Once-a-day? Twice-a-day? Free-feed? Ask around
and you’ll
hear lots of different opinions on what is the optimal feeding
schedule for your cat or dog food. So what is the correct answer?
Well first off, rest easy as there is no hard and fast correct
answer. That said, however, it’s our opinion that free-feeding
is the worst way to go.
The best comparison we can make is
that free-feeding would be like a person having a full buffet
in your house, stocked with food 24 hours-a-day. When you think
of it this way, it’s not hard to understand why pets
that are free-fed tend to be sluggish, lethargic, and passionless
about their pet food -- in addition to having a variety of
dog health problems. After all,
how excited would you be about that lasagna
if you
had
a big
bowl
of it
sitting
in
the
corner
all day long. In a dog or cat’s life food is the #1 motivation
they have. Sure, they love rides in the car, going for a walk,
or getting a visit from the neighbor’s pet. But nothing
beats a great natural dog food. A critter with no passion for
food is an unhappy critter. A pet should have a unbridled passion
for
food. They
need to look forward to their next meal with anticipation and
excitement. This lays the foundation for a well-tempered, happy
pet. In addition the negative effect on disposition, having
access to food 24 hours-a-day is not ideal for the digestive
system. Dogs and cats in the wild have long breaks between
meals -- far longer than humans who operate ideally on 3 meals
per day. These breaks give their digestive system a chance
to rest and prepare for the next meal. So if this is all true,
why do some pet foods suggest free-feeding? For the same reason
that your shampoo bottle tells you to lather, rinse, and repeat
. . . to sell more shampoo. The sad fact is that many pet food
manufacturers are far more concerned with the almighty dollar
than the health of your pets.
So now that we’ve eliminated free-feeding, should you
go with once or twice-per-day? (We don’t suggest three
meals for the same reasons that free-feeding is not ideal).
Between once-a-day and twice-a-day, it’s really a matter
of convenience and preference. If you need a definite answer,
we would go with once-per day. This allows for a long period
of rest for the digestive system and has shown to produce the
best results over the years as far as the health and attitude
of the dog or cat. However, once-a-day feeding has proven difficult.
Many dogs and cats drive their owners crazy begging for food
throughout the day when on a once-a-day diet. Usually this
type of behavior can be trained out of the pet of you stick
with it for a couple of weeks. But it does take a lot of patience
in those cases. That said, twice-a-day does work for many people
and they still have very good results -- along with a dog that’s
not quite so obsessive about food throughout the day.
Whether you’re trying to achieve once-per-day or twice-per-day
feeding, the best way to do it is to be as consistent as possible
with your feeding times. Put the pet food down for a specified
feeding window and pick it up after around 10 minutes regardless
of if they’ve finished or not. They will quickly conform
to this new feeding window. The more you cave in to your pet’s
demands, the longer it will take them to become accustomed
to their new feeding schedule. If you’re going to do
snacks during the day, we recommend feeding them as rewards
only, and to use healthy foods like raw carrots or apples.
Also, the more you stick to a routine of specific times and
events for reward snacks, the less your dog or cat will beg
between meals.
If you’re doing twice-per-day feeding we suggest one
meal in the morning and one at night. If you’re feeding
once-per-day, either morning or night will work. Also, keep
in mind that these rules do not apply to puppies and kittens,
which do need 2-3 smaller meals throughout the day as opposed
to once-a-day feeding.
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Copyright ® 2006
Sojourner Farms. All rights reserved.
