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Among the many questions new and experienced dog owners face is an especially important one. How often should dogs eat? Diet and nutrition are crucial components to keeping your dog a healthy member of the family for years to come.
Though there’s no hard-and-fast rule to how often a dog should eat, twice a day is generally a good place to start. However, more important than feeding frequency is meal portion size. Portion size may vary based on breed, age, and health condition, and settling on the right amount can be tricky.
Dog meal delivery services can make it easy to serve your canine companion delicious, nutritious, and appropriately-portioned meals that even humans can eat. One of these services, Ollie, delivers fresh, human-grade dog food customized for your pup’s unique nutritional needs. Ollie works with vet nutritionists to formulate a perfect plan specifically for your dog based on weight, breed, and allergies. Plus they make it easy for us humans – all of Ollie’s recipes are pre-portioned and your pup will be set up with his/her’s own feeding schedule so you don’t have to worry about overfeeding or underfeeding.
What Affects How Often a Dog Should Eat?
Veterinarians recommend feeding a dog at least twice per day. Dogs with medical issues or dietary needs may require specialized feeding schedules or restrictions on what they eat. Talk to your veterinarian about your dog’s eating habits to make sure you’re meeting their nutritional needs and healthcare requirements.
Breed plays a large role when deciding how often to feed your dog. Common large breed dogs, for instance, will often require more feedings and more calories per day than medium and small breed dogs. Age is also another important consideration. The caloric requirements for a two-month-old Yorkshire Terrier varies greatly compared to a two-year-old Yorkie.
A fresh meal service like Ollie helps change your feeding approach as your dog changes ages from puppy to adult so you don’t have to worry about portions during different life stages.
Since puppies are growing rapidly, they need more food than adult dogs. Puppy nutrition is crucial for developing a foundation for future growth, as well as their bone and organ development. Puppies must have a specific amount of calcium in their diet, otherwise, they can develop metabolic bone disease or orthopedic conditions like early-onset arthritis. Toy-breed puppies, in particular, are prone to hypoglycemia.
Puppies need small, frequent feedings. For the first few months of a puppy’s life, they will need small meals of food throughout the day as they transition from their mother’s milk to solid food. Starting around four months, puppies can begin eating about three times a day, and after that, puppies will quickly graduate to twice-a-day feedings.
Feeding them three or four times per day makes it easier for puppies to digest and help keep energy levels consistent. However, it’s important to not overfeed them, since overweight puppies are more likely to become overweight adult dogs.
Toy-breed puppies will need 4 to 6 meals per day for the first three months of their lives. Medium-breed puppies will require three meals per day, and large-breed puppies typically need 3 to 4 meals per day. Though the breed is an important consideration, metabolism and energy levels can vary by up to 30 percent. Therefore, you’ll need to proportion meals accordingly.
Even though puppies grow quickly, it’s important to keep caloric intake and food amount consistent from four to twelve months of age. Puppies use fewer calories for growth as they become older. This comprehensive puppy feeding chart has vet-recommended guidelines on how much and how often to feed your puppy.
I’ve heard conflicting advice about feeding my dog – once a day, twice a day, just keep the bowl filled. I’m confused! What is a good feeding schedule?
Feeding your dog does not have to be mysterious. By recognizing a few key concepts and attributes of dogs we can create a very reasonable feeding plan for them.
Dogs are creatures of habit. We can use this fact to our advantage by creating a regular feeding schedule and sticking to it.
A regular feeding schedule helps with house training puppies, as well as adult rescue dogs who have not been taught household manners. Puppies generally need to relieve themselves within 10 to 15 minutes of eating a meal. By linking a potty stop with a meal we not only allow ourselves to predict when the pup needs a trip outside, we allow the puppy to learn to associate the urges to urinate and defecate with being in the appropriate location. This is a very important step in the house-training process.
Feeding an adult dog at regular times provides the security and predictability of a routine. Meals become a cornerstone event of the day around which other activities are added. A feeding routine helps your dog cope when there are changes in the household (e.g., a child moves away to college, a new baby arrives, or a vacation during which a house-sitter is in charge).
A feeding routine makes a necessary food change easier. When your dog is used to eating at the same times each day, his body becomes conditioned to expect food at those times. Hunger can be a great motivator! If the stage is set for increased hunger followed by meals at regular times, then transitioning to a new food will often be seamless and straightforward.
Dogs have a simple stomach anatomy, just like humans. Because dogs have a simple stomach structure, once the stomach is filled with food, it will empty within a few hours as food moves into the small intestine. After 8 to 10 hours, an empty stomach begins to send signals to the brain stimulating a hunger response. For this reason, at least two meals per day are best for your dog. Imagine if you only got to eat breakfast each day, and that was it! Regular, routine feeding times allow your dogs body to be prepared for the food it will receive. It is not recommended to keep the bowl filled and allow grazing.
A break in eating habits can be a warning sign of illness. When dogs eat on a regular schedule, that habit becomes strong. It is easy to see at a glance if all the food from a meal is consumed. If food is left, whether all or part of a meal, that is an important signal that something is wrong, and it is time to schedule a veterinary appointment.