Changing the way you feed?

My cav will be coming home at the end of may and in the mean time we are trying to get our other baby ready for the new addition. We have an 8 year old Shih tzu named Dusty. Dusty is my mom's dog and definitely shows it. My mom feeds Dusty a dry kibble that she just leaves out all day and then puts down some meat or an egg at dinner time.

I'm wanting to have specific times to feed my puppy. I'm afraid that if I leave the kibble out all the time my puppy wont be interested in treats used for training (thats what happened with Dusty and she's proven difficult to train) I'm afraid that I wont be able to do this with my puppy since Dusty's food is always down, so my puppy will just go eat Dusty's food.

My mom has agreed to try to alter Dusty's eating so that she eats at specific times as well and doesn't have kibble down all the time. So I have a few questions...

Is it ok to change Dusty's feeding at her age?

How should we go about this? we want to change it gradually before the puppy arrives so Dusty doesn't associate the change with the puppy.

Should we add some other type of wet food to her kibble or just continue with meat and eggs like we have been?

Any other tips or things I've overlooked?

Thanks for the help guys!

Does Dusty normally nibble on her food throughout the day?

I would start off right now by offering Dusty her kibble bowl 3-4 times per day for 15 minutes or so, then pick the bowl up. This will get her on the same schedule as the puppy, but if you start now she won't associate the change with the puppy, as you had mentioned in your post. If this is too hard for her, you could offer it more often for longer periods with the goal of 3 times per day.

When your puppy is 6 months old, you'll be changing him/her to two meals per day, and I would change Dusty's schedule at the same time and see how she does.

I had a little maltese mix dog years ago, and she sometimes vomited a little foamy bile if her stomach was empty, so the vet told me to keep kibble in her bowl all the time. She basically nibbled at it during the day, and that's what she needed. If you find that Dusty really needs this, you could find a way to manage the food using an x-pen or baby gate. But hopefully Dusty will adjust! I know someone who has 4 happy little Shih tzus and they eat twice a day.

yes Dusty just nibbles throughout the day, I hope this wont effect her tummy, she's always been fed with her kibble out all the time.

Thank you for your help we will start her on this right away! I hope she adjusts well and doesn't get too upset over it =)

I thought about your situation a little more, and I'm thinking you could sneak her an extra biscuit or healthy snack every now and then when the new puppy isn't looking. This will make her feel special and help her keep a close relationship with whoever gives this to her every day. :flwr:

The most important thing is - you've thought about it now, and you have several weeks to find what works best for Dusty!

It took so long to convince my parents to let me get my own dog and now it feels like time is going so slow and so fast at the same time while I wait for him to come home. So much to do and think about to prepare for him and make sure that Dusty knows she isn't being replaced!

This is our first time having more then one dog at a time so I'm not sure how Dusty is going to take it. I've been discussing with my mom different ways to assure Dusty that she's still top dog in my mom's eyes and I let her know your suggestion about the healthy snack, she thinks thats a great idea and we will be doing that for sure! We've also been talking to Dusty about the new puppy and telling her whats going to happen. We've brought a few things in that are for the puppy like a blanket and shown them to Dusty, I'm not sure if she even remotely understands but I hope it helps.