Feeding time for Tess

[purrley]

I've found it impossible to keep Tess (my Chihuahua) on a certain feeding schedule like is recommended. She likes to eat a little bit at a time and at different times. She takes 3 or 4 pieces of puppy chow out of her dish and eats it at a different place, then goes back gets 3 or 4 more, etc. I don't really see a problem with this, other than it would be nice to feed her twice a day at the same time and have her eat all at once. Is this a behavior that I need to be worried about? Haven't really run into a problem with poo time either - she's getting good at letting me know when she has to go.

[Dixieland Dancer]

It is very easy to create a finickey eater. I know I did it. How? By letting Dixie be a grazer all day long on her food. That all had to change when Dusty came along because he is a food hound and will eat his and hers!

I will never let a dog of mine graze all day long again. It is too much of a hassle. I put the food bowl down and if she doesn't finish it within a 10 minute period then I lift the bowl from the floor. She gets another chance later in the day. However she only seems to want to eat once a day. As long as she gets the amount she needs it doesn't matter to me how many times a day!

[slleipnir]

I don't really know, but have a question along the same lines..I feed Jo around 2 cups a day. It just doesn't seem like a lot..shes not under weight, if anything maybe a little over. I'd say pretty close to average. If we're out somewhere, and someone gives her a treat, she like grabs at it like shes STARVING. The people look at me like..Do you not feed your dog?? your mean! or something, some ppl have actually said the 1st part to me. I can't seem to get them to understand labs are like that. Should I be feeding more then I am?? Same with my other dog. He is older, and smaller, doesn't get much exersice (he gets tired) I feed him a little less. He's really skinny, but has always been like that. Before we got Josie, we'd leave food out for whenever he was hungry. He's like skin and bones though, and he eats whenever given too. Well maybe not skin and bones, but isn't fatty at all. Is this because he's old??? Or should I feed him more?

[purrley]

On the bag of dog food is a chart that lists the age and the pounds of a dog with the quantity of food that is recommended - that's what I go by. I have a tendancy to overfeed my cats. I have 2 really fat cats. My spayed female is huge, way too big for her age, she must have gained at least 7 or 8 lbs since I had her spayed. I don't want to do that with my little Chi - these little dogs are inclined to be fat if you don't watch their diet (so I'm told). So I'd say, follow the chart on the bag of dog food as closely as you can.

[carrie]

It is certainly not a natural state of affairs for a dog to have access to food all day and problems can arise from it. It has a very significant effect on the dog's self image, for example. The very fact of open access to food is a clear indicator to the dog that it is seen by other pack members as of much higher status than them. It can create immense problems, as Dixieland Dancer pointed out, if another animal is brought into the family. A dog that never has an empty stomach is much more likely to use food as a manipulating tool - once it finds out that you react badly when it doesn't eat it also finds a way of getting attention. It is very difficult to tell if this kind of dog is off it's food too.

If you want to change the habit start off with very tiny meals of four or five pieces. Leave it down for 10 minutes and remove it. Try to up the activity level of the dog to stimulate it's appetite and feed four times a day until meals are eaten fairly quickly.

Feeding guides on dog food bags and tins are very useful for a starting point. Be careful not to stick to this exactly - seasonal changes have an effect on weight as do health, age, breeding condition etc. etc. etc. (Paddy goes from 2 measures all the way up to 3 and half during the course of the year.)
Keep an eye on the weight of each individual and adjust the amount of food gradually to compensate for any loss or gain. Give at least ten days before changing the amount again as too fast a gain or loss can be damaging.

As for Labs...I know just what you mean - stomachs on legs!! If the dog is looking the right wieght and healthy then don't worry what people say - it's not just Labs!

[purrley]

Carrie - the feeding schedule you suggest would be quite impossible since I am gone 8 to 9 hours a day during the week so I certainly can't feed her 4 meals a day. She must eat in the morning before I go to work and when I get home. She does piece a little before I go to work and will eat in the evening, picking as I described previously. I do leave food in a dish for her in her crate while I'm at work which probably isn't good either, but I notice she doesn't eat any of it while she's cooped up in the crate. I know this feeding thing is difficult - but I don't know what else to do - I certainly want to make sure she doesn't get hungry.

[carrie]

How about an automatic cat feeder? You can then leave a small meal for her and still have some control over access.

[Pam]

What a difference when having just one dog! In the past I always had two at a time and they literally ate like there was no tomorrow for fear of the other one getting some of theirs! Bella, being an "only dog" eats leisurely but does manage to finish each meal within a reasonable amount of time. I feed her twice a day. This morning, while she was outside going potty, who should appear at her bowl and have a taste or two, but Andy! This is my cat who eats to live, not like Trevor who lives to eat. Go figure!

[Barbiro]

Purrley, you know what I noticed regarding feeding time for chihuahuas? That as long as we feed them "dry" dog food, they all eat the same way (grab 2 or 3 pieces, run and hide them, come back to the bowl & start again). They will not stay still long enough to eat what you feed them, but will prefer to eat on and off during the day. That doesn't seem to happen with regular dog food, just the dry type.

When I first got Tobi, I fed him regular dog food for a while, twice a day (6am & 7pm) and THAT he would eat right away, but it's not that way with the dry kind.

[purrley]

Bari - that's exactly what Tess does. I did feed her a little wet dog food about a week or so ago. This upset her stomach really bad. She kept urping it up all day. I haven't given her any since. She does really well on the dry food and seems to have developed a schedule of eating early in the morning before I go to work and then around 5 or 6 at night. This is working well for us And best of all this dried food is keeping her poopies really firm and easy to pick up, especially if she has an accident in the house.