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How many times do you feed a dog?
My mom has a small little white dog. I don't know what breed it is, but she is approximately a foot in height. She seems to be fully grown. My mom says that people have told her to feed the dog once a day, and my dad says that she should feed her until she is no longer hungry. Which of these is correct? Please help me to resolve this because this is a constant argument in thier home.
18 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
It depends on the dog and the food. If your parents are feeding that crappy food that you buy at the grocery store then its no wonder that the little dog will be hungry more often. And poop more. That food in the store is like junk food; it tastes good, but it isn't good for her. Try a food called Canidea, look it up on line to find a distributor. It cost about the same as the crap in the grocery store, but its SO much better for her.
As for how much to feed her, its going to depend on the dog.
If she inhales all of her food, no matter when you feed her, limit her to 1 or 2 meals a day, 3 if she is a puppy. Open feeding won't work for her because she'll gorge herself and that will make her FAT, UNHEALTHY, and take SEVERAL YEARS off her life span!
Just feed her according to the directions on the bag, in one or two times a day, depending on personal preference. DON"T FORGET to calculate scrapes into her food intake. I feed my dogs scraps, but I give them a little less kibble.
If she only eats when shes hungry and often leaves food in her bowl them you can go ahead and keep the bowl full, but keep an eye on her weight so that she doesn't start gaining an unhealthy amount.
Like I said, it depends on the dog.
- heathenLv 41 decade ago
I personally feed my dogs twice each day (8 am and 4 pm). They get a pre-measured amount of food each time and they eat it all.
The trouble with free-feeding (or leaving the bowl full all day) is that dogs can gorge themselves and put on weight. The dog may eat due to boredom or just "because it's there". Many overweight dogs are this way because of free-feeding.
Another problem with free-feeding is that the dog doesn't associate YOU, the leader, with a valuable resource (food). When the dog watches you prepare the meal and place it down (my dogs have to sit and wait before they can eat), they make the connection that you affect their world in a impotant way. It's also a perfect opportunity to brush up on social skills - you have to wait for me, the leader, to release you.
Praise, consistency and perserverence are the keys to having a good dog.
P.S. - I forgot an important thing. Very small dogs (under 5 pounds) can become hypoglycemic if they don't eat often enough. Hypoglycemia is a shortage of sugar in the blood and can lead to diabetes. If your dog is very tiny, you may feed three times per day.
- 1 decade ago
Hi. Feed her twice once in the morning once in the night (at the same time) but being a small dog (sounds like she's a toy poodle) give her a small amount each feeding time. If you feed a dog till it's full they may get bloat but some will only eat 3 bites then think they're full labs and big breeds like that will eat so much till they're unhealthy which results in things like bloat which are fatal but then you get dogs like mine who needs encouraging to eat and doesn't always eat he's a Maltese Shih tzu cross king Charles Cavilair cross.
Good luck and Happy New Year to you and your dog.
- jmrob29Lv 41 decade ago
I would read the directions on the bag of dog food. If it says to feed the dog 2 cups of food per day (based on weight), I would feed it 2 cups of food per day. It is a personal choice whether to feed all of it in the morning or all at night or split it up between the two. I would say which ever schedule that works for your parents would be best. Note: a full tummy before bedtime is not a good thing for a dog. If the dog gets hungry at night after eating its 2 cups in the morning I would switch to 1 cup in the morning and one cup at night.
Oy! Aren't parents annoying!
Good luck!
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- 1 decade ago
You need to call the vet and ask the amount you should be feeding the dog...goes by weight. Don't want to over feed dog will get fat and fast. I suggest feeding 2wice a day. Morning and night! But once a day is okay too depends on you.
- 1 decade ago
you can feed it as many times as you lik the main thing is that you don't ver feed!You shouls away be able to feel ribs and your dog should always have a waist. over feeding is killing your do slowly it is very unhealthly! my dog get fed from no food to 3 meals a day plus treat like the crust on the toast and the old rotten apple. Dogs are scavenger they have to look for there food and may go with out for a day or may eat all day.
- 1 decade ago
it depends on age of dog generally young pups start with three small feeds per day older pups should get 2 feeds per day and adult dogs just one feed per day this because the metabolism slows down as they stop growing if you over feed your dog it will become obese obesity is a major problem for pets and can lead to lots of additional health problems
- 1 decade ago
It should be feed twice a day, but you should never give a dog all it wants because they will just keep eating.
- 1 decade ago
Neither of those were right. Dogs could eat all day, the dog would become over weight..Twice a day seems like a good amount.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
2-3 times a day dont over feed them