When to go to one meal a day?

TheFairyDogmother

Just curious on the timing of when other people put their juvenile pups on one meal a day? Most people recommend at 12months for bigger breeds.Hes about 30kg now.

My guy is 8 1/2 months old and the past 2 weeks has been turning his nose up at the idea of breakfast, maybe picking at it after our morning walk if he touches it at all.I've been removing it by mid morning. I do a lot of my training with food and he has no problem with his evening meals.He's been on 2 meals morning/ night since he was about 5mo.Mainly raw/offal/supplements and vitamins/ eggs/ salmon/sardines /green veggies.

BulliesofNC

At 8 1/2 months he would be fine to go to one nutritious and well balanced meal a day. Just try to avoid too much snacks, treats, or table scrap because those are the type of things that will turn him into a finicky eater and make him avoid the proper food he should be eating.

Uheflin

Actually, it’s better if you feed your dog at least twice a day for the simple reason that it avoids “BLOAT”. Bloat is very dangerous. Chances of survival when a dog gets bloat are 50/50 maybe less. A friend of mine lost both her dogs to bloat.
Bloat is the colloquial name for one of two canine stomach disorders: gastric dilatation (GD), where the stomach fills with gas; and gastric dilatation and volvulus (GDV), where the gas-filled stomach then twists on itself. Both can cause shock because the distended, gas-filled stomach obstructs blood flow.
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Preventing bloat is hard because so many things may play a part in causing it, but a few things you can do that may reduce your dog's risk include: Feed your dog two or more meals daily. Include canned food. Make sure your dog rests after a full meal; no strenuous exercise on a full stomach.

BulliesofNC

Bloat can be problematic in many breeds of dogs but not within the Bull Terrier breed. In all the years I've raised Bull Terrier that's something I've never experienced with any my Bullies as well as all the BT's we've rescued and rehomed. As a matter of fact if you Google Bloating in Bull Terriers you won't find anything on the subject.

I have a friend of mine who trains Police K9's and they feed their dogs once a dog and even fast them a day about once a month to keep their appetite strong and ensure they eat their entire meal during each feeding.

I feed my Bullies a very small meal in the morning and a heavier meal in the evening. But there have been multiple times in which I've had to go a once a day feeding for a Bull Terrier that may be refusing their food or being finicky about what they eat. This is common on many of the rescues we receive in, many which are underweight and still finicky about eating. But when there's one feeding a day they have a tendency to eat all their food knowing they won't be seeing their food bowl for another 24 hours.

Once your dog begins to enjoy eating again that's when you can provide him a small meal in the morning and a heavier meal in the evening to get him back on track for feeding twice a day.

lovely_jdw

Awe. I feed my baby small meals throughout the day. He scarfs stuff down way too fast and ends up throwing it up if I give him a huge meal once a day. $-)

TheFairyDogmother

@BulliesofNC -
Thanks so much for this- Hes definitely not starving.Ive still been offering a small meal in the morning and then using that food to train with if he doesnt eat it.When he was teething he went through a similar fussiness so I'm thinking its just all the juvenile hormones- at least I wont feel too bad if he misses the morning feed.

@Uheflin-
I've dealt with bloat before but I agree with @BulliesofNC , I doubt it is common in EBTs as it tends to be an issue with large breeds with deep chests like Danes etc- not that it isn't a serious or scary thing. Also just an FYI I would never feed my dogs tinned food. :-O

@lovely_jdw-
Lol! the last EBT I had years ago was a food scoffer lol.I used to call him a biological vacuum.Small feeds are another idea I will keep in mind- thanks