Once a day feeding?

[ColoradoShepherd]

Hello,

We have an 8 month (as of today! / pic below for fun) old GSD. Over the past 2 months her eating habits have been driving us crazy. It all started with her tipping the food bowl over and then eating the food off the floor. Then she started to tip her food over and not eat it at all. When these two things were occurring, we were putting down 2 cups of food at 8am and 6pm. We were firm about her eating it while it was down for 15 minutes, and if she didn't after 15 minutes we picked it back up. She at times would take a bite and then walk away. Other times, she would walk up to the food, sniff it, and then go lay down. Really weird, she was all over the place. There was a 5 day span in there where I swear she couldn't have eaten more than 2 cups of food. Not good.

Anyway, about a week ago we started to feed her 3.5 cups of food once a day at 7pm. So far, this seems to work. When it's time to eat, she sits attentively making eye contact waiting for us to say our release word for her to eat (this signifying she has an appetite). Then she goes and eats all her food!

My question, is once a day feeding OK and if so how much food should we be feeding her? We feed her Nature Variety's Instinct Beef Meal & Lamb Meal Formula kibble. Her weight right now is about 68Lbs.

Thanks!

[fuzzybunny]

If she eats her food with once a day feedings then I think you should continue that. Obviously twice a day wasn't working for her. As for the amount you're feeding her, you can check the guidelines on the bag as a starting point but the best way is to go by how she looks and feels and feed more or less accordingly. If however, you plan or feel the need to increase her food intake, I would consider going back to 2 feedings because that would be a lot of food in one sitting otherwise.

Gorgeous dog btw

[Sunstreaked]

I've always added things to my pup's kibble - from yogurt, to cottage cheese, cheese, chicken, beef, tuna, chicken broth, etc., although I throw in random meals of just kibble too.

Could it be that your girl (GORGEOUS!) doesn't like the kibble?

I would be really hesitant to feed that much food at once as I would be afraid of bloat.

Hoping some with much more experience than me will have some good ideas for you!

[Gilly1331]

For a puppy under the age of 1yr feeding once a day can cause medical issues with to much food in their stomachs at once. We feed raw one a day to our 18mo and 2.5yr old but we feed 2x a day raw for our 6 mo old. I would be worried about bloat with that much food at such a young age at 1 feeding.

Have you tried adding yummy things into her food like olive oil, sardines, cottage cheese, yougart, ground meats, gravy etc.?

She may not have liked the kibble? Try upping her exercise daily and going back to twice a day. you could also use her kibble as training treats through out the day as well.

Hopefully more experienced people will chime in but feeding once a day that young can be bad.

[ColoradoShepherd]

fuzzybunny, Sunstreaked, and Gilly1331,

Thanks for the input. We did worry about bloat, and that's why we are asking. We thought about mixing stuff in with her kibble, but we were not sure if that would only amplify her picky eating and/or disinterest in food, e.g. she will only eat when there is something other than kibble in the bowl. I'd hate to start that habit!

During the times where she was not eating, we would put food in her food dispensing ball and other food dispensing toys. That kind of worked, but we felt only worsened the problem as that was also around the time she started sniffing and walking away from the food bowl.

I don't know, this is all great input and things to consider. Re, bloat - we'll return to 2x a day feeding and try mixing some of the food Gilly1331 suggested.

Thanks again!

[Gilly1331]

Good luck its better/cheaper to add things from the grocery store (less the $5-10 )to help her eat then to have her not eat and become ill or have other medical issues happen which can cost hundreds/thousands of $$. You will find out what works. Double check she isnt eating things outside as well. We found that if young pups filled up on outside things grass, sticks, leaves, veggies from garden etc that they were less interested in eating as well.

Also up her exercise to make her hungry. Get her working for her food.

[elisabeth_00117]

I feed raw but my male would go for DAYS without eating, finally I figured out that feeding him late at night, once per day was what was working for him. So that is what we continued to do. It worked, no issues what-so-ever.

Now that I have the pup, he eats twice per day....... see what a little competition for resources does.... lol.....

[Shaina]

A really simple solution can be to add hot water. It works for some dogs We use it in the kennel I work at a lot.