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Free feeding? Free feeding...I want to know the pros and cons. All of my previous dogs would eat when I set the bowl down, but Gizmo is just like "eh, whatever!" I'm thinking him still teething isn't helping this. However, I was thinking about just free feeding him. What do you guys think? |
A lot of dogs will regulate themselves and do fine free feeding. Some will over eat. Worth a try. It's not quite as easy to practice 'nothing in life is free' by feeding this way, but that doesn't apply to all dogs anyway. There could potentially be more pickiness because he knows it's going to be there whenever, so why eat. Should be fine though. |
I free feed all of mine it works for us :) |
I've free fed Princess since day one, whatever the recommended amount was. She only eats a few pieces of kibble at a time & usually in the middle of play.:rolleyes: Sometimes she would run out of food before the night was over & I started trying to give half or so, then the rest later to try to stretch it out. And if she gets any extra's other than a few small treats I'll take some of the food away. |
I think it depends on the dog. My last yorkie was free fed and she would just eat when she was hungry. I could be gone for a day or two & leave food down for her and she'd be fine. ZoE, however, has been highly food-driven from day one and would eat & eat. If I left a couple of days worth of food down for her, she'd eat it all in one go. The upside though is that it's made training her, with treats, extremely easy. Gizmo sounds like he'd do ok with free feeding. You could at least give it a try & see how it goes. It really was alot easier not having to be home by a certain time to feed a pup. |
I free feed mines also. Sparky will eat throughout the day and only a little at a time. So I give him the recommended amount and it will last him all day and have a bit left over. Very rarely do I see an empty food bowl. I do take food away two hours before bedtime. |
We have 4 dogs (2 yorkies, a maltese, and a yellow lab) and we free feed them. We have the 2.5 gallon LeBistro feeder and the 2.5 gallon waterer. They have always had these and will eat periodically throughout the day. We don't actually regulate their food. They still seem to do fine. Our lab is 10 years old and pretty round, but that's not too uncommon for a yellow lab. A 30 lb bag of Nature's Variety lasts us 4 weeks. Not sure how that would equate to the recommended amounts for all the dogs, but I think it's probably about right. Hm, maybe I should measure out a bag to see how many cups are in it and calculate that to see if we are on track. It is very nice with multiple dogs to be able to let them all eat and drink the same thing whenever they want though. I'd go crazy trying to feed them all individually. |
Mine eat home cooked food, so free feeding is out. It probably would not work for us since they are gluttons and would likely become blimps very fast. :) |
I like to see when and how much each of my pups eat. It helps me with potty schedules, giving medications, traveling, just easier and works for us. |
I can't free feed Ziva because the big dog would gobble it up. Ziva has a small appetite and is not always hungry on schedule so it is real problem. If I could free feed I would know how much she eats (1/3 c per day)and I would only leave that much out fresh every day so I could make sure that she ate enough. |
I free feed mine and they do just fine. |
i can't comment on free feeding a yorkie but i free feed my shih tzu and he does very well....it all depends on the dog..i would have never done it with him if he weren't potty trained though.... |
I, like, sort of free feed, I guess... lol. I put 1/2 cup into the bowl and leave it out at all times. But he rarely touches that... he would only eat like every 3 days if I just left dry food out. So he gets two "meals" a day (dry mixed with wet, or whatever else I decide to mix it with) and then he's able to snack if he pleases on his dry food. |
I used to free feed Armani when he was younger, although I would only set down the recommended amount of food for the day and if he finished it he didn't get more, so there was no chance of overeating. But he did pick throughout the day and usually always had some left in his dish at the end of the day. Once, I got Chloe I had to stop free feeding and now they each just get two meals per day. |
I free feed my pup... he only eats when I offer the food to him .. he won't go eat it himself! |
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