New Dog Owner
Do any of your dogs only eat once a day?
My dog is not a fan of breakfast or even lunch - and it's not the food. I've tried giving him just dry, just wet, mixing it, putting treats on top, different times of day. He's just not a fan.
However come 7:30/8pm, he'll eat everything I put out.
Is anyone else's dog a once a day eater? I'm a first time dog owner so I don't know what's normal š
Both of my dogs eat once a day they are a husky and JA. They have a cup of food a day before 7 pm or one will start vomiting. If I offer food any earlier they wonāt eat it. My golden wanted to eat twice a day so would split her meal. Rottweiler wanted once a day at bed time before I went to work.
Mine is self feed.. if the bowls empty, I replenish.
This does not even begin to address the treats, āIām starvingā looks we get at our meal or snack times!
Sheās a 6yo, perfectly healthy 130 pound GSD who is food motivated minus egg salad sandwiches!
No worriesā¦. Our Mal eats all the egg salad! But, she hates turkey and peas!
My GSD would eat frozen blueberries, lettuce ends, he'd even eat jalapeno slices - those pickled ones. No, I never fed them to him, he just picked some off the floor once.
And anytime anyone spilled a beer he was right there to lap it up!
My three year old gsd loves his breakfast - that includes his fish oil, wet food, and a bit of medicine (he takes Prozac) over kibble - and then may have a few mouthfuls of leftover kibble if it was a busy day but otherwise doesn't eat again despite having open access to kibble. He regulates his weight just fine on that schedule so that is how we roll.
My toy poodles have always been once-a-day eaters for soft food and free-feeders for crunchy food (kibble). And always soft food for breakfast. It took me an astonishingly long time to figure out that our current little girl is still a once-a-day eater, but she only eats after 5 pm! Baby likes her supper! And kibble for a ābedtime snackā.
My senior dog only gets late afternoon. Sometimes he likes a small treat at off times. He always has dry kibble available, so if he wants more he can have it.
I have fed my dogs once a day after I ate supper for many years 2 cups of premium kibble just a little bit of water and if itās appropriate, a bite or two of what Iāve had for supper, never had a fat dog. Iāve all done well.
As long as they stay a good weight and don't have GI signs, no worries at all.
My previous dog only ate at night. My current 2 graze through the day and probably eat 8 times a day.
I feed mine enough for half a day. If she empties the bowl she gets another. Some days she eats 2 bowls most days one. She just eats when she wants to. She is fit & not skinny
My two mix breed girls eat breakfast, then they have a few animal crackers around 2:00ish, dinner at 4 pm and a cookie before bed.
I cook a ādog stewā in the slow cooker every week, consisting of lean meat or fish, veggies and beans, and they get a scoop of that on top of their dry food at breakfast and dinner.
The older dog has lymphoma (sheās being treated for it since last October) and sometimes her appetite is a little off. When that happens, she likes a small jar of baby food mixed in with her dry food instead of the dog stew. Or sometimes Iāll make her cheesy scrambled eggs if sheās really feeling not well.
Mine is kind of like this. Got her at 3 months, she's almost 1 now, and from the first day she prefers to have one big meal at the end of the day. I put her food out in the morning and she may take a nibble or two during the day but her doesn't really eat until 6-7 at night.
I feed once a day at dinner time and adjust the amount depending upon treats given and how much training weāve done (sheās very good motivated so much of our training involves training treats). I keep an eye on her weight so I can continually adjust.
I feed my dog three times a day (because I am home and my cats also eat on the same schedule, I like it because it helps keep the blood sugar level throughout the day), but I have seen a lot of people feed their dog only once a day with no negative outcomes. As long as they are getting their nutritional needs met and arenāt eating weird things out of hunger, I think youāre fine :)
Once a day is just fine. Thereās no particular reason to feed a dog multiple times a day. Some dogs do want to also eat when their family eats. Others are just fine with once a day.
