Ad Lib Food....

_HP_

_HP_

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Would this work for older dogs?...ones that had been fed once a day for 10 yrs? Is it fair to change things?

I have a 10 yr old JRT and a 7yr old JRT. They have always just had the one feed a day and are both incredibly greedy. I'm sure they get worse by the day. They are both a good steady weight and are fit and healthy.
Feed time last all of about 10 seconds. A bit longer for the 10 yr old but the 7 yr old almost breathes his in to the point that he will occasionally wheeze and contort his neck as if its stuck after eating. They never take each others or even try to take each others food mind you there is never time, but they are eating as if there is no tomorrow.
I think ad lib would help with the speedy eating especially the younger one BUT I just can't imagine them ever stopping eating
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Will they make themselves ill? What's the worse that can happen?
Helllppppp pls
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The worst that could happen I think would be an increase in waist size for a few days but once they realise it's down all the time they will only take as and when they need it; just keep up with the exercise.
Don't worry, our lot scoffed a bag (20kg) in 2 days then didn't want any food for another couple, they just slept it off, lol and have never been a problem since. With your greedyguts, it could be the answer, it certainly helped our lot from having choke problems.
What are you going to lose by trying it for a week or so, it's not going to hurt them and it might be the best thing you could do for them, I know it was for our dogs.
 
For those who do this, is there a risk associated with bloat and torsion? That is one of the main reasons I would not do this with GSDs, as they are prone to those conditions.

Smaller breeds, not so much, I assume?

You could spread the feeds between two or three to begin with.
 
Bassets are known for bloat and torsion and I've known of several deaths of them this way; in fact our neighbours walked a basset which was lost to it the year after it went back to kennels; great shame as he was a good working hound too. They also had a bitch, sister to our old Widget that they rehomed the same time as Widge retired and kept her for about 4 years (although they let her get too fat and their feed only consisted of a small tin between her and a lab' with a mug of good quality complete food given once a day in the morning; poor Wishful was always hungry and was always a scrounger in the muck, she would sometimes sneak up to us for some breakfast toast with her sister!) She was rushed to the vets one day on the point of explosion, operated on and back home for a fortnight before it happened again but they lost her on the table, very sad. In both of those cases, it does make you wonder if feeding only once a day when they are hungry is a factor in bloat because they eat so fast and take in so much air. When ours are feeding, there's no rushing, they all take their time because there is no panic about it being grabbed by someone else or there's not enough to go round; they're very much more relaxed. I can even fill the bowl and they don't look up, imagine that if you normally feed only once a day, most dogs are gagging for their meal and get themselves in a right state, that can't be good for bloat inclined dogs I would have thought. If you have more than one dog it might be an idea to use several bowls although we do use one very big ex-school egg poacher for our lot as they have a pecking order and know when it's their turn.
 
That's interesting, MFH, thanks
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I have known two who have gone through the torsion surgery and fell victim to it again, the top GSD male in Ireland a few years ago died due to torsion.

My dog's breeder is pretty old school and he always says that these conditions never happen on an empty stomach, he drummed it into me to leave plenty of time between feeding and exercise/excitement. But at the end of the day it can happen to any dog at any time, I suppose.
 
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My dog's breeder is pretty old school and he always says that these conditions never happen on an empty stomach, he drummed it into me to leave plenty of time between feeding and exercise/excitement. But at the end of the day it can happen to any dog at any time, I suppose.

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That's interesting too as I would have thought an empty stomach would have meant hunger = fast eating = taking in air etc which all could be contributing factors to bloat I would have thought and by the stomach always being lined although not full, it would have meant a more relaxed dog which in theory at least, you would think would help.
As you say, it can happen to any dog at any time and I don't think the type of food has a lot to do with it either, it's just bad luck, not necessarily bad management when something triggers it off. There's an interesting piece on Collienet about it I found when I Googled bloat in dogs, have you seen it?
 
Thankyou very much....
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I am going to try it...arggghhhh....scared!!!!
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I'm hoping it will also stop them being so in your face, expecting something all the time even though I don't give them tit bits.
 
Okaayyyy...

So, I now have 2 VERY confused Jack Russells..lmao
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I filled thier two bowls to the top and they thought it were Christmas. They polished them off in one go. So I refilled them (will get some bigger bowls I think) and held my breath thinking they would dive in again. Older one went to dive in, ate a couple bits and backed off. The younger one didn't even leave his bed!!
He is now following me around looking a little worried and confused( I expect he has a tummy ache), BUT I still have 2 full bowls of food by the back door...O..M..G.
Ok, so I'm not going to count my chickens just yet but I am very pleased and surprised so far...
 
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