Do you believe in starve days?

[cj-sharpy]

Watching Max enjoy his new raw diet is making me (and him) very happy.
But I'm confused. I was raised with dogs and try always had 1 meal a day and 1 starve day a week. Nine were raw fed.

I've never gave Max a starve day when he was in kibble and tinned rubbish but now he's on a raw diet and I've been reading a LOT in raw feeding I'm a bit unsure.
Everyone keeps mentioning how they would eat "in the wild" as in a tiny bit of veg cos that's the stomach contents of prey. Meat bone and organ ratio to mimic eating prey whole. So I guess that a wild dog doesn't eat every day. They often miss meals.
So should I be giving max a starve day? If so do you spread that days food out over the other days or just skip that day all together?

I'm not bothered either way and he'll still be getting training treats everyday, I just want to do what's best for him.


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[twood71]

I do not know myself yet, but I myself have come across this in my reading all info on raw diet.

I seen where it was mention that you just miss 1 day a week, they called it fasting

 

[DennasMom]

I've read a bunch from different people on the issue, and I don't think there have been any scientific studies on 'starve days' for dogs... so, other than the benefits of fasting for the human body (which do have some studies to reference, suggesting they can be good for you), it's all opinions.

I don't see how it could hurt to have a 'fast day' for your dog. But, I'm not convinced there are any real benefits, either.

Denna skips meals randomly, due to our schedules... i.e., if we have an evening out and she's home alone from 4pm-10pm, she skips dinner that night (she gets 2 meals a day). I'll up her meals before and/or after a known skip, but not to cover the difference 100%. I'm always adjusting her portions up and down as her physique warrants, anyway - she forms and loses "padding" seasonally and also based on our exercise routine (which is also pretty random).

I'm sure there are better ways than ours to formulate "the best" meal & diet plan... but, that's just how we operate (we're random!).

 

[musicdeb]

I'm not a fan of "fasting" a pup because if the pup's stomach is used to having food by a particular time of day and they do not receive the food, they tend to throw up bile due to the empty stomach. Why would one want to have their pup experience throwing up bile? JMO.

 

[Smokeycat]

I have never deliberately done a starve day but Kryten occasionally does his own. Every once in a while he will refuse to eat for 24 hours, there's nothing wrong with him but he just won't eat.

 

[musicdeb]

Titan will do the same in the summer due to the heat. It used to freak me out when he would not eat for a whole day but found out it's pretty normal as long as the pup is drinking water, pottying normally and walking/playing normally.

 

[DennasMom]

I'm not a fan of "fasting" a pup because if the pup's stomach is used to having food by a particular time of day and they do not receive the food, they tend to throw up bile due to the empty stomach. Why would one want to have their pup experience throwing up bile? JMO.

This is why we mix up feeding times (although not always on purpose)... Denna only knows it's dinner time when I pick up her bowl to go fill it. No hunger pukes here!

I know some houses are more scheduled than ours - and some pups do very well on a regimented feeding schedule... but that just doesn't fit our lifestyle.

 

[DMikeM]

I never do a starve but I do reduce one meal a week and on the 2 days I have off I feed later in the day and skip the lunch time meal.

Fasting or starve days are best done if you have a dog that will overeat large amounts in one sitting, and or on hot summer days. A dog will often just skip meals when it is very warm or if it had a very large meal the day before. If you stagger feeding times and not feed on a schedule your dog will become used to having an empty stomach and not build up extra acids that may cause retching or throwing up bile. If you were a traveler or camper I could see feeding a high muscle and fat content large meal on one day and just pack out some bone with small amounts of meat on them for the next day or 2.