Deciding how many times one should feed his pet is very important. If the pet is overfeed, it will result in several health problems like cancer and joint disease and obesity in them.
However, if the pet is underfed, they will suffer from malnutrition and will make their immune system weak and prone to diseases. Hence, feeding an adequate amount of food at right intervals is important for the health of dogs and cats.
Normally, smaller amounts of food is recommended to be given throughout the day to younger dogs and kittens (below 6 months), pets that are lactating or pregnant or dogs that do heavy work and require a higher intake of calories.
The dogs of smaller breed also need frequent feeding due to digestion and organ development. The adult dogs and cats can be fed once, twice or three times a day, depending upon the pet’s lifestyle and health. Feeding a healthy dog once a day will let you develop a system and control when they go poop.
However, various factors related to the pet like age, breed, lifestyle, number of pets and health condition and other factors play a critical part in deciding the frequency and way you feed your pet.
As long as your pet is getting a balanced diet that supplies all the nutrients, the quantity of the feed is the only thing that differs between a small breed dog and large breed dog. The adult dogs can be feed once a day, especially if they are giant breed or large breed dogs.
Small breed dogs can be given two meals a day having a gap of almost 12 hours apart. An adult cat can be given two meals a day with a gap of 8 to 12 hours, sometimes more if required.
Compared to an adult dog or cat, a small puppy or kitten will likely have a high protein requirement in diet and their metabolic rate will need a high food input.
Until the puppies are between 8 to 10 weeks old, it is desirable to give them three meals a day, and further reducing it to twice a day until they pass period of their rapid growth.
During gestation, dogs and cats need special extra nutrition intake to support their growing babies. The feed of a pregnant pet gets steadily increased to twice the normal intake and thrice during lactation period (up to three meals a day).
The type of diet that you feed your dog or cat (canned or raw meat), decide the quantity that you should put in your dog or cat’s food bowl.
The moisture levels between these products considerably varies so feeding should be based on weight as the age of pet, exercise per day and individual metabolic rate will vary from animal to animal.
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