Posted: Wed May 10, 2006 7:25 am Post subject: When to go to One Meal a Day ?? Please Help.
Hi
Harry is just over 10 months old. He has lost all interest in his morning feed. We leave it down for 20 minutes but he only eats a little bit. When it comes to his evening feed he is the opposite - he normally woofs ot down.
When is the right time to change food and meal times.
Currenlt he is on BETA Puppy / Junior and is fed at 8:30am and 5:30pm
Also, when is the correct time to change to BETA Adult feed??
I am also keeping Majic on 2 feeds a day don't think she would forgive me if I cut her down to 2
When they get to about a year old you can cut them down to 1 a day.
Not sure if you realise but Beta food is tested on animals not that I am saying you should change but on my thread somebody posted and had no clue and has since dumped the Beta for a BUAV food.
Ultimately it is your choice what food you feed your lab, just that some people are not aware
max is 21 months and still has 2 meals a day.
by the time we get back from his first walkies hes normally ready for his brekkie. so he gets a small amount of kibble and his bonio.
dinner time is around 5pm and then he has a few biccys before he goes to bed.
hes been on the adult beta since he was about 6 months.
he will sometimes refuse his breakfast (not often )
i know beta is one of the frowned upon foods but it suits him so i will stick with it.
Hi.
I think many dogs do self regulate when they eat. My Lab Cadbury( 18months) is always hungry!! So i have kept to two meals a day as he looks forward so much to his meals.
However his sister Sasha ( that my friend has) was very much like your dog and at about that age went off morning feeds totally - she is on one meal aday and is very content with that.
It really is what suits your Lab I think. I am sure it is better that they eat one good meal aday rather than becoming picky over food.
So basically - one or two meals is up to the individual dog.
But, he could go onto adult BETA at any time as he is now just over 10 months old.
Thanks for the advice on the BETA being tested on Animals - I didn't know that !!! We are gonna stick with it as he likes it and..... we only live 300 yards from the purina food factory !!!! Nudge Nudge, Wink Wink !!!
Dogs are an opportunist feeder and in the wild would feed when they find food, whether that was 4 times a day or once in 3 days! In the old days the normal regime was to feed 4 meals to 12 weeks, 3 to 6 months, 2 to a year then 1 thereafter. But awareness of Gastric Torsion has tended to make people feed smaller meals but twice a day rather than once. The lighter loading on the stomach really does help, although saying that, Labradors are not regarded as a high "At Risk" breed.
My feelings are that a dog does not decide, "I think I only want one meal a day." as much as that it is simply not hungry by the time of the morning feed. Personally I would just reduce the size of the evening feed.
As to changing to adult food. I'm not a lover of puppy foods and change all my puppies by 6 months at the latest. Lets face it, there is no puppy food in the wild, and I personally blame it at least in part for the growth in cases of OCD, and for increasing the severity of HD. Puppies growing faster then their bones can manage.
As a little aside from that, I was reading in today’s paper about that 4 year old boy who is running 40 miles a day! Apart from the fact that I can't help thinking their miles must be shorter than ours, I wonder how long his hips will take it for?
Cassie is on BETA as well and as most know she is a fussy mare...she is on 2 feeds a day shes 17 months old i dont think either of us could take the stress of trying to change her again lol
I had changed Leo over to adult food by 6 months.
He's still only on 2 meals per day.
Although my OH's dog is only on one meal a day because it always refuses to eat any breakfast. After a while they were getting fed up of left-over food in his bowl so cut him down to only 1 meal per day in the evening. He now eats all his dinner.
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