Free Feeding?!?
 

I feed my dogs canned food 2 times a day and I've always kept a bowl of dry food out to snack on. My dogs would occasionally go by and grab a bite or late at night, it would be a snack as a last resort when I wouldn't give them any more treats...but I was never filling the bowl more than 2 or 3 times a week. The dry food was Royal Canine Yorkie.

A few weeks ago, I switched the boys over to Wellness Core Small breed and they really seem to like the food. I was actually pretty surprised at how much they really liked it. Almost every morning now, the bowl is empty. I am glad they like the food, but I am wondering if I should be leaving a bowl out for them to munch on like that. I can't really tell which one is eating what, and on top of that...it's possible that the cat could be eating the food herself. She LOVES dog food and prefers it over her kitty food.

Do other people free feed their dogs here?? Is there a reason I should or should not leave dry food out all of the time??

When Galen was younger I free fed him. Now he is 9 months and that I am potty training him I feed him twice a day

I would be concerned they are getting too much food, do you weight them? To eat twice a day canned and then also bowls of kibble seems excessive. You're right though, cats seem to love dog food and visa versa.

Hannah just turned 8 mos. old and I feed RC can morning and evening and she gets RC kibble all day. I tried Wellness dry and none of my animals liked it. I still have Blue dry that I'm mixing with RC til the Blue is gone cause my girl doesn't care for it either. I weigh Hannah all the time and she has been sticking close to 4 lbs. for the last 2 mos. She really doesn't scarff on dry unless I hand feed her. I'm no expert on feeding Yorkies but mine is going to eat well until she gets a little older and/or starts gaining too much weight. Oh and on the RC can I give her about 3-4 tablespoons each feeding. She acts like she wants more but I'm really not sure that she needs more than that.

I don't free feed because of Scarlett's weight issues. But now having a puppy in the house again, I do try to keep a little dry out all the time, plus regular meal times.

I give Lola a spoonful of wet food 2x a day, a can lasts 5 days. She also get 1 special treat a night from my mom and a few small treats for training.

She has dry food 24/7, she probably eats 1/4 cup a day.

She's 21 weeks and about 4lbs.

My other dogs had dry all the time and some wet for dinner plus treats.

I'd just keep an eye on the weight of all 3 and make sure you're cat's food is being eaten. Or you could reduce the amount of wet food.

I hand feed Callie twice a day but she never even eats 1/4 a cup when I hand feed her so I leave some in the bowl all the time and she will pick at it when we play. Some dogs monitor themselves and some don't.

I agree with Nancy, it does sound like a lot of food. Wet food is more filling/ fatty I think compared to dry.

Since you are feeding Wellness you should look on the back of the food to see what the “recommend” amount of food is for your dogs, weight, age and activity level. Give or take, that is how much one dog should be getting.

I think it is great they love the food!! If you wanted you can add a little ( like a teaspoon, very small amount) wet food on the top for one serving. I personally don’t use wet food. I will boil a chicken breast and use that as a topper during the week. Peanut only gets dry food.

I tried to schedule feed, however sometimes Peanut didn’t eat and I felt terrible taking it away. Then he would get low blood sugar and start shaking.. etc it was a mess. Canine Caviar ( is what he is on) recommends for his age, size activity level ¼ of a cup a day. So I give him 1/8 in the morning and then a 1/8 in the evening, when I get home from work.

He will usually eat both servings, sometimes I can tell he is still a little hungry, I will add a couple more kibble’s in his bowl and he will pick at it. Splitting up his daily amount really helps. I always know how much he has had because I know how much I put in his bowl- it is really helpful.

I think it is important you know what your dog will eat.. at least how much. I know sometimes ( Peanut) will eat a little more, and sometimes he will eat a little less, but I know how much is his average.

I think in your case it may be a little harder.. since you have 2 and a theft for a kitty LOL!! However I think it can be done. First figure out how much food Wellness recommends, start with that to see how much they eat, you can try to split it like I do. Maybe in the morning give them the amount, top it off with a little wet food.. if they eat it great- it they leave some depending on how much they leave I would maybe take it up and offer it to them mid day. Then repeat in the evening..

Once you know how much they should and will eat it is really easy to feed the correct amount.

I find that dogs who are free fed either are super picky and barely eat (because they know food is always available) or are just hounds and eat WAY too much lol.

I don't really like it. I know it works for some dogs. But I prefer to know exactly how much he is eating and when. I can also this way know if he likes a particular food or doesn't, or if he's not feeling well (it's not normal for him not to eat, etc) and just have him on a good schedule.

Sometimes, I sort of free-feed in a way... because sometimes at breakfast time, I will 1/4 cup of kibble into his bowl and sometimes he wants to eat in the AM and sometimes he doesn't until noon or so. But it's still a certain amount just for him. Then at dinner, he gets a bit of wet food or something else mixed in with the dry.

Exactly. I personally think it is so Important to know how much your dog eats, how much he can eat, and how much he “wants” to eat. I think it is great also because if I had to tell the Vet how much Peanut ate that day, I would be able to tell him by looking in his bowl!

