[iden]

My 8-yr-old dog seems to be putting on a bit of weight, but not to the extreme yet!

Since the temp's sorta "low" by HK standards, thought regular SMALL measured amounts would be OK - like 4 times a day (both soft / cooked & dry "Pedigree").

She's quite a gobbler when it comes her food & will continue munching if her bowl's refilled again & again, so it's tricky knowing IF she's really hungry or not. BTW, she's about 9-10KG, gets 2 long walks a day, & has to "jog" with me a bit!

Any views on optimal daily dog feeding habits welcomed.

[Skyhook]

4 times a day is to often, twice a day is fine, and if your dog is overweight, halve its current meat portion and make up the difference with grated carrot, the volume will look the same, hence the dog will think its the same amount of food he/she is used to.

[sunniefaith]

I feed my dog only twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening. Before I leave for work, I'll give her some dried food and she eats whenever she wants and then in the evening we give her boiled chicken. That, she gobbles up.

[carang]

4 times per day is WAY too much.
once or twice is sufficient. if your dog is putting on weight, then cut down a little at each feed. and lots o' exercise.

[LA Bliss]

Wow, your dog must be super happy getting fed 4x a day! Mine, unfortunately, gets fed twice a day - morning & evening and he gets snacks throughout the day.

I agree with Skyhook. When my dog was a bit overweight, I substituted his snacks w/fruits & vegetables (he especially LOVED carrots.) and it helped with weight control yet kept him happy as can be!

[dipper]

Twice a day.

If its overweight feed it less.

Most dogs will eat whatever you put in front of them. Its instinctive as in the wild they don't know for sure when they'll find food again so, quite sensibly, they eat as much as they can. When they are domesticated they continue the same behaviour and if you keep offering too much food they'll get fat and die early of heart disease or similar because of being overweight so you're not being kind by giving them more whenever they ask for it.

[larac]

We only fed our dog once a day and only dry food. She has 1 - 1.5 cups of little biscuits and 2 of the large triangles. She gobbles the little ones and saves the big ones till the end of the day and regularly we would get her huge canon bones to chew which could keep her busy for hours...sometimes 24hours at a time and she was absolutely exhausted but in heaven at the same time.

She now lives with my parents and also gets a small treat every evening when my mum gets home. Mums way of getting loved because the dog spends all day with my dad.

[sunniefaith]

What dipper says is true. My mum used to feed her dogs all the time and now that they are older, they have a range of issues with their health, from heart ailment to kidney failure and others.

[iden]

Thanks all for the info / reminders.

Actually, I split what would be the usual 2 medium size bowls to 4 SMALL feeds a day coz I heard it might help their digestion. Yeah, feeding 4 normal size servings would be a clear NO-NO!

Luckily enuff, she's not YET overweight, but agree I should reduce the meat (chicken fav!) & add more veg, which, sadly, she tends to leave aside Mixing with bits of grated carrots to bulk up sounds like a great idea tho' - any other tips?

[iden]

Originally Posted by LA Bliss

Wow, your dog must be super happy getting fed 4x a day! Mine, unfortunately, gets fed twice a day - morning & evening and he gets snacks throughout the day.

I agree with Skyhook. When my dog was a bit overweight, I substituted his snacks w/fruits & vegetables (he especially LOVED carrots.) and it helped with weight control yet kept him happy as can be!

Then, from this day on, carrots it'll be then... Good advice.

Oh, forgot to mention, when I say 4 "small" meals a day, I'm including the 3-4 canine snacks or wee calcium bones.