The Importance of Your Dog's Feeding Schedule

Your dog's feeding time is equally as important as your dog's diet. Just like humans, a dog needs to eat on a regular basis. As we've discussed before, snacks and meals need to be monitored to maintain a healthy diet for your dog. It's always a good idea to space out snacks and mealtimes on a feeding schedule.

You want to come up with a feeding schedule not only to support your dog's dietary needs, but on your dog's health and age as well. Adult dogs might only require to eat once a day, but two mealtimes a day are preferred.

Even though a dog's dietary needs tend to change over time, senior dogs usually stick to the typical feeding schedule of an adult dog.

On the other hand, puppies need more mealtimes throughout the day. Puppies that are still nursing should be allowed to nurse as needed. As you begin to change your puppy's diet from milk to regular dog food, you are going to need to give your puppy food 4 to 5 times a day. As soon as the puppy has been weaned from milk and has become accustomed to it's new diet, you can lessen the feeding times to 3 times a day.

Your dog should receive it's diet at regular intervals throughout the day. When you feed your dog is completely up to you, but a regular schedule needs to be established. Try to avoid any drastic changes in your dog's feeding times. If your adult dog gets fed before you go to work, let's say around 6 a.m., and once again at 6 p.m., attempt to stick with that schedule all week long.

Any treats you give the dog as part of it's diet are also part of the dog's daily routine. If you give your dog a chew bone just before lunch everyday, your dog will be eagerly awaiting that snack at the same time everyday.

Creating and maintaining a feeding schedule for your dog helps to maintain your dog's diet. Getting used to feeding your dog on a regular basis is pretty easy. An added bonus to scheduled feeding times is that they will help you anticipate when your dog needs to go out, which is especially handy when housebreaking an adult dog or potty training a puppy. If your dog varies from it's feeding schedule on it's own, it could be an early warning of something being wrong with your dog.

When most dog owners think of their dog's diet, they only think about the food their dogs consume. Remember when you feed your dog is just as important as what you feed your dog.