The most common feeding schedule for adult dogs is one or two meals daily. I recommend that most people feed their dogs twice a day. But feeding your dog once a day can work well in some circumstances.
The best feeding schedule for your individual dog will depend partly on the type of food you give them. And my advice is based on my own forty years experience of feeding both kibble and raw, to dozens of different dogs. You can check out what I feed my own dogs each day in this article
Considerations
- Natural feeding patterns
- Pros and cons
- Feeding big dogs
- Feeding small dogs
- Puppies
- Best schedule for adults
Is it cruel to feed a dog once a day?
The short answer is no. Traditionally almost all adult dogs were fed once a day. This was the norm when I was a kid. The rationale behind this schedule is that dogs are carnivores, and it is natural for them to eat a large amount of food in one go, and then fast for many hours, before eating again.
In those days most dogs were fed on a mixture of canned (wet) dog food, and dog biscuits together with scraps leftover from human meals.
However, most modern dogs are fed on kibble. And with dry food, feeding once a day has some disadvantages. Let’s dig into those, and help you decide how often to feed your dog.
Natural feeding patterns
It’s true that your dog is genetically almost identical to the wolves from which they descend. Wild wolves or other dog species hunting in groups may bring down a large prey animal, and feast on it. Then not eat for a day or two.
It’s also true that dogs have been catching much smaller prey and scavenging from humans for thousands of years, and have adapted well to eating smaller and more frequent meals.
Pros and cons – large vs smaller meals
Feeding once a day is convenient. And with a raw diet, it can be safe and satisfactory for most medium to large dogs
The natural diet of a dog, raw meaty bones, organs, eggs, and even invertebrates such as worms and beetles, are all processed very quickly by a dog’s digestive system. It’s designed perfectly for the job. And because there are no fillers or carbs in this food, it isn’t very bulky. Everything is digested with little waste.
With kibble, feeding once a day only, can be problematic for some dogs. It’s all to do with the portion size. And of course once daily meals are twice as big as twice daily meals.
Big dogs
It can be risky to feed a large or deep chested dog their whole day’s ration of kibble in one hit. That’s because these types of dog are more prone to suffering from bloat.
When we feed our dogs on kibble, we are asking the dog’s digestion to take on a task that it isn’t quite designed for. Along with the protein, fat and minerals that your dog needs, are a lot of bulky fillers.
While the food looks and feels light and compact when you pour it into the bowl, at that point it is completely dehydrated. It starts to swell up inside your dog as soon as they start to drink.
It’s worth thinking about what happens to the bowl of kibble your dog just ate, when they head over to their water dish. Try dropping a few pieces into a glass of water to see how much they expand!
Your dog needs that water so don’t ration it. But be aware that they can end up with a lot of heavy food sitting in their stomach, and this may increase their risk of suffering from bloat.
Little dogs
Small dogs often need a minimum of two meals per day, in order to feel well. My own Jack Russell terrier will often vomit if she misses her breakfast, and this is quite common in little dogs.
Some small dogs also find it hard to consume enough in one sitting to keep their weight up. So feeding twice a day may be necessary for many dogs weighing much less than around 20lbs.
This rule applies with both raw food and kibble.
Puppies
All puppies need feeding more frequently than adult dogs.
Most kibble fed puppies need at least four meals a day until they are three months old, then three meals a day until six months.
Some raw fed puppies can drop a portion a bit sooner.
Food should be fun
Aside from the health and safety issues around eating kibble, food is a source of great pleasure in our lives, and dogs feel the same way. They enjoy their meals. And look forward to the next one.
Most dogs eat kibble quite fast. It’s unusual for a dog to take more than five minutes over their meal. And twenty four hours is a long time for a kibble fed dog to go between meals, especially when the last meal was over so quickly!
Raw meaty bones take a lot of time to consume, and can keep a dog occupied happily for half an hour or more. But even so I think there is a lot of pleasure to be gained if this experience happens twice in each day rather than once.
Which is best? One meal or two?
Your adult dog will most likely thrive whether you divide their daily ration into one meal or two. However, if your dog is large or deep chested, and fed on kibble, I recommend you feed twice daily, dividing that ration into a morning and evening feed.
Obviously, twice daily meals doesn’t mean twice the quantity. You feed the same daily ration but divide it into smaller portions
I do think it means twice the fun though!
And while once daily feeding is suitable for all but the smallest raw fed dogs, I feed all my dogs raw, and, twice daily
Let me know what you decide to do!
I’m always interested to hear from readers about how they feed their dogs, so do drop a comment in the box below!
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Hi, I have a senior Yorkiepo who doesn’t want to eat in the morning anymore. He does like to lick the 2 cat food bowls after they finish but won’t eat his own food. I only feed him fresh food, never any kibble, for his own health, IMO. Is it okay if he eats in the afternoon only?
Hi Kathy, as long as your dog isn’t getting thin and seems healthy and happy, he should be fine if he only wants to eat in the afternoons. Have a chat with your vet if he seems lethargic on less frequent meals.
