When Do I Stop Free Feeding Miles? He is 8 Mos. Old. Currently, I feed him Wellness Puppy soft food, about 2 tblspns, and Taste of the Wild Pacific Stream dry puppy food. Of course, he manages to gobble up the soft food immediately even though I mix it well with the dry food and nibbles on the dry food throughout the day. He gets treats for good potty etiquette and anything else he does well. I have been offsetting the Wellness Puppy treats with veggies and now a bit of fruit (no grapes and raisins of course) because I don't want a pudgy puppy nor do I want poop on my ceiling because I've stopped giving him treats. Miles also gets a teeny greenie treat once a day for his teeth. I like the idea of giving him raw fruits and veggies and he LOVES them, gobbles those up as well. I will appreciate any advice / experiences you can provide. |
I would not leave the dry food out all day if it has been mixed with the wet food. It's fine to leave dry food out all day if it hasn't been mixed with wet food, water, or any other liquid though. |
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I think at 8 months you can stop free feeding unless you feel like he doesn't eat enough at meal time. Georgie has a schedule of meals in the morning and evening. Albeit a loose schedule because he likes sleeping in and we are here to serve him LOL. We have been doing that since he was a puppy. |
I would be concerned with the food spoiling. As for taking in too many calories, you would have to be the judge of that based on whether he is maintaining good weight or gaining weight. If he's gaining weight, then you would want to cut back his portions. I free feed all my dogs, and always have, but they are used to it and do just fine. Not all dogs do well free feeding though. Most people discourage free feeding. You might be better off feeding 3 smaller meals per day. Or, if you're going to leave food down all day, only leave down the correct amount for his daily total recommended feeding amount. That way you can still regulate his intake. |
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If its just dry I leave some out for Callie all day because she is a picker but I would not leave a dry food wet food mix out to long or it gets icky. I also would not use greenies there has been some problems with those in the past about blockages and such. |
Some people free feed all of the time, but this is only for kibble. Kibble was made to be tasty enough to eat, but not so tasty that it will tempt them to overeat. This isn’t true with canned foods and fresh meat, most dogs would eat until he vomited and then would eat that. Once a dog is 4 lbs. and the danger of hypoglycemia is lessoned, you can have scheduled feedings. We do three feedings instead of the normal two, I've found it works better for them. |
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I don't think I ever free fed Sasha except when she was going through her extremely picky stage and wouldn't eat anything. Even when she was a puppy, I fed her 4 scheduled meals a day, left it down for 15 minutes and whatever she didn't eat I would pick up. Once she started getting older, I was able to decrease it down to 3 meals and eventually to 2 which is what I now feed her. |
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