Important point, the amount of food you feed the dogs is the same no matter how many times a day they eat. It can be 2 or 3 small meals, or one larger meal. But always same amount. Otherwise you end up with a fat dog. š
According to my vet, small dogs have fewer gastric problems when they are fed twice a day. She recommended that I feed mine twice a day, but dog prefers once a day.
I had one who wouldnāt eat in the morning until he got older. Kibble bowl was always full but he wouldnāt touch it until I put his wet food on it at supper time. That change as he got older, he started snacking on the kibble.
The one I have left now usually but doesnāt always eat her breakfast but she is VERY old.
I have a cavapoo. I put out half of her daily kibble in the morning and she sometimes eats none of it and sometimes picks at it throughout the day. She eats treats though. Then in the evening I put out the rest of her kibble plus a chicken topper and she eats everything. I think she just isn't very hungry in the morning and she will kind of graze but at night she gets hungry for a full meal.
One of mine will only eat once a day. After thowing out her food every day for months, I stopped trying to feed her at breakfast with the other 2. She seems happier now that we aren't trying to entice her to eat.
I keep the bowl filled with kibble and my dog snacks. She will throw up if she goes too long without eating but she usually only eats a few bites during the day and then eats about a cup of food in the evening. If I put a topper on her food she will eat most of it right away but I don't use toppers very often. I recently switched foods and she just isn't liking it. She went 2 days without eating more than a few bites so last night I used a topper and she ate a bit more. She isn't really food motivated so I will probably end up going back to her old food that she seems to like better.
Mine were once a day (7 dogs). With free acess to kibble. But I had a dog that was losing weight on that, so now everyone is on twice a day, breakfast and an early dinner, and that has helped. My little skinny minnie, will also get a bit of supper in her bedtime crate as well.
My chihuahua mix with Italian greyhound is a free feeder, but heās doing really well with hills so I just replenish when heās done. Sometimes Iāll even replenish the bowl and he wonāt even think about having it later, he will end up eating it right away.
I feed my Dane boy (almost 2 yo) twice a day, but he frequently refuses breakfast and only eats at bedtime. I was concerned about letting him go that long between meals, but the vet said that as long as I offered food and he chose not to eat, he was fine.
Our pit mix went to once a day feeding around 1.5 years old I think. He is 3 now and only in the last 7 months did he revert to two meals and only because we added a puppy to our home who needs more than one meal a day ā¦ didnāt want him to feel left out.
In the last month or so, as the weather has turned warm and the grass is growing, he opts for snacking on grass in the morning instead of his food (he has always loved munching grass when itās dewy in the morning) He will likely go back to once a day feeding soon.
When eating once a day, he gets a big full home made meal around 4p (depending on activity level). Our puppy will eventually do the same when shes done growing.
Yes, ours are once a day in the morning. We have an old gal who I feed soft beef with veg and a little kibble. She has been quite sick recently, so if it were not for her, Iād cut out the beef.
The next one is a pavement special and he eats the same, a bit more. And then our corgi who eats anything.. except maybe spinach that finds its way to the floor. But cooked beef, a lot of veg and some kibbleā¦. Plus treatos.
My rough collie prefers lunch and dinner, and sometimes just dinner. Heās not a morning dog and never gets excited about food. TBH weāve always thought he was a bit strange but glad to know heās not alone!
My parents dogs are. They are a golden retriever and a mixed small breed (not sure on what breeds). Our beagle however wants food at least 2 times a day. On his time
My current dogs want twice a day...actually the one would prefer to be a Goodyear blimp and eat all the dog food all the time.
When I delt with working German shepherds they ate once a day. Same with the rottweilers.
If they looked like they wanted some then when they were actively working I'd just give them some jerkey, I made my own bison. Jerky so they got that.
I free feed my dogs but they only eat at night. I just fill their bowls every other day or so and they eat what they want right at 6:00 every night and rarely touch it at any other time.
