# Once a day feeding for teenager



## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

I wasn't sure if this was the right place to post this but I'm wondering if it's healthy for an adolescent dog to only eat once a day?

Berghoff has chosen to only eat dinner... he will not touch his morning meal AT ALL. I kept trying for weeks but no matter how many times I've tried, he won't eat in the morning/early afternoon. He is almost repulsed by food in the morning. I didn't up his nightly feed because I didn't want him to be too full from his evening meal that he wasn't hungry in the am (hoping to get him back on schedule) but still nothing. I saw him getting leaner so I decided that enough was enough and I gave him a full days rations in his evening meal for the last 3 days and he eats everything!

Is this OK? He is 7 months old and gets around 1.75-2 lbs of food a day. He sleeps with a full belly and seems happy and active in the mornings.

Thoughts?


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## Germanshepherdlova (Apr 16, 2011)

My dog did the same thing when he was about that age, and so I did like you and gave him his full day serving at dinner time. Now that he is 2 he went back to eating it divided into 2 meals again. They have a mind of their own. He'll be fine.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

Hey, I've been wondering about Berghoff! He's so handsome! How is he doing?? Stosh also went through the same thing around that age- hated to eat, was so lean without any meat on his bones. I continued to put breakfast down for about 20 mins then picked it up which meant he ate a full dinner and I left a cup of dry out overnight which he ate 99% of the time during the night. He's 20 mos now and eating 2 good meals a day with the help of a few tablespoons of canned mixed in with the dry, plus his overnight snack. He really needed to gain about 5 lbs and that did the trick.


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## doggiedad (Dec 2, 2007)

my concern is feeding 4 cups of food at once.


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## Management (Aug 1, 2011)

the first thing that I think about is the amount of activity. how much walk or runaround time is he getting to trigger the appetite?


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

doggiedad said:


> my concern is feeding 4 cups of food at once.


Mine too. They say there is a correlation between bloat right after a large meal. And 4 cups is a large meal.....

I think I'd prefer to break up the meal, but add something to the breakfast to make it more appealing. Gravy? Cheese? Leftovers? Canned cat food?


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## JPrice (Feb 19, 2011)

If he isn't a big eater...maybe free feeding is the best route for you. All dogs are different. Mona was the same way..she refused to eat in the morning and would avoid it at all costs. She isn't a very big eater at all, and I knew she loved her kibble. I chose to begin free feeding a full daily portion about 3 months ago, and it's been fantastic. She will go and eat when she wants to, and the daily portion is normally always gone by 7 p.m. Still the same stool cycle and I have a very happy pup. I know many are against free feeding, but in some circumstances it just works. When he does eat if he just plows through his food this may be a bad idea giving 4 cups at once...of course with bloat being so dangerous, but in my situation it has worked wonders.


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## MaggieRoseLee (Aug 17, 2001)

JPrice said:


> If he isn't a big eater...maybe free feeding is the best route for you. All dogs are different. Mona was the same way..she refused to eat in the morning and would avoid it at all costs. She isn't a very big eater at all, and I knew she loved her kibble. I chose to begin free feeding a full daily portion about 3 months ago, and it's been fantastic. She will go and eat when she wants to, and the daily portion is normally always gone by 7 p.m. Still the same stool cycle and I have a very happy pup. I know many are against free feeding, but in some circumstances it just works. When he does eat if he just plows through his food this may be a bad idea giving 4 cups at once...of course with bloat being so dangerous, but in my situation it has worked wonders.


The reason the majority of us are against free feeding isn't cause we think your dog will instantly keel over dead 

It's because you have just removed a HUGE amount of valuable information about the general health of your dog. Information that CAN mean the difference between life and death or at least prolong a sick dogs circumstances. 

WHEN your dog eats. HOW MUCH your dog eats. The last meal that your dog ate. NORMAL appetite. Abnormalties. All that information is a huge help to a vet when we bring in a sick dog. Since our poor dogs can't talk and give information that way...... both owner and vet have to use the 'clues' available and when you remove one of the most important one FOR US (to know to take our dog to the vet in a timely manner) you've also crippled the vet on the diagnosis.


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## JPrice (Feb 19, 2011)

Luckily I am with her all the time and am able to watch her eat. So I know when anything is up and she's acting funky, but yes what you said makes sense.


