# can you feed once a day



## Keegan62 (Aug 17, 2008)

Jack has been a really bad eater since we got him









I have found that if I give him a few snacks in the am and feed the whole amount of food at 3:30 he eats it all and then a few snacks before bed

so that is 2 cups innova and 1 can of evo vennison I just do not know is that really enough food for a 7 month old that is 60 lbs?

and is it bad to feed that much at one time

If I feed 2 x a day I throw so much away even if I do 1 c meal and a little wet

The wet evo 1.65 a can and Innova isn't cheap either LOL

What are your suggestions?

He is not overweight at all backbone prominent and he has the hour glass matter of fact maybe a little thin but would rather see him thin now and then fill out later


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## onyx'girl (May 18, 2007)

He may just be going thru an NON growing spurt! I would still feed twice a day, to avoid bloat or gastro problems. What does he get for snacks?


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## foader (Dec 19, 2008)

Not sure how long you've had him but when I first got Chewy he was eating so little that I left the food out all day for him and just kept track of how much he got each day. After about a week he got onto a regular eating pattern.


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## Sherush (Jan 12, 2008)

Jesse is now fed 2 -3 times a day via ball method, he was never a very interested in eating (especially in the morning) till we moved all his food dispensing from a bowl to a Tricky Treats Ball and now he eats all his daily quota and is dying for more. Now I am in the middle of training him to bring his "food ball" to be filled up. Loves his meals now and wants more...


This is what we use:

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751743


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## Powell (Oct 13, 2006)

Jolene, my GSD / Sheltie cross eats once a day. Every now and then she will eat the kibble I put out in the AM, but she does drink her water. She eats in the middle of the night while I am asleep. 

Powell


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## Bowen (Jul 24, 2008)

Another method to get your dog eat at his meal on time is get into the practice of leaving the food out for 15 to 20minutes. After that, take the food away till the next meal time. After a few days your dog will learn if he doesn't eat it then, he will have to wait till the next one to come around. Once your dog learn that on his own, he will go clean the food bowl out everytime you put the food down. 

For this to work, you gotta be firm with it and not give the food back to your dog when he begs because once you do that, your dog will know even he doesnt eat within the time frame, all he need to do is beg for it later on. believe me, be firm with this for a few days and you will never have the problem of your dog not wanting to eat or be picky with what he eats. Just remember, your dog will not starve till death if he miss a meal or two. So it is better to teach good habits now and have your dog's meal time go according to your schedule, rather than you having to baby your dog around each meal time.

when I first got maximus he gone through the picky eating stage. What I did was give him the food first thing in the morning and then I go get ready for work, let him out to do his business and I take the food back (whether there is food left or not) when I leave the house. I feed him again when I get home from work and again, 15 minutes later, I take the food bowl back. After about a 4 or 5 days, Max learned those are his meal time and if he doesnt eat it then he will have to wait. Now I don't even need to worry about my boy not eating and he licks the bowl clean.

And yea, feed twices a day this will allow your dog to digest the food in small portions instead of one big portions.


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

Some dogs just will NOT eat more than once a day. My 10yo female will NOT eat in the morning, she hasn't for YEARS. However as I said, she is 10yo so she also doesn't require much food per day(She only eats/needs about 2 cups a day.). If she was a dog that needed several cups of food a day to maintain weight, I would try different methods of trying to get her to eat at least twice a day so she wasn't eating a bunch of food at once.


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## Keegan62 (Aug 17, 2008)

thanks all
some really good suggestions
I do not leave it down longer then 20 minutes because of the wet in it,,, and maybe he really is like tracy's dog and only really wants once a day..... but as an adult not so bad but now I really am going to try to so the 2x.... but like today he really ate it all and was happy... maybe in the am a sweet potato or solid gold buckaroo patties a little high in protein but maybe just a small piece and a sweet potato his treats are cheese, green beans, one beggin strip. sometimes a bit of cottage cheese... and for a real treat a tiny bit of PB now that isnt all day or all the time that is the kind he gets we vary it gets varried he does not get a lot because he would eat less


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## Kayla's Dad (Jul 2, 2007)

> Originally Posted By: Count Bruno
> If I feed 2 x a day I throw so much away even if I do 1 c meal and a little wet
> 
> The wet evo 1.65 a can and Innova isn't cheap either LOL
> ...


Instead of feeding once a day, keep to your schedule of twice a day and just continue cut back on the amount of food you are putting down. As previously suggested, leave it down for 15 to 20 minutes. This is one of those trial and error situations where you just need to find the balance. And you may end up going in the other direction and start adding back portions of what you previously cut out.

Is there any treating going on during the day? How much? Are you using his kibble to treat during the day/training sessions? If not you may want to consider using the kibble as part of his treating during training.


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## Keegan62 (Aug 17, 2008)

well this morning he woke me up howling and barking ran to his kennel thought he was hurt and he was ok ran him out and he has the hersey squirts really bad..... came in he went right back to door and out we went a little more

gave some water made the rice for later and gave a little kaopectate made an appointment with vet at 11 today....

I put him in kennel to make him rest if he is out he will stress himself and want to go out so will take him out every 20 minutes.


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## Caledon (Nov 10, 2008)

I had to take up the food with Dakota after 20 minutes too. She got the hint pretty quick and now she finishes her meals shortly after I give them to her. 

It was hard at first to take up the food and not give it back later when she would go to her food dish and look at me with those sad brown eyes. I resisted. It was harder to do this with my puppy than with my kids when they were young.







I've softened?

I too was wondering about the twice a day feedings. At what age do you switch to once a day?


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## BlackGSD (Jan 4, 2005)

> Originally Posted By: MaryW
> I too was wondering about the twice a day feedings. At what age do you switch to once a day?


Personally I don't "switch" to once a day feedings. I feed twice a day for life. (If they will eat twice a day.) As I said, my 10yo is a once a day eater by HER choice. I can't remember when she decided to only eat once a day, she was definately not a puppy at the time though.

Some dogs also can't handle only being fed twice a day. If their stomachs are empty for too long, they get "pukey". (Though this can usually be fixed by giving the a little bit of SOMETHING to eat at times other than their meal.)

Why do you only want to feed once a day?


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## sprzybyl (May 15, 2008)

If he is eating all of his food at once (once a day) this could be "too much" in one sitting and giving him the soft stools that are causing the anal sac problems. What if you were to split up the kibble and the wet? (the small amount of wet in the morning?). Also- 2x a day doesn't have to be AM and PM. I could be lunch and late dinner... or mid morning and dinner, etc. If you are able to try different times you might hit a time when he IS hungry. My Mom's GSD was always a midnight eater... and she would eat around lunchtime, too.


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