Open Bowl ?

[Jennifer(Jenny)Jones]

Just curious...I have been hearing from some they feed with an open bowl concept (keep bowl full continously, dry food),I personally feed twice a day, morning & evening with a couple of tablespoons of canned and a little table scraps. How about you??? And yogurt of course!!!

Mom to Baxter: 2 1/2 year old flashy brindle male

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[lb]

i find that most people are not fond of this concept. however, i have always fed harley this way. he will actually walk away and leave food in the bowl many times. i cannot make him eat if he isn't hungry. sooooo for me this works. i feed him nutro puppy for large breed 3 times a day....his yogurt, apple and carrot. he's a very big boy but not at all fat.

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LB,JB,Mikey (2 year old cat) & Sergeant Major Harley (black reverse male brindle born Jan.21,00)

 

[Boxer Crazy]

I feed all my dogs this way. I started with my first dog (Sammie). I had always been a cat person and just liked the convenience of open feeding. When I got Keisha (3rd dog) I was concerned that this might not be good for a dog so I asked the breeder and she told me she feeds this way too. She said that it can help prevent bloat.
My vet does not like this method of feeding especially when there are multiple dogs as their dietary needs may be very different.
I like open feeding as I don't have to be home at a certain time to feed the dogs, and I just put down one big bowl - they all take thier turns. I did find that Keisha and Riley were becoming overweight (which is usually what happens with open feeding) but with Keisha having her puppies and Riley getting more excercise from playing with Travis they have both thinned out again.
I have a real mix of dogs in my house right now - a senior, a puppy, a chihuahua and boxers. Because of this mix I feed a premium performance dog food (for the puppy mainly) and feel that it will be fine for the others as well. Our dogs are all very healthy and don't seem to be suffering any ill effects from this method of feeding.

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Keisha - March 8/98 - female plain brindle with cropped ears
Travis - May 14/00 - male flashy fawn with natural ears.
Sammie - approx 11 yr. F/S Beagle X
Riley - March 8/97 - F/S tri-color, long haired chihuahua

 

[nanabear]

We have *mealtimes* But at 20 months, things are always changing. He kept leaving his morning meal - not showing any interest until 3PM or so. Since I would *like* to get him on one meal a day, I started feeding a larger meal at 5PM and leaving out the earlier meal. But then it was decided, he was a bit too chubby and we cut down on his evening ration, replacing part of it with vegetables. Which he loves, but now he is hungry again in the morning!

At dinner time, he eats his canned food - hangs around to see if he is getting any people leftovers (no more, chubby) and then eats his kibble around 7PM. He thinks he's European and should have several courses and make it last all evening.

 

[EMWAZ]

We use the free feed method also for all our pets. We have one cat that needs to lose some weight but the 2 dogs and the other 2 cats do not have a weight problem. It is the most convienent for us and they don't gobble their food.

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Homepage:

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Babe, 1 1/2 yrs, dark brindle, natural ears, rainbow bridge 88
Buster, 12 1/4 yrs, fawn, natural ears, rainbow bridge 3/99
Pancho, 1 1/4 yrs, fawn, natural ears
Zoe, 3 yrs, boxer mix, red brindle (long nose), natural ears
Esther & Gary

 

[brindlemom]

I free feed Striker also.
He really ends up eating three times a day. He won't be a pig and eat it all at once. If I really want him to eat at a certain time, like if we're taking him somewhere, I just put his yogurt on the food, and he'll eat.
Cindy

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Cindy
Striker's Mom
7 month old Christmas baby, born 12/25/99. Brindle with white "socks", chest, blaze. Cute as can be!!!

 

[anne]

My friend has three large dog and has always fed them with an open bowl.I can't see me ever being able to do this with cassie as I don't think she would ever stop eating she's such a little grubber and my older dog would never get any food,yes at seven weeks she is getting bossing a 13yr old dog around and trying to steal her food.

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mum to Cassie 7wk old flashy fawn girl.

 

[Tanyia]

There are some reasons for not free feeding. One of the big ones is that there are several diseases that first start to show signs by a dog going off his food. If you have more than one boxer it can be hard to tell who is off their food and who is eating. It can also be a problem when you need to keep one of your dogs weight in check. The final reason, is of course that when you feed two meals a day you can keep the exercise to a minimum after the eating to prevent bloat.

 

[Tina-SCBR-NY]

I have 3 boxers of my own and a foster in my home most of the time. I feed 2x a day. The dogs get use to the schedule and if they don't eat within 15 minutes I pick up the food and they don't eat again until evening. I have tried free feeding and found it not to be fair to all the animals, as one makes a pig of herself and won't let the others near the food. She would sit in front of the bowl all day if I let her.
I do believe it is personal preference and if it works for you and your dogs aren't getting over weight from it or fighting then have at it.


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Proud momma of 3 boxer babies and 1 foster:
Dallas, F, Brindle 3/21/95
Dakota, M, Fawn 7/10/99
Missy, F, Brindle 8/7/99
And 1 Second Chance Foster dog
www.secondchanceboxer.com

 

[EMWAZ]

We solved the problem of one dog protecting it by getting two bowls. It works great. We also can still pay attention to who is or isn't eating because we know both dogs habits well and when they eat. They never eat a large amount at one time either. Even if they empty the bowl, we put more in it and they leave until later.

We started them this way when they were young.

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Homepage:

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Babe, 1 1/2 yrs, dark brindle, natural ears, rainbow bridge 88
Buster, 12 1/4 yrs, fawn, natural ears, rainbow bridge 3/99
Pancho, 1 1/4 yrs, fawn, natural ears
Zoe, 3 yrs, boxer mix, red brindle (long nose), natural ears
Esther & Gary