How much to feed?

[drika]

Lizzie is now 19 months old and I would like your advice on the number of feeds per day. She has two a day,one morning,one evening.
I have never had a cocker before, the other dogs I have had always had one meal a day, in the evening, and a few dog biccies during the dayand were all fine on that.
However, as we all know, cockers live for food, and I dont know whether to cut out the morning one?
She is not a working dog, but we walk quite a few miles a day,and she runs like the wind!
I just dont want her getting porky!!

[Danni and Freya]

I give mine two a day. Just keep an eye on the portion size to stop her gaining weight (I weigh the food out  )

[vixen]

I give mine two meals a day too 
I am feeding my girls a half BARF diet so feeding twice a day fits into this regime - kibble in the morning and BARF in the evening.
I can't imagine the looks I would get off them if I just gave them one meal a day 

[Black Red + Yellow]

We only feed once a day in the morning but they do enjoy a carrot/banana or other treats in the afternoon so it's not actually 24 hours before they eat again.

The most important thing to think of is when you are exercising after feeding....leaving it a good hour

[Geordietyke]

Odie (11 months) is fed kibble twice a day - 7.30am and 4pm.  Saying that, he doesn't always finish his breakfast so the amount isn't always the same each day.

[grracee]

Charlie is now nine months and he is fed his kibble twice a day. Once in the morning and once in the evening.

[Uli]

Paula is 22 months and I still feed her three times a day. It is always recommended for humans to have better 5 small meals a day than 2 or 3 big ones in order to remain slim, so why shouldn't that apply to dogs as well?

[elaine.e]

If Lizzie is enjoying her 2 meals a day and is slim and fit I'd be inclined to leave things as they are

[Mudmagnets]

Both of mine get fed twice a day, with an odd treat here and there (usually a bonio when I am having my lunch as they are fed morning and evening.

[siam]

Alfie has a much keener appetite than my previous cocker, who had to be enticed into eating meals with some nummy scraps of food on top of his food. I only fed him once a day as he wouldn't look at breakfast, but he eventually enjoyed a boneo for breakfast. I give Alfie the recommended amount of  daily kibble split into 2 meals and his treat ball mid day. When I was discussing how often to feed with the vet, she said the 'once a day' feeding is a thing of the past and they're better having 2 smaller meals than 1 large one.

[mooching]

Alfie's 7 months old now and has 2 meals a day (8-9am and 4pm) plus a snack (handful of different kibble) in his crate at bedtime (11pm). I imagine that will stay the same now, even when he is fully grown.

[Petepreston]

I agree with Uli. Posie is fed 3 times a day at 7am, 1pm and 7pm - ish. We tried to move her down to two shorly before we moved onto Burn's but the smaller portions meant she would get too hungry and distracted. Three feeds fits in fine with my routine, although she is sometimes fed up to 1.5 hours late, and she seems to enjoy her food at whatever time so I'd rather give her that marker during the day to break it up.

We also give her loads of treats through the day because we're giving her training tasks frequently. She's as lean as they come and the vet is still happy to see such a lean worker (that isn't a working dog). She's 6 months and getting on for 11kg of lean muscle. I sometimes worry that she's underweight but other than being a little short, she's otherwise extremely athletic, energetic and lively.

I do toy with the idea of two feeds but can't see it working out for a while.

[SusieY]

Barney is 22 mths and gets 2 meals a day (8am ish and 7pm ish).  He has a carrot at lunchtime and a couple of gravy bones during the day as training treats.  I take him to the vet and weigh him every 4-8 weeks to keep a check on his weight.