Should I feed my overweight dog once a day

How Much Food To Feed My Dog & Feeding Chart By Weight

Giving your furry friend a nutritious, well-balanced diet and not overfeeding or underfeeding are among the most important things you can do for his lifelong health. Well help you determine how much food to give your dog and how many times he should eat each day, as well as any special feeding considerations you need to consider depending on your pups health needs.

Why Is Feeding My Dog The Right Amount So Important?

One of the most frequent questions we see from pup owners is, how much should my dog eat? Knowing how much to feed your dog is crucial for his health. Being overweight or underweight can lead to serious health problems. And this can occur in smaller dogs who are just a few pounds under or over their ideal weight.

Underfed dogs can develop such conditions as chronic lethargy, dehydration, a weakened immune system, severe nutritional deficiencies that affect organ function, and cognitive problems. More common, however, is what experts say has become an epidemic of obesity in pets.

The Association for Pet Obesity Prevention (APOP) reports that over 55% of dogs in the U.S. are overweight or obese.Being overweight can shorten your dogs life and increases the risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, liver or kidney problems, and arthritis.

How Much Should I Feed My Dog?

Unfortunately, theres no straightforward answer to this question. Several important factors affect how much food you should be giving your pup:

• Your dogs life stage (puppy, adult, or senior)
• Type and brand of food
• Your dogs weight
• Activity level
• Your dogs body condition
• Number of meals per day

As you can imagine, it takes a bit of legwork to determine the ideal amount of food your furry friend should consume. Your best resource for nutritional guidance is your dogs regular veterinarian. But you can also follow the steps below to determine how much you should feed your pup.

Dog Feeding Chart By Weight

The best place to start is to follow your dog foods label, which can quickly answer the question, how many cups of food should I feed my dog? These feeding charts vary by type of food, brand, and caloric content of each formula. And be aware that all have their limitations.* Most also give you the daily amount to feed your pup, so youll need to divide that total by the number of meals you give your dog each day. Heres an example of a typical adult dry dog food feeding chart.

*Feeding charts are generalized and geared toward dogs who are at a healthy weight with an average activity level. They also dont take into account any special health concerns your canine companion may have. But there are ways you can further nail down how much to feed your dog after starting with your pups food feeding chart.

Factor In Your Dogs Activity Level

Take the information from your furry friends dog food feeding chart and then consider his overall activity level and daily exercise. This can help you determine whether you should feed him on the lower or upper range of the labels recommended daily amount.

For example, if you have a couch-potato Basset Hound, you likely want to give him a bit less food than the feeding chart recommends. Alternatively, if you have an Australian Shepherd whos a constant ball of energy, youll probably want to feed a little more than the suggested range.

Determine Your Dogs Body Condition Score

Evaluating your dogs current body condition can help tell you if hes too thin, at a healthy weight, or overweight.Then, you can tweak his daily caloric intake (if needed) to help him gain or lose weight. Once your dog has reached his ideal weight, youll need to adjust his portions. If your dog isnt currently at a healthy weight, its best to consult your vet for the most appropriate feeding plan for your canine companion and to check him out for any possible underlying health conditions.

To determine your pups body condition score (BCS), examine his ribs, abdomen, and waistline by sight and touch. If your dogs score is a 4-5, then weigh him to know his ideal weight. If he falls between a 1-3, he likely needs to gain weight, and a 6-9 means he needs to shed some pounds.

Use A Calorie Calculator

An alternative method is to use an online calorie calculator that will factor in your dogs BCS, but these still have some limitations in terms of factoring in your pups activity level and daily exercise.

Dont Forget To Factor In Dog Treats

When determining how much your dog should eat each day, its crucial to factor in the caloric content of any treats, table scraps, or supplements you give him. (FYI, experts advise against feeding your pup table scraps for many reasons.) Some dog treats and health supplements have more calories than you might think, and if you give these to your furry friend regularly, it could lead to weight gain.

If your pup is a huge treat fan, look for healthy, low-calorie options. We recommend Fruitables Skinny Minis or Wellness CORE Jerky Bites. And if your vet has determined you should give your dog a daily joint supplement or another type of supplement for his health needs, youll need to subtract the calories of that from his daily food intake.

How Much To Feed Puppies & Seniors

Senior dogs typically require fewer calories than adults because their activity and metabolism have slowed down. Once your canine buddy has reached his senior years, most vets advise putting him on a dog food formulated specifically for elder dogs. Typically, these formulas have fewer calories and less fat content, which are appropriate for their slowing activity and metabolism.

Puppies are in an entirely different category when it comes to feeding needs. Its extremely important to follow feeding guidelines for your puppy because these requirements change every few weeks or months as he grows quickly. See our in-depth puppy feeding guide for a detailed puppy feeding chart by weight/age and much more.

How Often Should I Feed My Dog?

Ideally, most adult dogs should eat at least two meals per day, approximately 12 hours apart. Likewise, three meals spread out equally during the day is another excellent option. If your dogs breed is at a higher risk for canine bloat, its recommended to feed smaller, more frequent meals.