Brit we pretty much feed the same way- and I find that it works great. We can’t schedule feed and I don’t want to free feed so I think what we do is perfectly in the middle!! :thumbup:

You can still measure the amount of food if you free feed. I really like free feeding, Joey wasn't a foodie when I free feed, but I had to start scheduling feeding if I wanted to train him using food. They have to be hungry to do this. In some ways I'm sorry I did it. He had no problem with his weight when I was free feeding, but after the trick training class, he has t watch his weight. I definitely think it's wise to free feed a puppy though.

I agree free feeding puppies. To an extent- Obviously you still have to measure how much you are giving them. In the end it comes down to measuring the right amount to give your dog.. In a sense I guess I free feed Peanut.

You measure because you want to know how much they are eating, not because you are limiting their food. Puppies often grow in spurts eating way more some days than others and they have no fat reserves that's why free feeding is so important and unlike nutri-cal and other sugar products, food available 24/7 actually prevents hypokalemia, while Nutrical should be used to "treat" hypoglycemia, not prevent it. They say that if you feed a nutritious high quality kibble the pup won't over eat. This isn't true for older dogs who have had kibble restriction.

Well Peanut isn't a hog, he always had food down as a puppy and he wasn't a hog then either. LOL He is my little kitty, he is a graceful eater.. and some days he is anorexic.

It is a lot easier also to measure free feed one dog then two.

My two are little piggies.

So true! I think this is one of the major reasons people have trouble with free feeding.

I just have my little monkey so my version of free feeding works good for us except when Sammy comes over then they both turn to little piggies I guess because they are running around and playing the whole time.

Galen is the same way. Some days it takes everything to get him to eat his food. I just got the Open Sky and started mixing it with the Lamb and Millet. I hope he will like it better.

Aw I hope so too!! Peanut loves the Open Sky. Sometimes I would much rather have a hog than a dog that sometimes doesn't eat until I get home from work!! I mean since I've had Peanut on the Open Sky it doesn't happen as much.. not really at all. However sometimes he still won’t eat. I think he does it on purpose to be honest LOL He puts on his little food strike and then I bring out the yummy shredded cheese and yogurt!

I do this. I feed twice a day & leave the leftovers for them to nibble on. I have 3 Yorkies & a Lab. The Yorkie's food is in an area gated away from the Lab. I found out the hard way that if I don't gate my kitchen/dining room off, my Lab will eat the little one's food. All of mine are a pretty good judge of how much food they need, even the puppy. Thankfully, they don't overeat & they're not food aggressive. I would prefer not to free feed. But I have one super duper finicky pup who only eats on his own terms & schedule - no matter what I do. So I like to leave food out for him for whenever he decides he's in the mood to eat.

Callie is very much like that she absolutely will not eat before 12 and if she doesn't want to it is not happening.

For those who have more than one dog, has anyone been successful in training each dog to eat out of their respective bowls??

Ricky's bowl is elevated because he has such long legs, so he and Princeton should easily be able to tell who's bowl belongs to who...but keeping them out of each other's dish is always a challenge. Even if/when they have the same thing, the food in the "other" bowl always looks better!! LOL!!

I have a problem with my little guy being a slow eater. I have to watch to make sure Princeton doesn't eat his food.


When I do free feed my dogs the dry food, I only put 1/8 cup of food in the bowl. I know what goes in there and I don't overfill it or anything...but recently, I've had to put 2 bowls out, because one starts snacking and the other wants to eat too.

I wish I could get my boys to just eat the dry!!

I only have one dog but my mom has a rescue Yorkie that comes over at least once a week and Callie's nice bowl set it in the kitchen/dinning room but she never really eats out of it just drinks so I have a small dish in the living room where Callie likes to eat and I put a little food in each on days when Sammy is coming over but they will still want to eat out of the same dish one will almost line up behind the other waiting for them to finish then the switch places it really cracks me up.

Question for those of you that free feed..how long does the dry food last ? I keep Charlie's bowl full at all times, about 2 handfuls. Sometimes he eats all of it in 1 day, sometimes even more. But there are days when he doesn't finish it off (too many treats hahaha). Is it ok to leave it overnight, or should just toss it and give him fresh dry food every day ? (I hate the idea of throwing away food, but I want to make sure he's getting nothing but healthy tasty food !)

I free feed my two little guys but not my big dogs. I give my little guys 1/4 cup dry 3-4 times a day, I keep feeling my stocky boy to make sure he is not overeating, but since my other one is skinny. I try to keep food out for him. My big dogs get feed twice a day and eat out of seperate bowls. They ave trained to only eat out of their bowls or my lab would over eat. It took a few months to train them. I used to stand over them when eating and if my lab tried to go towards my Aussie's food I would say "ah-ah" and redirect her until the Aussie finished. They need to be feed in the exact same place while training. Now after 12 years I can feed them anywhere and my lab knows to eat out of only the bowl I front of her.

Heidi free feeds and she does great that way. When she's full, she moves on to her next project. (Holding down the dog bed.) She is the only dog though, and no cats so its easy to monitor her food.

I will be free feeding.

I give chester some food when I leave for work, and because I work at the hospital I may end up being late so he has food available and he gets some wet food at nite when I get home

I free feed. My female grazes. If the bowl gets empty she will stand and bark until I put more in it. Guess you could call that spoiled? As long as she's not over weight I don't see a problem. ;)