I agree with the logic behind what you said but sometimes it isn't possible to
free feed. My cats and Chi are free feed because it's easier that way then to
call all the cats for dinner time, there's too many for that.
My outside dogs however I can't free feed because I would either have only
one dog because they would fight all the time or they would get bloat or
someting from trying to eat it all at once. My husky mix used to be free feed
up until I got into fostering. Dogs that come from a shleter are hard to break
of the scheduled eating habbit and I don't want to separate them just so they
can free feed. They do better as a pack than individuals.
Toshia
marsha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Too busy to respond to many post right now, but wanted to make a
response to one point raised here. You are correct that it has become the norm
to feed dogs on a schedule and you are also correct in the fact that the
reasoning behind it is mostly to regulate bathroom times. However, I am not
sure that this is such a great idea. I mean, not against you personally or
anything, since this is what has been "accepted" for many years. However, when
you think about it, is it really fair to put dogs on a schedule to eat, in
order to make things more convenient for humans? In the wild, dogs use to eat
whenever they found food. There were no overweight wolves that I know of! lol.
A dog's body will naturally tell it when it is hungry and when it is not. When
humans start putting a dog on an eating schedule, they totally mess up that
internal clock and dogs begin eating when it is put before them...whether they
are hungry or not. They loose their ability to regulate their
own food needs. Personally, I am a strong proponent of free feeding. MY dogs
free feed from the cradle up and none of them are over weight, none have food
aggressions ( as there is no reason to fight over what is readily available).
Food is always in the bowls and they eat when they are actually hungry....not
when I think they should eat. I feel like we have come to a point with
domesticated pets, that we are interfering with nature in order to make it more
convenient for humans. JMO
Marsha
Do not tell God how big your storm is. Tell the storm how big your God is.
.
----- Original Message -----
From: Teacher Bunny
To: [email protected]
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 6:35 PM
Subject: Re: [Chihuahuas] best treats
On Sep 29, 2007, at 1:01 AM, Mandy F. wrote:
Ah, if he is actually missing some teeth then it does make some sense to
soften it up. Did your vet say if your pup has some dental problem?
Nope, she didn't say anything about a dental problem but I could ask about
that in our next visit. I didn't think to ask the first and second time (yup,
we've just had 2 vet visits so far bec I've just had him for nearly 4 weeks)
because I figured that he was still a baby and really had some missing teeth.
:o) How long are chihuahuas considered a baby/puppy?
This morning though, I tried to feed him his food with very little water.
And added some dry ones on top just to see if he'll like it and hack it. Well,
so far he did! He managed to eat it all and was ACTUALLY chewing his food now
instead of slurping it up. So maybe your advice was right. Maybe I will
gradually lessen the water -- water is good though so I don't mind it mixed in
his food because he's not much of a water drinker unless after play.
As far as how much to feed, my pup has always had food available at all
times. I'm not sure how much she eats a day. Sometimes it's like she gets
munchies and will eat all her food overnight and sometimes she just eats a few
kibbles here and there.
I was advised to keep his meals scheduled -- to not leave food available at
all times except during meals. Except for rare cases when he doesn't eat at
all, then I'd have to keep food there when he gets hungry. But so far, he
hasn't NOT eaten at all during meals. At worse, he just doesn't finish all of
it so I take it away after an hour or so of ignoring it.
I was advised that if he doesn't eat at all, to just take his food away after
some time. So he learns to eat on schedule and on demand. I think it's also
to keep his pooping predictable and on schedule. Fortunately, I haven't had
the need to make that moral decision (haha) to take his food away because he
doesn't want to eat. Whew. But that's what I was advised to do.
---------------------------------
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