regulart feeding times...

Question
I have a 3yr old male not nuetered dalmation (Bailey)..he is the last of 3 dogs I have had in the past 10 years..he came to us by accident on July 4th ..2003..my quetion is..should he be fed sam time very day without fail..should we pickup the dish when he seems to want extra food.at odd times..I follow directions on bag ..calculating weight..he has developed gas like a skunk..and eats the cat feces when he can find it..vet mentioned to my husband some time back that this causes weight gain and that they like the taste because of the fat content...

Answer
Margaret, what are you feeding him, how often are you feeding him, and how much at each feeding does he get? I believe that it's best to have dogs on a schedule rather than leaving food down for them all the time. It puts you in charge of their meals, and that helps to reinforce that you are the leader of the pack (your household). It also allows you to calculate how much the dog is actually eating, so you can adjust it if necessary. I feed my dogs twice a day; once in the morning and once in the evening. It is not important what time you feed your dog - it doesn't have to be at exactly the same time every day. Leave the food dish down for 30 minutes, and then pick it up. If there is food still in it, dump it back into the dog food container (you should not store pet food in the open bag; it should be in a rubbermaid container or one specially designed to hold pet food, to keep it from spoiling and also to keep bugs out of it). At the next mealtime, just put the regular amount in the bowl. Do not add what was left at the previous feeding. For example, if your dog is supposed to be eating 2 cups of food per day, you would feed 1 cup in the morning and 1 cup in the evening. Let's say in the morning, the dog left about 1/4 cup in the bowl. That doesn't mean that you should give him 1 1/4 cup at suppertime. He should still only be fed 1 cup at supper.

It's completely normal for dogs to eat cat feces, and it is not harmful to the dog, unless he ingests a lot of the cat litter, too. A covered litter box often helps with this problem. Put it in a corner, with the opening facing the wall, but allowing enough room for the cat to get around and into the opening easily. You can also install a cat door on the door to the room containing the litterbox, and just keep the main door to the room closed. The cat will be able to go in and come out via the cat door, but the dog will not.

Kristen