Our Butch (dachshund/rat terrier mix) gets his one meal in the morning and a few treats during the day. The AM feeding is part kibble, packaged wet meat, and a tablespoon of fried diced egg.
His weight is consistent and the vet’ says he’s doing real well.
Thanks for sharing what works well for Butch :). This sounds like a fun mix of flavours and textures for him 🙂
I have 7 dogs all around the same age but as they have gotten older the 5-7 age group they have slowed down on eating in the morning or have just completely skipped meal time till dinner. I give them kibble with a stew topper I make usually a meat and some vegetables and things like that. Kinda tired of stuffing my fridge with all the morning bowls that are full 🤣 so trying to get some research and see what’s best. This would be for dogs of pretty much all sizes smallest is 10lb and largest is 67lb
Seven dogs must keep you busy 🙂
We have a six year old goldendoodle, who has always been a picky eater. She now seeming to limit herself to one meal a day as much as we try for two, with snacks at lunch and dinner. Any suggestion?
Hi Pete – it sounds like your doodle is actually eating three times a day – one bigger meal and two snacks? As long as she’s happy and healthy, and the vet has no concerns about her eating, that sounds just fine! 🙂
Hi Pippa, I have an aged “designer” Maltese X, a rescue dog who had been badly mistreated and although properly house trained is still timid and when “caught short” at night doesn’t wake anyone. He does go downstairs to a tiled area though.
We feed him about 750 gms of canned meat and a small handful of kibble [a term I have not heard before in Australia] as we clean up the dishes from the evening meal. He is definitely not underweight, [7 – 8 kg] has good teeth and in very good health for his age. I have just done a search on “once a day feeding” and found your site. I would be interested to know if we might do better with a different routine.
ps having been so badly beaten he is “happy as a dog with two tails” with us now so we can do no wrong in his eyes.
Hi Bill. It sounds like you’re giving your dog a lovely home, where he can recover from his past experiences. If he’s only toileting indoors overnight, it’s worth experimenting with changing when he feeds, to see if a different time, or splitting food into two meals, helps. Smaller breeds often do well on 2 meals a day. If that doesn’t help, maybe a late night toilet trip with you just before you go to sleep, or some puppy pads put down for him to use overnight to make clean up easier, might help? 🙂
Hi Bill
Seven hundred and fifty grams, are you sure?, because three quarters of a kilogram (750g) is two weeks worth of wet for my eight month old 7.5kg Westie who is NOT skinny.
Admittedly, he also gets 50g (100ml) of kibble with his 50g of wet morning and night, but that’s 700g of wet and dry for a week!
Maybe I’m reading this wrong and/or you throw out a lot after, but that would be a bit expensive.
PS Australian metric abbreviations are NEVER plural.
Cheerz
I am a widow and have two rescue dogs, both on the smaller size.
I have a sun room I converted into a dog retreat with all of the amenities: air conditioning, a propane heater and a doggie door that allows them to wander in and out and run in the fenced in back yard.
I feed them both the same menu once a day: a can of wet food mixed with a large cup of kibble. I have fed all of my pets over the years the same menu and not one of them every had a digestive problem. In the afternood I will give them a dental treat.
I know others don’t have my environment but thought the info might be helpful.
Diane
Thanks Diane, that is helpful 🙂
I feed a complete raw once a day, to my flat coat and had done this before for my 2 labs. They also get treats/snacks through the day and they seem very happy and thrive on it.
Thanks Carole 🙂
I think you need to get out of the box on this one. The fact that you have to go to work is a weak rationale for leaving the dog ALONE for 10 hours at a time each work day. I highly recommend you (1) consider getting a second dog, since dogs are pack animals and far less stressed when they have a companion, AND (2) hire a dog sitter to let your dog out into the yard or take for a brief mid-day walk.
I have a 11 month old poodle standard and lately he is not interested in an am feed. I feed him raw . Is he too young to change to once daily, the entire days feed
Once a day should be fine for your 11 month old standard Poodle Lou
I recently rescued a 2 1/2 year old pitbull mix. I work full-time hours and am gone from 6-4. I have a crate for him (that I leave open) and enclosed the kitchen area with two gates. Iike most, I don’t have a choice but to work. I don’t like leaving him for 10 hours, which is why I wanted him to have a space to move around in and a crate to act like a cave throughout the day. It’s been about 6 weeks and he is obviously getting healthier and starting to treat my house as his home. Is it OK to get raw beef bones and leave them with him?
Thank you.
Sean
Hi Sean, I would probably not leave a dog alone with something that they might be able to break into small pieces. If you are talking about a very large bone that your dog can chew on but not break up and swallow, that’s one thing. But I like to be present when my dogs consume rib bones for example, just in case they get into difficulties with it. You could try some of the black (heavy duty) Kongs, most dogs cannot break those. And you can fill them and freeze them in advance to occupy your dog while you are away.