Speaking of Dogs.. Do you?

[jeminni]

We feed our dog, Dora, on a schedule. She gets one milk bone treat and two other treats in the morning and then her main meal at 5:30 pm. She has to make the "clean bowl club" if she wants an evening treat.

 

[aprilgail2]

I feed my dog once a day- anywhere from 1pm-4pm depending on who is around to feed him or what time I get home from work.

 

[walden]

Our current greyhounds get breakfast at 5:00 am and dinner at 5:00 pm, with a few training treats in between. In the past, young puppies and very geriatric dogs have had 3 meals a day -- but all have always had scheduled meals.

Question for free-feeding advocates: I guess can see free feeding (a limited amount) with one dog might work, but how can you monitor and know how much each of them eat with more than one? There is also the "what goes in must come out" factor. Keeping to a schedule helps with that. Meal times are also NILIF opportunities here.

 

[simba928]

I have 3 dogs and 2 cats. The cats we free feed. The older dog, Jake, we used to free feed until we got my dog, Lacey. Lacey spent a month at the shelter where I work and we feed once a day and then food is picked up, so she was used to eating it all at once. I started schedule feeding for both of them. Lacey is a hog and inhales her food. Jake is a grazer and one bowl of food could last her all day, unless Lacey gets to it first. I got a Yorkie in September and she is kind of a mix of both. We free feed her dry food, but she gets a little bit of wet food mixed in on a schedule. Whether she actually eats the food or my brother's cat eats it, though, depends on how bad she wants it. Usually she doesn't care, she's too busy eating Jake's food (poor Jake rarely gets to eat her whole bowl of food), and the cat eats the wet food. And then there's my cat that just hangs back, watches all the craziness, and waits until nobody is around to eat her portion undisturbed.

 

[rodeo65]

We used to free feed our smaller breed dogs but both were adopted at one year or older and we never had any issues with either of them. After losing our first and oldest dog we got a large breed puppy. There was no way he'd keep out of our then nine year old and small breed dog's food. We've also had her on a special joint support food since she was 6 or so and started having arthritis pain from spinal issues and surgery as a young dog.

Of course she prefers his food and he prefers any food in any bowl - even at six years now so we have to schedule and monitor to make sure everyone is getting what they are supposed to.

 

[Sarah_Rose]

We have 2 German Shepherds. When it was just Jack, we free fed him... he almost never finished his meals (and occaisionally never started it) before the next one was given, so we left food in his dish all the time. He has always been underweight, so it was never an issue.

And then we adopted Sasha. Sasha would eat all day and night, if given the chance... and she was about 20lbs overweight when we adopted her. We had to feed her on a schedule, and we had to pick up any food that Jack didn't eat so she didn't gobble his, as well. Well, Jack sure learned fast! Either he ate his food, or else it would be gone (either by being picked up or Sasha eating it), so he started eating his meals! Now both dogs finish their food when it's given, at 7:00 am and 5:00 pm.

 

[Sparx]

I have two indoor only cats. I keep two bowls of catfood down all the time and they have one of those water bowls with a bottle attached to it. They have a constant supply of food and water. They're grazers. They'll walk by and eat a bite of food every couple of hours or so, so I don't think they would do very good on a schedule. They're both a healthy weight so I don't see any reason to restrict them.

 

[gillep]

I have a 2 year old beagle who eats on a schedule once at 5:30 am and again at 4:30 pm. Seriously he would weigh about 100lbs if we tried to free feed him . I even had to decrease the amount of food he was getting at his pm feed when we switched him over to a higher quality food because he was at the same exercise level but was gaining a few pounds, our vet recommended playing around with decreasing his pm meal until he stabilized again. Maybe it is because beagles are predisposed to gaining weight but our vet has made it very clear that we need to monitor his food intake, exercise and weight very closely.

 

[LuvOrlando]

We've always done free feed with all our pets , even with multiple cats & multiple dogs without any issues. My DH fills the dogs bowl every morning on his way to work but the dog won't eat until we sit down to dinner. The cat will nibble all day but doesn't eat all that much. The only food I watch is the cats moist packets because the dog loves them so if I want the cat to eat he needs to be locked in his room with the food for about 15 minutes, when I open the door the 'clean-up crew' leaves nothing behind.

