To fill or not to fill?
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| I honestly think it depends on your dog. Things to consider...are they thin or over-weight, do they get enough to eat, are they still hungry after they empty their bowl. My dog and I run on a daily basis so he is thin but muscular (85 lbs), I give him two big dog treats in the morning and feed him in the evening. If he's still hungry he will return to his bowl after emptying it and I'll give him more. More times than not, he won't eat it, but at least he's offered it. |
Welcome to your first official post after a year and ten months of membership at the forum!
 YAHOO!!!!!!!
I think there have been a couple of discussions on here about "free feeding", but not recently. There are probably a lot more members with more opinions about it now. Let's discuss it! We feed our dog 3 times a day; about a cup and one third morning and night and a little snack at lunchtime. We've always fed our dog at a specific time. We thought about switching over to free feeding at one point, but never could figure out how to do it without the dog gaining 20 pounds until he realized there'd always be food available. Anyone make the switch? |
We keep the bowl down all day, but fill once in the morning and once in the evening. This way I can keep an eye on how much he is actually eating. If you drop a little in at a time throughout the day you lose track of how much has actually gone into the bowl (and hopefully into your dog's stomach  ) |
| We free feed our cats, but with barney he gets his cups in the morning and 2 cups in the evening. And he gulps it all down at once, so we don't really have a choice about leaving it out all day. |
| i think it's a huge difference if your dog is a food hog. i switched clyde from timed feeding to free feeding and he'll leave food sitting all day. he loves to steal lucy's food (she gets fed once a day for that reason) but clyde just doesn't really care much about eating his own food. |
| I remember the first dog my family ever had when I was a kid. Her food was always left down and eventually she became a picky eater and very food possessive and was overweight. She did live to the age of 13. Since her I have owned a cocker spaniel, two Irish Setters, a mixed breed dog and my current three dogs. With all of these guys I have feed them or currently feed them twice a day, once in the morning and once again at dinnertime. I prefer this method. I control their food intake and none have been or are overweight. Plus I only leave there food down for maximum of 5 minutes for them to eat before I take it back up. They are usually finished there meals in about two minutes. I just want to discourage picky eaters. This method has worked for me for the past 30 years. |
| I don't free feed, just 2 meals a day. This is because mine are endless pits when it comes to food. So I regulate it. One would keep eating till she exploded. |
| I free feed our cats because they seem to be hungry and different times but Sammy gets 2 feeds a day which I measure so I know how much he is getting. |
| We feed Sasha in the morning and supper. If we left food down for free feed she would gulp it up wanting more hungry or not. Our meow meow is free fed though. |
Quote: mine are endless pits when it comes to food. So I regulate it. One would keep eating till she exploded.
Fattie (this is why she has the nickname) would do the same. She would eat a 40 pound bag in one sitting if you let her. She get a cup and a half in the moring and at night after her run. She is also on Weight Maintanence food. |
Welcome to the forum! 
I free feed my dogs.... either way is good and everyone has their own reasons as to why they prefer the method they have chosen. I think it depends on you, and the dog. Whatever works best. |
| We feed two meals a day... 5am and 5pm but we have 6 so leaving a full food dish on the floor would cause some problems. We free-feed only if there is a health reason (we did this with our cleft palate pup).
Just a little FYI... a bit off subject but still about feeding. The results of a new study on bloat from Purdue University were recently published in the Journal of the American Animal Hospital Association. The findings were interesting and could be significant. Maybe more studies will be done to help determine the cause and ways to prevent it. http://www.jaaha.org/cgi/content/abstract/42/1/28 http://www.healthypet.com/library_view. ... =195&sid=1 |
| jack's bowl is always full, but he usually only eats when someone sits at the table (or he's too busy following you around) it means he eats at our meal times. he's been 90 lbs since he was 18 months old.....so.....weight gain, not much of an issue. |
| Hi,
Here's my personal opinion on the subject and please note this is only my personal view. Our boys and girls if free fed can have a tendency to have weigh gain and according to most experts of our particular breed tend to say to err on the side of caution: It's best to keep our sheepies on the lean side expecially those with arthritis or hip problems. This may not occur but it's best not to have extra weight on their joints. Other studies I've read claim that while cats while not overeat, dogs will. This may depend entirely on the dog himself but I know if I left the dog food out where it was accessible to my boys they would have it empty when I arrived home. I feed my boys twice daily and give crunchies for snacks occasionally, or even a raw carrot which they eat with delight just as if it were a bone. Lastly, something to think about. When my previous OES Shaggy was very elderly and could no longer climb down stairs but still manage to go up them, I carried her outside several times a day. My vet said if this dog weighed more you realize it would not be physically possible for you to lift her. I've often thought of that and was lucky that she was on the small side as other than her difficulty with stairs I had her a bit longer due to being able to manage with her. That's my take on the subject. Marianne and the boys |
| Lennon ans Sofa have been free fed for almost a year now. Their bowls are not always full, we refill them every time they are almost empty. If they are not hungry they will leave it alone until their tummies tells them it's time to eat. So far, we haven't seen any considerable weight gain on any of them. |
| Daisy gets a bowl of home-cooked food (meat, grains and veggies) or a can of wet food when I don't cook, once a day and has the dry food left out for whenever she wants it. All of my pets have always been free fed and I have never had a dog or cat that would eat it all at once. I think it is just what they are used to. |
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