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Once a Day Feeding?

7K views 15 replies 14 participants last post by  Arrow-The-GSD 
#1 ·
How often do tou feel your dobies?

Zeus has been eating twice a day for the longest. 7am and 7pm. But lately, for the past 3 or 4 days, he hasn't been interested in his breakfast. Yesterday he didnt start eating it until noon. Right now, it's noon and it's still sitting there. He weighed 92lbs the last time he was at the vet, and according to his food bag, he's to eat 5 cups a day, which seemed a lot (that's for a 100lb dog). The measurement beneath that was for an 80lb dog, which is 4 1/3 cups. So we're giving him 4 1/2 a day. This has been his regular amount, but suddenly he's not all that interested. His food is the same. The bag is the same bag he has been eating from. Hes drinking fine. Poops are solid. No changes in behavior. Still runs and plays.

Should I feed him once a day now since he's not thrilled about breakfast? Once I go back to work, if he doesnt eat before my husband and I leave, he's not going to get a chance to until we come back from work cuz Im not thrilled at the idea of leaving food in his bowl to free feed from at any point in the day. He eats his dinner portion just fine, so I'm assuming he's just not hungry in the morning.

Also, he takes treats fine.
 
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#2 ·
Hi Gamer...

McCoy is a pretty active dog. He used to eat 5 cups a day (2 1/2 x 2). He also gets a lot of add ons and healthy treats. At about 3, he started eating 4 cups and now about 3 3/4. This is fed over the course of two meals.

Me? I would never feed a doberman once a day. For one thing. Dobermans have been known not to do well on a completely empty stomach. They often will make a habit of throwing up bile on a regular basis. Also, I like the concept of spreading my dogs food out as Dobermans are a breed prone to bloat and torsion. In fact, McCoys sire died of torsion. I just don't like the idea of him wolfing down 4+ cups (including add ons at one time

I also don't like the idea of free feeding. So... Twice a day it is!

This is obviously just my preference.

John Lichtwardt
Portland OR
 
#3 ·
All three of my dogs (husky, mal/husky mix/ and a dobie) are fed twice a day and are very active pups. With all of them on a raw diet, we measure things by the pound and not cup size so that probably wouldn't help you. My boyfriend used to feed his dobie once a day and free fed him. He threw up bile, as John had mentioned, until we moved in together and I put him on an eating schedule. Now, they all get fed, depending on my schedule, between 0545-0630, and at 1800 each day.
 
#4 ·
You could try feeding once a day, and see if that makes any difference.

Concerning the fact that you fed him at 7:00 AM, and he hasn't eaten yet, I don't leave food down. If the dogs and cats don't eat when I give it to them, the food gets picked up, and they don't get anything until their next meal time. The only animals here that have access to food 24/7 are the bird and the baby kitten, and the kitten will be switched to meal fed when she's about 6 month old.
 
#14 ·
You could try feeding once a day, and see if that makes any difference.

Concerning the fact that you fed him at 7:00 AM, and he hasn't eaten yet, I don't leave food down. If the dogs and cats don't eat when I give it to them, the food gets picked up, and they don't get anything until their next meal time. The only animals here that have access to food 24/7 are the bird and the baby kitten, and the kitten will be switched to meal fed when she's about 6 month old.
Hi! have you considered that they may not like or are tired of their food when they won't eat? Maybe switching it up would be kinder than punishment by withholding food. They must be hungry still, unless they are ill. I have experienced this as well numerous times with my pets.
 
#5 ·
All of my dogs got fed 2X daily. My latest female eats 1 and 1/4 cup at each serving. My male eats 5 cups per day 2 cups in AM 3 cups PM. Both weight around 75 pounds. He is a lot more active than my girl. I do not believe in free feeding if my dogs do not eat within 20 minutes food is discarded until next meal. This never happens with my girl. My boy at least once a week will not eat a meal. Sometimes AM sometimes PM however if he misses a meal he will eat the next time. That is normal for him.
 
#6 · (Edited)
Hoss gets 1 cup in the AM and i cup in the PM.
Since the heat has turned on here is Florida his appetite has not been real big in the AM.......but he eats his dinner just fine.
Glad to hear Zeus is being a solid pooper sounds like you have got things all straightened out with him now.
Also do I recall you mentioning that you moved again?
Hummmmmm maybe I am wrong on that ....
Anyway unless he becomes to skinney I would let him decide if he wants to eat or not.
He is such a big boy now and he would never let himself starve.
WE FEED HOSS TWICE PER DAY.
IMO I would continue to feed twice per day and as the saying goes “Snooze you lose”...MR. big boy Zeus!
FILL THE BOWL AND THEY WILL COME !!!!!! BA HA HA >:)>:)>:)
GREAT TO HEAR FROM YOU GAMER!
 