The only animals I've ever seen gobble everything up are the ones who don't get to eat when they choose. Its sort of training them they better get while the gettin's good.... unless it's just a breed thing. I wonder, has anyone ever done the free feed thing from when the animal was a baby and had to stop because of excessive eating? Just curious. I never understood how it makes a difference if the animal eats 1 scoop all at once or throughout the day? If that's all it gets how can it gain weight?

 

[Dax]

We've always done free feed with all our pets , even with multiple cats & multiple dogs without any issues. My DH fills the dogs bowl every morning on his way to work but the dog won't eat until we sit down to dinner. The cat will nibble all day but doesn't eat all that much. The only food I watch is the cats moist packets because the dog loves them so if I want the cat to eat he needs to be locked in his room with the food for about 15 minutes, when I open the door the 'clean-up crew' leaves nothing behind.

The only animals I've ever seen gobble everything up are the ones who don't get to eat when they choose. Its sort of training them they better get while the gettin's good.... unless it's just a breed thing. I wonder, has anyone ever done the free feed thing from when the animal was a baby and had to stop because of excessive eating? Just curious. I never understood how it makes a difference if the animal eats 1 scoop all at once or throughout the day? If that's all it gets how can it gain weight?

This pretty much sums up my house...4 dogs, 4 cats...food is down almost all of the time...except late at night closer to bed time. Most times the food is untouched till around dinner time with the dogs. Heck, sometimes I dont even think some eat anything..or hardly anything. The cats sometimes go through the food quick, but with such varying ages..I think the younger more energetic younger one is eating more...but he is not overweight..so it all works out...

 

[scrapquitler]

we free feed our 5 cats.

My MIL has a dog. She feeds him on a schedule, 11am and 6pm. She gives him half of his daily food (which she measures) at each meal. The way she does it seems weird to me, but maybe it's normal, I don't have any dogs (nor have I ever, so you guys can tell me if it is strange)

She puts down half of his daily food amount (which she measures) at 11am . She puts it away after 15 minutes. If he doesn't eat all of his food at 11am, she does't feed him at 6pm If he does eat at 11am, he gets the other half of the food at 6pm. If he doesn't eat that within 15 minutes, she takes it away and doesn't feet him in the morning.

I can't imagine that. You wouldn't do that with a child. "Sorry, you didn't eat dinner, no breakfast for you!"

 

[Magpie]

I free feed the cats, because there are three of them. One is fat, the other two are normal weights. If we only had the one, I'd put her on a schedule in order to lose weight, but with three of them that won't work out.

I feed the dog on a schedule. Because she's my first dog, I assumed you could feed her just like a cat. So I put food out and let her graze from the bowl. By the time she was a year old, she was waddling around and the vet was calling her "portly". So that had to stop. Now she gets just one level cup of kibble in the morning, and that's it. She's nice and slender and the vet is happy.

 

[Magpie]

We've always done free feed with all our pets , even with multiple cats & multiple dogs without any issues. My DH fills the dogs bowl every morning on his way to work but the dog won't eat until we sit down to dinner. The cat will nibble all day but doesn't eat all that much. The only food I watch is the cats moist packets because the dog loves them so if I want the cat to eat he needs to be locked in his room with the food for about 15 minutes, when I open the door the 'clean-up crew' leaves nothing behind.

The only animals I've ever seen gobble everything up are the ones who don't get to eat when they choose. Its sort of training them they better get while the gettin's good.... unless it's just a breed thing. I wonder, has anyone ever done the free feed thing from when the animal was a baby and had to stop because of excessive eating? Just curious. I never understood how it makes a difference if the animal eats 1 scoop all at once or throughout the day? If that's all it gets how can it gain weight?

That was me!

You're right in one sense... my dog didn't start gobbling her food until we started restricting it.

But, she got fat when the food was available to her all day long. She'd casually take a bite here or there, and it added up to way too many calories. So, she wasn't "fine" with unlimited access to food.

