# Switch to 2 meals/day?



## Ninde'Gold (Oct 21, 2006)

How old is your dog?

I think Tucker was about 8 months old when I put him down to 2 meals. He adjusted easily. 

Tucker is the kind of dog that will eat and eat and eat no matter what. If I put the whole bag out he'd eat it just to eat it all. He's not starving by any means LOL.

You don't want your dog to get overweight, as that will cause issues with joints and stuff.


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## RKA (Sep 20, 2010)

He's 5 months (40 lbs now). I'm not really worried about him getting overweight, as that's a function of total daily caloric intake and exercise, which I'm watching. I'm just concerned because he's like your dog...the only time I've seen him slow down with the food is when he was sick. Other than that, he just inhales the food. Taking away a meal feels cruel to me, esp. if he's telling me it's meal time in the middle of the day. Of course that might be my next concern, if he's eating as quickly as he eats now, but I'm feeding him larger qtys twice a day.... Should be easy enough to slow him down though.


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## Megora (Jun 7, 2010)

Don't just cut the meal. 

I would guess this probably depends on what you are now feeding your dog, but at around 5 months we started to bump the morning meal to as late as possible (9-11AM) and fed him a little more at that meal as we weaned off the lunch meal.


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## Maxs Mom (Mar 22, 2008)

When a pup reaches the 6 month mark, they usually slow down in growing. They do not stop but you don't have wow that dog grew overnight feeling. That is usually when I would cut them from three to 2 meals a day. I would break the amount into 2 feedings. Yes they look for it, and get hungry but the beauty of dogs is when you feed at dinner he will COMPLETELY forget he didn't get lunch. You can ease back gradually if it makes you feel better, but the meal thing in my opinion is you humanizing it. Dogs get over stuff really fast. 

That being said. I can not be in a position to feed 3 times a day. We can't get anyone into the house at the proper interval either. The schedule just did not work. So both Quinn and Gabby went from 3 meals at the breeders, to 2 meals once they came home. The adjustment went smooth, and both pups are healthy and happy. Yes feeding 3 times is a better idea, we had no choice. I work 45 min from home no way I can get there and back on lunch. Same with DH. Trust me I tried to find an option. My dog walkers could do before lunch (10AM) and after lunch (2-3 PM).


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## iansgran (May 29, 2010)

You can certainly move to two meals a day and snacks/treats whenever in between.


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