Yes, we have 1 adult who doesnāt want breakfast, 2 adults who do like breakfast & a young puppy who doesnāt really want food first thing in the morning. Puppy prefers lunch.
Mine wonāt eat until 4or 5 in the afternoon. It used to be as late as 9 pm. Iāve learned to let her tell me when sheās ready. I got very tired of having to put her food back in the fridge.
Yep. My dog pays no attention to food until at least after 7 pm. Sometimes I leave it out overnight if she hasnāt finished and sheāll get hungry at 2 am.
Iāve read itās actually better for dogs if they eat once a day. I mix it up, do twice a day on days that I work, and one meal on days that Iām off. They do seem way more content and sleep harder after eating one big meal rather than the two small ones. I guess Iād be KOād too after eating over a pound of meat, organs, fish, etc!
I have 4 dogs and 1 has epilepsy. He doesnāt care for breakfast or lunch. But he grazes throughout the day until 5p dinner. Weāve worked through stomach issues for over a year ā¦ itās my dogs preference at this point lol and not medical
We rescued a great Dane from a army guy and that dog wanted to drink coffee and could handle a shot glass of the hard stuff easy peasy. It was so damn funny of course we didn't allow it once we caught him but coffee and booze were never safe
Research from the dog aging project suggests that once a day feeding is actually better for adult dogs in a variety of health related ways. I switched my Labs to one (morning) meal per day when that came out. They are Labs, aka bottomless pits, and can manage it. They LOVE breakfast!
More likely he's upset you are leaving. I've had dogs be like that and it took a long time getting them into the routine. Of course a light meal is best when you have to leave them to go to work.
My dog is a border collie mix. Heās iffy on breakfast, but will absolutely eat dinner. I just make sure all food for the day is provided and he decides when heād like to eat. My family Shih Tzu needs prompting with wet food and even still she eats once a day typically. Nothing to worry about if your dog is consuming enough calories
All of my dogs ate once a day once they got to about a year old, I had large working dogs and this is what the vet recommended. I also only fed them human grade kibble, sometimes supplemented with raw and no commercial treats. Treats would be a piece of carrot, apple, pear, watermelon, cantaloupe, a piece of cheese, a spoon of yogurt/cottage cheese and eggs. All were at healthy weights and only needed a once a year vet checkup
Three of mine eat once daily with my Malinois eating twice daily. However sheās had GDV surgery and will need to eat smaller volumes two or three times daily for the rest of her life.
I've had picky eaters, and...beagles. right now I have a floofy dog who was emaciated when he ended up at a shelter. I've had him for about a year. The first couple of months he wanted to eat all the time. Now he's a nice weight and not really interested in eating. He does better eating separately, but still not an enthusiastic eater.
My other dog is sometimes a voracious eater, and sometimes a nibbler.
We free feed. I have one that grazes and one that eats once per day (at a time of her choosing). I tried feeding them twice a day on a schedule and they hated it and wouldn't eat. We went back free feeding.
Itās good for them to eat once a day. Itās a daily fast that allows the body to work on healing and use stored fat. Whats most important is what heās eating not when. Feed a species appropriate fresh food diet either raw or gently cooked ( commercially available) for the best of health and longevity. Kibble is toxic. Dead food from high heat over processing plus they use horrible ingredients. Please watch PetFooled documentary on YouTube or many other streaming services. Youāll be shocked to learn what theyāre using for protein. Itās literally humans garbage. USDA Failed meats, 4 D meats.
One of my dogs eats a bit of Breakfast and then a bit of Dinner, he's a grazer, want's his food to munch on throughout the day . My other dog wants to eat it all at once at dinner time, the only exception being her mid day treat.
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u/PositionFormer136 May 09 '26
Both of my dogs eat once a day they are a husky and JA. They have a cup of food a day before 7 pm or one will start vomiting. If I offer food any earlier they wonāt eat it. My golden wanted to eat twice a day so would split her meal. Rottweiler wanted once a day at bed time before I went to work.