After talking to the vet, we gave her just one scoop. She finished it before noon, took a look at her empty bowl, and dragged it out to the livingroom for us to fill. We didn't fill it. She cried. We still didn't fill it. The next morning we filled it - and she gobbled the whole thing in one go.

She's been gobbling her food ever since. Still... IMO, it's better to have a dog who gobbles, than one who's fat.

 

[NMAmy]

I free feed in that there is no specific feeding time. But the food doesn't get replenished all day long. She gets a certain amount of food per day and very rarely do I refill the bowl. She'll graze occasionally throughout the day and usually eats the majority of the food when DH and I sit down to dinner or while I'm cooking.

I've always fed my dogs like this no matter how many dogs I have. I've only had one dog who was overweight--a fat little cocker spaniel mix who I discovered was stealing food from the two big german shepherd/malanois mixes.

 

[disneyfans95]

Well my Choc Lab free feeds if we don't put down weights on top of the garbage can

Otherwise 6am and 5pm and that is it.. Weight can be an issue with labs

 

[flipturngirl]

we free feed our 5 cats.

My MIL has a dog. She feeds him on a schedule, 11am and 6pm. She gives him half of his daily food (which she measures) at each meal. The way she does it seems weird to me, but maybe it's normal, I don't have any dogs (nor have I ever, so you guys can tell me if it is strange)

She puts down half of his daily food amount (which she measures) at 11am . She puts it away after 15 minutes. If he doesn't eat all of his food at 11am, she does't feed him at 6pm If he does eat at 11am, he gets the other half of the food at 6pm. If he doesn't eat that within 15 minutes, she takes it away and doesn't feet him in the morning.

I can't imagine that. You wouldn't do that with a child. "Sorry, you didn't eat dinner, no breakfast for you!"

Umm.. That sounds a little strange to me. Is the dog over weight or anything? Has she always done this? Can you see the bones of the dog? Does the dog have treats during the day?

 

[onelilspark]

We have a malti-poo. He's fed on a schedule. First couple days we had him we free fed and we went to a house breaking seminar that suggested feeding on a schedule because it controls his bowel movements, which makes it easier to train him to go outside if we know when he needs to go!

It took 1 time of taking his food away for him to realize he needs to eat all of it at once. Ever since then he's been on a schedule of 7am and 6pm...and he KNOWS when it's dinner time!

 

[scrapquitler]

Umm.. That sounds a little strange to me. Is the dog over weight or anything? Has she always done this? Can you see the bones of the dog? Does the dog have treats during the day?

Nope, dog doesn't seem to be overweight, don't see bones sticking out (but the dog is hairy, so it's hard to tell). She has always done it this way, even with the dog she had previously (The current dog is a black lab mix with something else, the previous one was a begal/dauchsund mix). I don't think she ever gives the dog treats (and she never walks it either )

 

[padams]

we free feed our 5 cats.

My MIL has a dog. She feeds him on a schedule, 11am and 6pm. She gives him half of his daily food (which she measures) at each meal. The way she does it seems weird to me, but maybe it's normal, I don't have any dogs (nor have I ever, so you guys can tell me if it is strange)

She puts down half of his daily food amount (which she measures) at 11am . She puts it away after 15 minutes. If he doesn't eat all of his food at 11am, she does't feed him at 6pm If he does eat at 11am, he gets the other half of the food at 6pm. If he doesn't eat that within 15 minutes, she takes it away and doesn't feet him in the morning.

I can't imagine that. You wouldn't do that with a child. "Sorry, you didn't eat dinner, no breakfast for you!"

Victoria on It's Me or the Dog recommends picking up the bowl if the food is not consumed in 15-20 minutes.

I have never heard of making a pet skip the next meal. If it skipped a meal, wouldn't the owner be more concerned about making sure the next meal was consumed?

Our wheaten terrier doesn't free feed only because he eats all of his food as soon as it's put out for him.

 

[robinb]

We have always free fed our animals and they just eat when they are hungry. A full bowl where food is always available keeps them from wolfing down food when it's put in the bowl. One cat and the dog are normal weight and one cat is fat. The fat one could probably benefit from controlled feeding, but I admit that I'm too lazy to follow a schedule.