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How many times a day do you feed?

Boxergirl

Boxergirl

Well-Known Member
There's quite a bit of information that suggests feeding twice a day is better for preventing bloat. Smaller meals, discouraging eating too fast, and limiting water intake, as well as exercise before and after eating, is also recommended. I've always had dogs that are a bloat risk and these guidelines have been recommended to me by every breeder I've gotten a dog from as well as my vets. I choose to feed twice a day to lower any risk.
 
BlackShadowCaneCorso

BlackShadowCaneCorso

Super Moderator
Staff member
I have read the same info, putting too much food into a gut that hasn't been active in close to 24 hours can be dangerous. We also have to work so not having so much waste that needs process at one time works better. We also water the food down to pre-soak it all in advance, we don't use raised dishes but know that some people opted to that as well. For my dogs who get a fair chunk of food to maintain weight at a minimum and in some cases hopefully to add a bit putting 4-6 cups of food in a gut all at once just makes me nervous.
 
Hector

Hector

Well-Known Member
xcrazydx said:
There's a decent amount of info out there about this. All we really have to do is use some common sense, though.
Click to expand...

Still not correct to state that people feeding their dogs 1x a day is the worst idea out there. My dog only eats 2 cups a day. If I fed 6 cups a day, yeah maybe that's something I would consider splitting into 2 meals.

What about people that fast their dogs?
 
X

xcrazydx

Banned
Hector said:
Still not correct to state that people feeding their dogs 1x a day is the worst idea out there. My dog only eats 2 cups a day. If I fed 6 cups a day, yeah maybe that's something I would consider splitting into 2 meals.

What about people that fast their dogs?
Click to expand...
The amount of food fed is relative to size. Use your head
 
Hector

Hector

Well-Known Member
xcrazydx said:
The amount of food fed is relative to size. Use your head
Click to expand...

I feed my 85 lb shepherd mix 2 cups a day, but he was losing weight so I upped it to 3 cups a day, so for me, weight is irrelevant to how much food is fed - body condition determines that.
 
Hector

Hector

Well-Known Member
xcrazydx said:
You've missed the point entirely.
Click to expand...

I'm just saying there's nothing wrong with feeding a dog 1x a day nor am I disagreeing with feeding them multiple times a day.

I honestly believe if a dog is going to bloat, its going to bloat no matter what - can't change genetics - even bunnies can bloat and that's what mine died of (off topic I know).
 
Liz_M

Liz_M

Well-Known Member
I grew up with working Border collies (we had hundreds of sheep and those dogs were pets but also worked hard) and we fed once a day, everyone did back then. I did until I got my first Rottweiler in the mid-80s and learned about bloat then went to 2x a day.

Thirty-40 years ago there weren't many treats on the market, the concept of "dog treats" was pretty strange. Now there are entire aisles of them in pet stores. And obesity and diabetes is rampant with pet dogs and cats and probably leads to more death and disability than GDV. For large bloat-prone breeds there seems to be plenty of evidence that smaller, more frequent meals may help prevent it and I will always feed my dogs 2x per day now, but I don't see feeding once a day as a bad thing.

As an aside, the only dog I've ever known personally to die from GDV was a Great Dane who was fed twice a day from a raised dish. Owned by a good friend of mine. And someone else I know had a bloodhound who had his stomach tacked after several scary episodes - and then died anyway. So maybe Hector is right that if it's gonna happen, it's gonna happen. In the meantime I will take whatever steps seem sensible to prevent it, though.
 
Hector

Hector

Well-Known Member
One can read the internet, talk to your vet, talk to people whose lost dogs to bloat, read studies, do all the right things and still lose a dog to bloat. I've read through 30 pages of threads on the german shepherd forum and there were bloat deaths from all scenarios: puppies, old dogs, sick dogs, dogs that showed no bloat symptoms, high driven working dogs, mellow slow eating dogs, dogs that ate on the ground, dogs that ate on elevated dishes, dogs that exercised and drank water, dogs that didn't exercise nor allowed to drink before after meals, dogs on empty stomachs, dogs that ate 10 mins later, dogs in the middle of the night, dogs that were fed 1x, 2x, 3-4x a day, dogs with high anxiety, dogs that ate raw, dogs that ate wet and dry food, dogs that had human food, dogs that lost a family member, and the list goes on and on.

Just do what you think is right for your dog and when the time comes make sure to know the symptoms of bloat + what "normal" is for your dog and make sure to have gas-x (simethecone) on hand and get to a vet asap. Prompt vet care and gastroplexy seems to be the only things that really increased a dog's chance of survival, but even with that - there are no guarantees.
 
Hector

Hector

Well-Known Member
One can read the internet, talk to your vet, talk to people who have lost dogs to bloat, read all the studies, memorize the hell out of the do's and don'ts, do all the right things and still lose a dog to bloat. I've read through 30 pages of threads on the german shepherd forum and there were bloat deaths from all scenarios: puppies, old dogs, sick dogs, dogs that showed no bloat symptoms, high driven working dogs, mellow slow eating dogs, dogs that ate on the ground, dogs that ate on elevated dishes, dogs that exercised and drank water, dogs that didn't exercise nor allowed to drink before after meals, dogs on empty stomachs, dogs that ate 10 mins later, dogs in the middle of the night, dogs that were fed 1x, 2x, 3-4x a day, dogs with high anxiety, dogs that ate raw, dogs that ate wet and dry food, dogs that had human food, dogs that lost a family member, and the list goes on and on.<br><br>Just do what you think is right for your dog and when the time comes make sure to know the symptoms of bloat + what "normal" is for your dog and make sure to have gas-x (simethecone) on hand and get to a vet asap. Prompt vet care and gastroplexy seems to be the only things that really increased a dog's chance of survival, but even with that - there are no guarantees.<br><br><br>
 
babyjoemurphy

babyjoemurphy

Well-Known Member
I lost a GSD X dog and it was horrible.
I do believe we can all take precautions but it's no garantee. Just love them, do what you feel is best and enjoy every day
I have read so much on bloat and there is just so much mixed info it makes it hard to listen to it all

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Liz_M

Liz_M

Well-Known Member
Google "bloat kit" and you'll find lots of ideas for putting one together, or buying one. I had one for years after a GDV scare (that turned out not to be bloat, and I never used it but raced to the vet because luckily it was daytime and they were 10 minutes away.) I don't have the kit any more but I do have Gas-x in my pet emergency toolbox. My friend who lost her Dane; she was rural and it happened in January in the middle of the night when roads were awful here in Michigan. He died on the way to the vet. I can't imagine how bad that would be (and babyjoemurphy I'm so sorry you had to deal with that.)
 
Nik

Nik

Well-Known Member
I feed my 7 month old twice a day. That seems to be a good balance for him at this age.

When he was younger we fed more times a day.
 
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