#8 · (Edited)
Twice a day for us. My first dobe was allowed to free feed (food down all of the time) and it worked for him. He was a good weight choosing how much to eat on his own. We had to neuter him at about age 10 because of prostate problems, and he started to gain weight, so we switched to twice a day feeding. He lived almost 14 years.

Now that I have Hairy Dog, and look back, I am amazed at how much the dobes ate. They ate about what dobes seem to eat, some more, a few less. And herding dogs in general are thrifty with their food, but Hairy, a 70 pound dog, only gets a tiny bit more than 1 cup a day (1/2 cup in each meal) of the same brand and flavor as they did, plus perhaps a small nibble of cheese (and I mean small), or maybe a little bit of trimming from the raw meat or chicken we are getting ready to have for dinner, something like that.
 
#9 · (Edited)
Hmmm. Thanks everyone. Seems like most of yall have gone through similar phases of not eating, and that eases my worries a lot. It has been RIDICULOUSLY hot here in Texas ( @LadyDi you are right, we have moved!). Right now at almost 4pm, its 107 degrees. Zeus gets a walk/run every morning at 6am and sometimes it's already over 80 degrees. So maybe the heat has something to do with it. We don't get much of a reprieve as it's hot at night too.

If not that, I feel like he's just being picky for whatever reason. I'll do what one or two of you mentioned and pick up his breakfast after giving him a bit of time to eat it. 20 minutes, then food goes away til dinnertime. He's smart, like most dobies. I feel like maybe he's learned just in these few days of allowing him to eat later in the day, that if he doesn't eat his breakfast bowl then it'll just be there later to get at when he feels like it. Well...time to retrain the brain! I'll let yall know how it goes. :) Thanks again!
 
#10 · (Edited)
I feed twice a day--and I never free feed (you lose the advantage of knowing if a dog decided not to eat which can be an early warning symptom of something bad going on.)

If during the summer months we get some really hot weather the dogs will sometimes not eat all of their meals. My adult males typically eat 2 cups in the morning (at around 6:00am and two cups in the evening.--sometimes a little less during the summer and sometime a little more in the winter.

They get 10 minutes to eat a meal (normally it takes any of them around 70 seconds to clean a bowl) And I do add things--about 3/4 cup of water each meal, any meds or supplements they might be taking, a couple of tablespoons of yogurt or cottage cheese with breakfast and a hard boiled egg (peeled and chopped up) and a spoonful of canned food or if I've made some a couple of spoons full of chicken, beef or turkey stuff--I add water and cook the meat to a sloppy joe consistency freeze most of it and keep a container in the refrigerator and it goes on their food.

Melbrod is right about herding breeds being different! My Aussie ate about 3/4 of a cup twice a day. One morning when he as around 3 years--he came into the kitchen and looked in his bowl--and walked away without touching the food. I stuck it in the refrigerator--and he ate it for dinner. The following day I didn't even offer him breakfast--and gave him 1 cup of kibble for his dinner. He was fine with that--he lost no weight and continued to be a very active dog. He ate one meal and it amounted to about 3/4 of the amount he used to get in two meals. That went on for several years--I think he was about 9 getting close to 10 and he came in to see what was going on in the morning--so I gave him 3/4 of a cup of kibble with some water on it. He cleaned his bowl and went on eating both breakfast and dinner for the rest of his life. I have NO idea--dogs, sometimes they are just weird.

ABTLH
 
#11 ·
I do what Rosemary does for my two dobies. Some mornings they arent hungry. I also dont leave food down, it goes right back until they either ask me for it within the hour or they have to wait until evening.

I personally dont like having breakfast every single morning either. Depends you know, we arent machines and neither are they. Usually they eat but sometimes they skip breakfast.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
#12 ·
I raw feed Sugar twice a day. During this heatwave, a few days he has not been interested in eating breakfast and has only eaten dinner. Yesterday was one of those days but this morning he was hungry and has already wolfed down his breakfast of ground goat and small lamb chops.

Raw fed dogs sometimes only eat once a day. Coco was like this throughout her life and it never worried me.

This heat has made me not want to eat somedays either. As long as Sugar drinks water, has good energy and does his business I don't worry about it.
 
#13 ·
Hi Gamer ! Like the others have already said - Heat does the deal here sometimes - But If Kadin don't eat breakfast - then he just gets what he would eat at one time - Never do we double up because of missed meal , If I can I will feed him a little early that night - What We have seen is that the next morning - he is ready to eat the next morning .

It may even be from his early morning run - I know when I run 20 miles first thing in the morning - I sure don't feel like eating :grin2:
 
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