Two feeds or 1?

Hi there.
i was just wondering if it was better to feed your dogs 2 small meals a day or one big meal in the morning? because i find it much easier to feed them 1 meal in the morning but i dont kno if it will upset there stomach? can anyone help me. :flwr:

How old are your pups?

they are goin to be 10 mnths on the 25th

I was feeding Jaspar and Leo once a day at that age. Until recently I fed mine once a day, in the mornings. But because Leo has been vomiting on and off, and because I have been told and also read that this can be helped by feeding twice a day (so their stomach isn't empty for long periods) I am now feeding 3/4ths of their meal in the morning and giving everybody a bit of kibble in the evenings. So far this seems to help.

hmm..yea that sounds like a good idea..do u recommend i try out 1 meal a day and if evrything works out find to keep going like that?

At their age, the choice is entirely up to you.
I still feed mine morning and evening at 3 and 4 years old because 2 of them get upset stomachs if they don't eat twice a day.

or keep going twice?

Nomal at the age about 8 weeks they should have about 4 small meals a day them when they get to be about 6 mouths they shold have 3 meals a day my own dog who is 9 mouths old is on 2 meals a day one in the morning and one in the evening hope this helps but it is up to the personal choice of people Barney will be kept on 2 meals a day from now on Aileen

I just posted the link to the Roycroft feeding manual on the Picky Eater thread in this section, so have a look at that. Breeder Laura Lang argues there for one meal a day for the specific reason that it is easy to overfeed -- so that is really the only reason you need to consider a one day feed. I found it convenient to feed once daily and that's what lots of people I know do, so that was my chpoice until I became aware that two meals might help Leo. The other two never have vomiting problems.

If you feed twice a day I recommend getting a *small* feeding dish ideally one that doesn;t hold more than about 3/4ths of a cup of food as on two meals, your dogs will probably only need about half a cup of food at each eal, at MOST and likely less. With larger bowls, people start to feel they need to cover the bottom, or have a layer of food of a certain amount, and this is almost always more than is needed.

ohh...thanks very much for all your help everyone..after reading that website i think i have been overfeeding mi pups...on the packet of the dry food it said that for their age/weight they shoul hve 1 1/2 cups a day...is this way above the amount? :? :sl*p:

Hi Nisha,
I still feed mine two a day and they are almost 3 and 4. I think Iread somewhere that it was better for their tummies to have 2 small meals a day instead of one big one but I guess it just depends on each puppy.
I live in Sydney, where about in NSW do you live? Good to see a few more Aussies on the board.
Julie and the girls

on the packet of the dry food it said that for their age/weight they shoul hve 1 1/2 cups a day

Click to expand...

Some foods have more filler or are more porous and thus you do feed more. Have a read through Lasura's page on amounts and on what waists should look like. The amounts on any bag of food are only rough guidelines -- consider how different in sizes puppies can be and how their energy levels differ and you can imagine what is right for one isn;t necessarily right for another, as Laura points out about both puppies and adults.

The best thing is to go by their waists and adjust food up ort down accordingly.

Of the three I have, Leo is smaller and less active than Jaspar but has a higher metabolism I guess as he needs slightly more food than Jaspar to miantain a good weight. When Jaspar is doing a lot of agility classes etc he eats more. I give an extra treat of fish jerky or similar if they have had a very energetic day at the beach! I keep all the dogs slim.

I think it is personal choice and what your dogs do best with. Like Karlin says if they get an upset tummy then 2 smaller meals a day might work best. All my pups do well with one meal a day which they get early am and boy do they let me know when it is time. Of course they also get other little tidbits when I get home from work...so they do get a "snack" at night. Wish I could control my diet as well as I can control theirs

Merlin has one feed a day now - with two he tended to leave breakfast and then eat his dinner lke he's been starved for a week. And lke the others have said - depends on the dog but you less likely to verfeed on one meal because it looks like a deccent amount

Two meals a day! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Rudee (age 12+) would leave home :drivecar: if she were only given 2 meals a day. :lol: :lol: :lol:
First thing in the morning 1 heart tablet and 1 diuretic encased in turkey.
1 quarter of a liga. Then she glances at her food bowl, shrugs her shoulders ,snorts and then ignores it. :*gh: If we have toast she always has to sample a few corners (my fault) then it's off to the beach. :dgwlk: I take a handful of little treats with me and dispense them to Rudee and any fellow travellers we encounter on our walk.
When we return home she laps contentedly from her water bowl and lies down to snore loudly for several hours... :slp: :slp: :slp:
Anyone entering the kitchen during the course of the day will (in the blink of an eye) find Rudee at their side; chancing her paw, as usual.
Later on after we've had dinner , which she usually invites herself to, she then - and only then eats her own dinner.
I can't help it
I love my Rudeepoohs AND she's not overweight (TG) cavtiny

Am I a bad mommy???????

hi there...thanks all for your advice...ive decided 2 try one meal a day for my pups as it is much easier for me. however if it does not work for them ill go bak to 2 times. My dogs always seem to gulp down their food as if they hve been starved for weeks..must say they are quite greedy! ...anyway thankyou.

P.S, Forest, i live in Wollongong NSW