Diet changes, any tips? I've been a shameless free-feeder for Eddie's whole life. The bowl is always full. And since we got Jack, they both share the same bowl. But suddenly, Jack is on a special prescription diet because of crystals in his urine. Also, I've decided to change Eddie's food because he's been itching and I've read recently where Nutro is just OK. I'm gonna put him on Canidae. My dilemma: How do you get dogs that are used to "grazing" to eat twice a day and leave each other's bowls alone? |
I have that problem with Jaden and Jewelina, I free feed as well and use the Canidae's All Life Stages but try to keep them out of each others bowls so I have an idea as to how much each one has eaten that day. I've done two things that seem to be a little helpful, maybe they'll help you as well. I use different size bowls, Jaden's is much bigger than Jewelina's so they can tell that they are different. I also try to keep their food in a room where I'm at so I can see both of them and if they go to eat from the others bowl I'll pick them up, say no in a firm voice and bring them to their bowl and offer a piece of kibble from there and they kind of get the idea that there supposed to eat from their own bowl. "Supposed to" being the key word here...they still try to sneak a piece from the others, I think it gives them some kind of thrill like they are robbing a bank or something except it's a food bowl :rolleyes: Anyway, the newest thing I've done which seems to be helping the most is, I have Jewelina's bowl on a rubber mat, Jaden hates the feel of it so he won't go on it at all. Jewelina on the other hand could care less so she will. I keep her bowl on there and that keeps him out of her bowl, Jewelina on the other hand is deathly afraid of Jadens squeaky toys for whatever reason :rolleyes: So, I've placed his squeaky toys all around his bowl and she stays away from it. Maybe something similar would work for your boys...you could always get a Moose to stand by Jack's bowl to keep Eddie away :eek: :p |
I've just gone through a similar thing...Miko is on a prescription diet as well, so what I do is...In the morning and in the evening, I take Emma and separately feed her her Merricks so that she gets full and doesn't want to eat Miko's food. And I leave Miko's food out all day for Miko to graze on throughout the day. If she eats a few kibbles of Miko's food, it's no big deal, but she usually doesn't because she gets full on her food. And then in the evenings, I feed her again separately. That way, we don't have to worry about Miko getting into her food, which is the biggest deal, since animal protein can cause him to have seizures...And Emma gets full on her food and doesn't want to eat Miko's food. To clarify... Miko has to eat the prescription food, other food is dangerous to him. Emma can eat Miko's food (it won't harm her) but I don't want her to eat it...I want her to eat her food. So far this is working great! |
I feed both of mine the same food and free-feed as well. My problem is keeping them from getting into the cat's food. Hubby literally screwed the cat's bowl up high in his condo so the dogs can't get to it and theirs is on their 'buffet' wooden holder on the ground. To Alaskayorkies, I don't know the answer either but you could try to feed them in different rooms so they aren't tempted to eat each other's food. Good luck |
Great advice, everybody. Those are some things I haven't tried before. I'll play around and see which works. |
Mike...this is what works for us. I too have been a 'free feeder' for years but since I started feeding raw I don't always leave dry food down for the boyz. I feed them each in a seperate dish first thing in the morning and again at supper time...they are fed across the room from each other and they have to fully 'sit' before getting their meal. They get enough from the raw diet that they don't need the dry kibble so I only put it down if I know we'll be gone past supper time and it's the same brand as their frozen food. They don't eat very many snacks but when they do it's fresh veggies or fresh fruit. We use Nature's Variety frozen raw diet and my boyz are doing quite well on it. |
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