. I feel like he would need more energy through the day?

For those that feed one meal at night, is there a reason you choose night time, or is it just habit? Curious to know if there's something I haven't thought of.

I feed at all times of the day, I don't like the 'expectation' of being fed at a certain time.

After reading this thread I feel like a right bitch! My dog gets a once a day feed, and if she starts looking like she is putting on weight I skip a day.

We had working dogs when I was growing up in the 70's and they were fed every second day, and were fed a combination of raw and PAL dog biscuits (one or the other). When an animal was butchered, they had a feast!