Yorkie Feeding 2x or 3x????
 

Hello All,
I have a 4 1/2 month male puppy. He gets fed a mix of merrick puppy wet food with Wellness puppy dry. I crush the dry into the wet food. He gets this 2x then at night I give him some wellness dry kibble w/o crushing them but no wet food. He eats some but not all. Some questions here.

1. My previous yorkie just ate science diet dry his whole life but the new puppy seems only to like mostly the wet mixtures. Is it ok then for him to eat this going forward? I've been doing some research online as to what is preferred but can't really find a major difference between wet anddry other than the dry being better for their teeth.

2. When can I cut down the feeding to 2x a day (but of course feed more during each time)?

I'm not happy about him not liking the dry kibble as much as the wet food mixture.

Thanks in advance for your input.

I feed one of my pups primarily kibble (with some toppers mixed in) and the other one all wet food. Toki gets all wet food and by far has better teeth than Teddy. When I go to brush her teeth, she doesn't have any tarter build-up and her teeth are bright white. Teddy on the other hand (the pup that eats kibble) has more issues with his teeth...even with regular brushing, he has more build-up that I have trouble cleaning and I can tell that we will still need to take him in for dentals in the future. I think a lot of it is genetics and not necessarily the diet. One of the obvious major differences I've found with wet and dry food is the cost. I also feel like the wet food is easier to digest and better for urinary tract health...I like to add a small amount of warm water to Teddy's kibble since he doesn't get as much wet food as Toki.

If you would rather just feed kibble, don't offer the wet food. You might have to wait your pup out but can also try adding hot water to the kibble or a teeny amount of Parmesan cheese to make the kibble more aromatic and enticing without the canned type.

I probably started feeding Toki 2x a day when she was around 5 months...I don't remember exactly her age but she was a pretty healthy/stable weight and had no hypoglycemic issues...she stopped showing interest in eating 3x a day so I just switched over to one meal in the AM and one in the PM...no problems with that.

I started feeding Oscar just twice a day when he was 6 months old..

Thanks for your feedback tokipoki and wanda & oscar. I think I am close to that point. My boy will be 5 months on the 16th of July and he seems to not be interested in a 3rd meal. I'll also try the dry kibble with warm/hot water and see how he does now. He is healthy and has no glycemic issues either.

I started going to 2x a day around 6-8mths old.

Mine eat twice daily but will get small snacks/treats throughout the day from 12 weeks on.

Bentley has been 2 meals a day since about 16 weeks.

For those of you feeding twice a day how many hours do you go between the two feedings? Right now I am free feeding but would like to begin schedule feeding. Want her first meal to be around 8am, but not sure when to give her second. Thanks.

I usually feed a second time around 5 pm but they start getting a little antsy around 4:30ish. They know it's getting close to dinner time :D

Thanks. That's about the time I was thinking. Right now she eats twice a day on her own, but doesn't eat her first meal until around 12 or later which means she's not eating her second meal until close to 8pm. I just want to get her on a better schedule.

Bentley gets fed in the morning anytime between 6am and 8am, depending on when he gets up. It's usually closer to 6am, but on weekends it tends to be closer to 8am (we let him out, he does his thing, then we tether him in the kitchen and go back to bed until 8am). He then gets fed between 5pm and 6pm, usually dependent on when he gets fed in the morning; the earlier we feed him in the morning the earlier we feed him in the afternoon

I don't think there is a set number of times to feed but if the pup is very small don't let him go too long without food.

He is still very young, I would be feeding him 3x.

My dog only gets wet food. It's not as convenient as dry but it works for her. The whole teeth cleaning affects of dry food is questionable.

I never was able to convince Max to give up lunch. We still feed 3x a day: 6 am, 11 am, 4 pm.

Max chose those times. Whatever works best for your dog.