When you feed your pup is entirely up to your daily schedule, but its important to set up regular feeding times and stick with them. Dogs thrive on routine, so theyll be most content with meals served around the same time each day.

Your Best Dog Food Options

Are you considering switching to a different dog food? If you havent settled on a new diet, we encourage you to see our various dog food reviews. Weve researched hundreds of types, brands, and formulas to help you narrow down your options. See ourrecommended foodsfor any age, diet type, and health concern, thebest dog food delivery servicesfor puppies and adult dogs, and our top picks for fresh dog food.

The Pros And Cons Of Feeding Your Dog Once A Day

The most common feeding schedule for adult dogs is one or two meals daily. I recommend that most people feed their dogs twice a day. But feeding your dog once a day can work well in some circumstances.

The best feeding schedule for your individual dog will depend partly on the type of food you give them. And my advice is based on my own forty years experience of feeding both kibble and raw, to dozens of different dogs.You can check out what I feed my own dogs each day in this article

Considerations

Is it cruel to feed a dog once a day?

The short answer is no. Traditionally almost all adult dogs were fed once a day. This was the norm when I was a kid. The rationale behind this schedule is that dogs are carnivores, and it is natural for them to eat a large amount of food in one go, and then fast for many hours, before eating again.

In those days most dogs were fed on a mixture of canned (wet) dog food, and dog biscuits together with scraps leftover from human meals.

However, most modern dogs are fed on kibble. And with dry food, feeding once a day has some disadvantages. Lets dig into those, and help you decide how often to feed your dog.

Natural feeding patterns

Its true that your dog is genetically almost identical to the wolves from which they descend. Wild wolves or other dog species hunting in groups may bring down a large prey animal, and feast on it. Then not eat for a day or two.

Its also true that dogs have been catching much smaller prey and scavenging from humans for thousands of years, and have adapted well to eating smaller and more frequent meals.

Pros and cons large vs smaller meals

Feeding once a day is convenient. And with a raw diet, it can be safe and satisfactory for most medium to large dogs

The natural diet of a dog, raw meaty bones, organs, eggs, and even invertebrates such as worms and beetles, are all processed very quickly by a dogs digestive system. Its designed perfectly for the job. And because there are no fillers or carbs in this food, it isnt very bulky. Everything is digested with little waste.

With kibble, feeding once a day only, can be problematic for some dogs. Its all to do with the portion size. And of course once daily meals are twice as big as twice daily meals.

Big dogs

It can be risky to feed a large or deep chested dog their whole days ration of kibble in one hit. Thats because these types of dog are more prone to suffering from bloat.

When we feed our dogs on kibble, we are asking the dogs digestion to take on a task that it isnt quite designed for. Along with the protein, fat and minerals that your dog needs, are a lot of bulky fillers.

While the food looks and feels light and compact when you pour it into the bowl, at that point it is completely dehydrated. It starts to swell up inside your dog as soon as they start to drink.

Its worth thinking about what happens to the bowl of kibble your dog just ate, when they head over to their water dish. Try dropping a few pieces into a glass of water to see how much they expand!

Your dog needs that water so dont ration it. But be aware that they can end up with a lot of heavy food sitting in their stomach, and this may increase their risk of suffering from bloat.

Little dogs

Small dogs often need a minimum of two meals per day, in order to feel well. My own Jack Russell terrier will often vomit if she misses her breakfast, and this is quite common in little dogs.

Some small dogs also find it hard to consume enough in one sitting to keep their weight up. So feeding twice a day may be necessary for many dogs weighing much less than around 20lbs.

This rule applies with both raw food and kibble.

Puppies

All puppies need feeding more frequently than adult dogs.

Most kibble fed puppies need at least four meals a day until they are three months old, then three meals a day until six months.

Some raw fed puppies can drop a portion a bit sooner.

Food should be fun

Aside from the health and safety issues around eating kibble, food is a source of great pleasure in our lives, and dogs feel the same way. They enjoy their meals. And look forward to the next one.

Most dogs eat kibble quite fast. Its unusual for a dog to take more than five minutes over their meal. And twenty four hours is a long time for a kibble fed dog to go between meals, especially when the last meal was over so quickly!

Raw meaty bones take a lot of time to consume, and can keep a dog occupied happily for half an hour or more. But even so I think there is a lot of pleasure to be gained if this experience happens twice in each day rather than once.

Which is best? One meal or two?

Your adult dog will most likely thrive whether you divide their daily ration into one meal or two. However, if your dog is large or deep chested, and fed on kibble, I recommend you feed twice daily, dividing that ration into a morning and evening feed.

Obviously, twice daily meals doesnt mean twice the quantity. You feed the same daily ration but divide it into smaller portions

I do think it means twice the fun though!

And while once daily feeding is suitable for all but the smallest raw fed dogs, I feed all my dogs raw, and, twice daily

Let me know what you decide to do!

Im always interested to hear from readers about how they feed their dogs, so do drop a comment in the box below!

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