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

Stosh said:


> Hey, I've been wondering about Berghoff! He's so handsome! How is he doing?? Stosh also went through the same thing around that age- hated to eat, was so lean without any meat on his bones. I continued to put breakfast down for about 20 mins then picked it up which meant he ate a full dinner and I left a cup of dry out overnight which he ate 99% of the time during the night. He's 20 mos now and eating 2 good meals a day with the help of a few tablespoons of canned mixed in with the dry, plus his overnight snack. He really needed to gain about 5 lbs and that did the trick.


Hi!!! He is doing fantastic which is so amazing. He is all teenager now and is being a BIG JERK but just the fact that he's acting like that means he really is a miracle. 

I'm glad to hear Stosh eventually snapped out of it! It sounds like it may be a normal time in their development which makes me feel better.


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## kiya (May 3, 2010)

duttlyn said:


> He is 7 months old and gets around 1.75-2 lbs of food a day. He sleeps with a full belly and seems happy and active in the mornings.
> 
> Thoughts?


I never measured my food in lbs, if that does work out to about 4 cups I would definately split it in half. That sounds like a lot of food at once. My dogs would explode if I feed them 4 cups a day.


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

I'm an idiot... I probably should have clarified that Berghoff eats a raw diet. He can't really hoover his food cause it takes him a while to eat but I do still feel like it's a lot of food in one sitting which was my concern. Should I just keep only giving him his dinner portion even if he is getting too skinny? The only thing is, he is still quite energetic after eating and doesn't seem full and bloated and by morning he's raring to go. He eats and then goes to bed within the hour.

He gets a 30 minute run (on a golf course with big hills) in the morning, a 30 minute run in the evening and then random training, ball playing, fetch, etc.in our pool cage. I wish it was more but we are in SW Florida and it's sooooo **** hot that he steps out the door and then begs to get back into the house. Is that so little exercise that he might want less food? Or maybe it's just too hot that he doesn't want to eat during the day?


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

Germanshepherdlova said:


> Now that he is 2 he went back to eating it divided into 2 meals again. They have a mind of their own. He'll be fine.


How did he tell you he wanted to eat 2 meals again? Did you stop offering breakfast for a while? I just don't bother anymore because he eats in his cage and when I put him in with his food in the morning it's like I put him in there with an alligator trying to eat his face off! He whines and cries and paws at the door.


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

This is just a random thought- but around that time someone gave me an elevated stand for the bowls that I began using and it turned out Stosh had an aversion to them. I don't know if it was the noise it made while it moved around in stand or the height, whatever it was he just wasn't going to eat out of it. My vet suggested feeding him in something totally different and in a different spot, so I put his food in a glass pie plate on the floor now he lays on the rug in front of the kitchen sink, slides the plate between his paws and eats every bit. Maybe change things up and see what happens. I'm so glad to hear he's doing so well- he is a miracle pup! And so handsome


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## duttlyn (Mar 30, 2011)

Stosh said:


> This is just a random thought- but around that time someone gave me an elevated stand for the bowls that I began using and it turned out Stosh had an aversion to them. I don't know if it was the noise it made while it moved around in stand or the height, whatever it was he just wasn't going to eat out of it. My vet suggested feeding him in something totally different and in a different spot, so I put his food in a glass pie plate on the floor now he lays on the rug in front of the kitchen sink, slides the plate between his paws and eats every bit. Maybe change things up and see what happens. I'm so glad to hear he's doing so well- he is a miracle pup! And so handsome


Great idea... I never even thought of that. Tomorrow morning I'll see if a change of scenery and plateware helps. He actually pulls his food off the plate but he still does push the plate around so maybe it's the combination of things. It's worth a shot! 

And, he is such a punk now! He was so sick and lethargic that I never understood what a Shepherd was REALLY like. WOW!!!! And because he's my first dog, I'M NO ALPHA or dog whisperer or even a decent trainer. I'm trying to learn fast but oh boy does this dog have my number. :laugh:


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## Stosh (Jun 26, 2010)

He was so lucky to have found you! He would never have survived if it wasn't for your dedication and care. These dogs go through a lot of changes/stages/phases while they mature so it'll be a a few years before Berghoff settles in to a routine you can count on. They take dog to a whole other level.


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