# Eating habits



## camfan (Oct 30, 2006)

This about sums up Cam's eating habits. I know puppies are "supposed" to eat 3-4 "meals" per day--but really, they can't fit much in those little bellies, so, for Cam anyway, I serve his food at regular intervals 3-4 times per day and leave it out for a bit and he'll eat some, then come back and have a bit more, etc. I'll take it away when it's been sitting too long and when I want to have at least some gap of time until his next meal so he'll be hungry. Anyway, there's sometimes when I give him his food and he sort of picks at it. Other times he snarfs it down like he's starving and even gags he eats so fast. I'm assuming this is just puppy behavior and he'll be more regulated about it when he's older? In a day he consumes the total amount of what he should be for his weight, etc. Again, I'm dying to have him weighed at his vet visit tomorrow because these past 3 weeks he's definitely filled out--he's looking great. Nice and healthy. His eating is just so sporadic and crazy! Should I be doing anything differently??


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## carrie (Aug 24, 2004)

i can't offer any advice... i don't know about schedule feedings as i free feed. massimo is a grazer. apparently his life is much to busy to take the time to eat a whole meal at once.... 

most people here do feed on a schedule....so they will offer better advice and i can..... i just like to get my 2 cents in.... LOL!!


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## beckybc03 (Jul 6, 2006)

I also free feed Lilly. I only feed her kibble so it doesn't get "old" or anything. When I first got her I thought dogs were supposed to be fed on a schedule because my parents bichon gets fed twice a day but Lilly just didn't seem to scarf down her food or even really eat it fast enough to ever justify taking it away or limiting her intake. I just fill her bowl up when it is empty and let her have her way with it. She is not overweight and my vet actually woiuld like to see her put on some weight so i'm not concerned. As I've seen somewhere else, "some dogs live to eat and some eat to live." Lilly definately falls into the "eats to live category."' If your dog does not overeat I don't see a problem with always havign food available. It won't hurt them. Taking their food up may actually encourage the scarfing activity which I don't think is necessarily good for them. If they don't think that their food will be taken away they have no reason to scarf it down so maybe then they will just eat when they are hungry??


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## Cosy (Feb 9, 2006)

I have multiple dogs so I always free feed. Cosy, however, does only eat twice a day I noticed.

Puppies should always have access to food since they are still growing.


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## Scoobydoo (May 26, 2005)

Scooby was a terrible eater as a puppy and even now we have to help him with some meals, depending on what he has. If it's his Nutro canned wet we have to encourage him to eat it but if it's his boiled chicken he scarfs it down. He gets his kibble in the morning, not a lot though but he does eat about a quarter cup, so he is on two small feeds per day at 3 years and he is 11.8lbs, he is certainly not underweight







He is a bigger boy though, not of the tiny toy build








Koko on the other hand is a tiny little 2.9lbs at 4 months and I give him 4 small feeds of wet kibble per day and he has a bowl of dry to nibble on at all times. I have noticed though lately that he is going to the dry and eating that more and more during the day between feeds so he must get a little hungry or he just enjoys chewing it. I am very pleased with his progress because he eats well and is a very happy little chappy all the time, so full of energy and so very mischievious







One thing I do though is when I feed Koko his main food I keep him in his e-pen so he can eat it in peace, I have seen Scooby snooping around checking to see what he has and I think this also causes Koko to gobble it up for fear of his brother possibly stealing it


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## phesty (May 30, 2006)

When I first got Josie, I asked my vet about free feeding. She said that many Maltese are "grazers" meaning that they will eat a little bit, whenever they like, but won't necessarily eat a whole meal at a time. She said that as long as Josie is not overweight (which she's not) it's no problem to free feed. 

Sometimes, she'll go two days or so before I need to fill her bowl, other times it's more often. I figure it's kind of like skinkids who will go a few days where they hardly eat anything and then open up their hollow leg and devour everything in sight. She'll eat when she's hungry and doesn't when she's not. I also love it because I don't have to worry about remembering specific times to feed her (which would be hard with my erratic schedule).

Just my experience.

Josie says: Yup, I eet wen I wanna and dont wen I dont.


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