# Feed once a day?



## Redorr

Does anyone _who has a good eater_ feed their dog just once per day? It seems many of my friends with bigger dogs feed them once a day. Lola will eat anything anywhere anytime, so I could easily give her all her NV raw medallions in one feeding. Is there a reason not to?


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## kudo2u

How old is Lola?

A lot depends on that question. I personally wouldn't feed only once a day until the dog is at least 2 years old. When they are growing and developing, their nutritional needs are much different.

Most people feed their dog at least twice a day, especially if they are really active. I personally have mine on open feeding - they always have kibble available, and anything other than kibble is given very infrequently and has to be earned.

However, this is mostly a personal preference. Dogs are built much different than people. There is no physical reason to feed them more than once a day. I would just be careful with that - if you feed them only once a day, they will (obviously) be eating quite a bit in that one meal. If you let them run and play too hard after eating such a large meal, their stomach can flip, which is potentially fatal.

But if you feed them, then take a 3 hour nap, then have active play time, I see no problem with that schedule.


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## onemoreokie

You may have to experiment. I don't feed once a day (she is still a pup) but if I let Chloe eat to much at one sitting it leads to very loose stools which are no fun for either of us. It seems like her little system can only digest at a certain rate. We are still experimenting with the perfect schedule. I'm thinking about going to three small meals a day.


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## morridon

My Hav is 16 months old and the vet told me to feed her once a day. Well she sometimes eats at 10:00 at night and the vet also said that was fine. She is a very small eater and I don't give her much but I just realized that since she has been eating only 1 time a day she has been barking at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning to go out for a bowel movement. It is not diarrhea, (which I was afraid of). It is normal. Do you think that is the reason???


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## Redorr

kudo2u said:


> How old is Lola?
> 
> A lot depends on that question. I personally wouldn't feed only once a day until the dog is at least 2 years old. When they are growing and developing, their nutritional needs are much different.
> 
> If you let them run and play too hard after eating such a large meal, their stomach can flip, which is potentially fatal.
> 
> But if you feed them, then take a 3 hour nap, then have active play time, I see no problem with that schedule.


Lola is 2 1/2 years. And she is small - 10.5 lbs. She is very active on her daily walk in the afternoon. I had never heard of stomach flip! Yuck. I think I would feed her at night, at least a half hour after her walk. Then she can lie around all evening digesting and sleeping, and poop it all out in the morning! At least that is my thinking.


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## kudo2u

Redorr said:


> Lola is 2 1/2 years. And she is small - 10.5 lbs. She is very active on her daily walk in the afternoon. I had never heard of stomach flip! Yuck. I think I would feed her at night, at least a half hour after her walk. Then she can lie around all evening digesting and sleeping, and poop it all out in the morning! At least that is my thinking.


Size has nothing to do with it - just age and maturity/development level.

Morridon, here's the answer to your question, and Redorr, to your question as well...

If you feed at night, I would say 1/2 hour after her walk is a great time. However, you are going to run into the issue of needing to go out in the middle of the night. Yes, that is why you're being woken at 3:00 or 4:00 in the morning.

I don't know what your schedule is, but if at all possible, I would feed by about 7:00 or 7:30, and make sure there is plenty of opportunity to potty before bed!

My dogs have a doggie door, so they can set their own schedule. Not because it's better for them....because I'm lazy that way and it's more convenient for me! haha

Having the stomach flip is much more common in large dogs, but it can happen in smaller dogs. The stomach literally moves around inside of them (flips) and causes a kink in the digestive tract. I know that's gross, but it's true.


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## Luciledodd

Well teach an old dog new tricks--never heard of "stomach flip". All of my dogs have been weaned to once a day feeding by the time they are a year old. The potty thing is not an issue with the yard dog of course; but the house dogs usually ate in the evening and went out to potty before bedtime. The time was 9pm like clockwork. Rosie is 9 months and is beginning to not eat in the mornings now. the food is put out; but she doesn't eat. She eats a small amount of kibble at work during the lunch hour. Her main meal has become the evening meal and it is a large one. Since she is using the puddle pads, the potty thing is soon after eating and as soon as she wakes up in the morning. I believe that by the time she is a year old she will be at one time a day and she has set her own schedule. The lunch thing is because the employees are eating and she is a notorious begger, so we give her a little kibble; but she really doesn't eat over a quarter cup.


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## marjrc

Feeding once/day can cause bloating, over-eating and cramps from having so much food to digest all at once, as opposed to 2 smaller meals/day. ... for small dogs AND for big dogs. Many dogs are so hungry, they just gobble everything up including lots of air which causes the discomfort.

Here's something to check http://www.petiquettedog.com/blog/.../feeding-your-dog-once-or-twice-a-day/

This: http://www.pixiedustpapillons.com/feed_papillons_puppies.html also explains their reasoning for feeding 2 or 3 times/day to their Papillons.

There are also opinions and reasons for feeding once/day, but I don't like the idea of having the dog eat 'til he's full, then have to digest a whole day's worth of food and then maybe feel hungry for a few hours before the next meal. With "liver dogs", for example, they recommend 3 smaller meals/day, no matter what the breed. That tells me that it's less taxing on the system to eat smaller meals more often rather than a large meal only once.


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## luv3havs

We feed our dogs twice a day, a.m. and p.m. We take the dishes up after 30 min. They are not particuarly picky eaters. Sometimes they eat once and sometimes they eat both times. 
My vet suggested that since they are small dogs they should have food offered twice a day. Trainer said the same thing.


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## Lina

Hitchcock eats once a day. Not because I want him to but by choice. And he's a healthy eater, he just doesn't like to eat in the morning. I'm not sure why, but there you go. Kubrick will have a smaller meal at breakfast and a larger one at dinner. They both are healthy and do fine on their different meal schedules.

I was told by many breeders and trainers that if the dog starts to constantly refuse one of the meals (as in every day for at least a week) that they're telling you they're ready to go down to one meal a day. So for Hitch that happened at around 1 year of age and for Kubrick it never did.

They do, however, both get treats during the day so it's not like Hitch doesn't eat *anything* at all until dinner.


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