What is your dog's eating schedule?

[MuffinsAreJustCakesAtBreakfast]

after yet another breakfast refused I'm seriously considering feeding my one year old 7.5kg cockerpoo just once a day at 9pm at night!

She's soooooooo unbothered about food (why can't I be like her 😂), and if I put the bowl down when mercury happens to be in retrograde or or some bonkers reason she just shrugs and walks off. I mean, she doesn't shrug but if dogs could shrug she definitely would be.

The gymnastics I do to try and get her to eat a full portion.... licky rings, mats, various contraptions. It's a struggle most days to get her to eat even half of what she "should" eat.

She just doesn't care much about food, even treats.

Does anyone else have a small dog who only eats one meal a day? I feel like she'd respond better at night time to food but is it bad for small dogs to only eat once?

photo tax duly paid! 👇

One year
7.5kg
Raw Fed 80/10/10
Fussy bugger
Thinks fruit and veg are the devil's food
80% poodle 20% various spaniels

Border terrier, 18 months. Tried raw, with advice from knowledgeable raw feeder, it made her really ill and she didn't like it much.
Now on grain and gluten free lamb kibble, she eats( most days )
Small breakfast on waking, two other meals, lunchtime and evening, of her daily ration of kibble.

Had a miniature poodle years ago. Lived for 18 years on James Wellbeloved. Never refused a meal, was very fit and healthy.

6.30 am and 7 30 pm.

Always have. Now 12 /15 +5....
Have to watch over as youngest would steal the lot...

Not all dogs like raw food - have you tried her on wet or a different kind? Personally I wouldn’t feed once a day.

I have a Labrador that was like this for at least the first year of her life, it was the most stressful part of owning a dog for me!

Can't advise on anything else I'm afraid, as obviously not a small dog and we still feed 3 times a day.

I have a lab 🙄who is quite unbothered by food timings; this only came to light when we lost old lab and she understood he would no longer snaffle it if she left it.

Breakfast is of no interest, but as a large dog, I do want to split her meals, so she typically eats about 1/3 of her diet around lunch, after her longest walk, and the rest at about 6 pm, when she smells me cooking.

She’s 9 and on a special diet for intolerance.

Pyrenean Mountain dogs. We've always fed 4 meals a day because of them being high risk for GDV.

We also find by splitting into 4 small meals they don't feel overwhelmed by the large amount and will rarely leave food in the bowl.

Timings can vary depending on weather, season, walk times etc. But it's roughly
Breakfast 7am
Lunch 12 pm
Dinner 5pm
Supper 9pm

Good quality kibble, at the moment our current girl is on Millies Wolfheart and Essentials, supplemented with meat trays every couple of days.

Ours get fed after the morning and afternoon walks (if they get a midday walk, the older one looks hopeful, but soon works it out).

We've only ever had one fussy eater, and all that really sorted it out was maturity, and possibly also building the value of food treats - I made them really exciting and linked them to praise and cuddles and feeling good. Even so, if things are a bit disturbed - workmen in, guests - she's quite likely to not finish her breakfast kibble (she'll eat the meat). She gets it again with extra in the afternoon and is normal hungry enough to eat it.

Honestly, OP, don't worry about the quantity given on the packet: it's usually way too much. If she's lean rather than skinny, also don't worry. Easy for me to say, but I do know how stressful it is looking at half a bowl of kibble and a rather thin-looking dog...

I put it down in morning, he sniffs is and looks to me for something more inviting like afresh chicken breast. I ignore this and he strops off. Eventually he will concede around lunch. Sometimes breakfast is still there at tea time.

He does however love treats, chicken, ham and almost anything he can snaffle off the ground on walk, or that the dc drop on floor.

But the very high quality dry food I buy him is only for when it is absolutely necessary to eat. His motto is always home out for something better.

My crossbreed - 8kg so similar weight - is a grazer so I put all her food down in the morning (kibble) and she goes to it throughout the day and evening.

My dog refused to eat raw food. He is on a dry food and I just fill his bowl up when it gets empty and he eats as and when he pleases.

If I get the hoover out he immediately goes to his bowl and starts eating though.

Labrador -
165g Millie’s utility mix at 6am.
spends entire day giving sad eyes and telling anyone who will listen that she has never (ever in her life) been fed, stealing food, demanding cheese
165g Millie’s utility mix at 5pm

she’ll also have a couple of treats and maybe a duck foot or a raw egg as a treat

Fussy poodle cross here, was the same as you describe until I switched him to Butternut Box. Snaffles the lot up in minutes, complete with happy sounds. Best thing we did.

Two labs
They devour a scoop of kibble the moment the birds start singing (currently I'm lucky if they don't come up and stare at me by 4.15am)
Then a scoop after they've been out with the dog walker. This can be anywhere from 12-3pm.
They also eat a large number of carrots, poo that they find on walks, grass etc. And the younger lab will steal the food off your plate as you sit eating.

And also as pp says, they sometimes get Lidl tinned fish on their kibble or eggs.

The other day my young lab got into the chicken enclosure and ate a whole egg, shell and all before I had a chance to get it.

Mine has eggs at 6 in the morning.
Breakfast after his walk at 9.
A pig ears after his afternoon walk.
And tea at 6.

My miniature poodle eats first thing, after she’s been out. And again after her late afternoon walk. She used to be a bit fussy and either not want to eat, or leave some, so I put down two small meals and remove the bowl ten minutes later, whether she has eaten it or not. She now eats everything in her bowl. I check her weight regularly to make sure she’s having the right amount. She has lamb and rice kibble and a spoonful of Lidl’s wet dog food and a bit of water to make gravy.

A dog of that size is better having two small meals a day. A dog will never starve themselves.

Ours is larger (collie) but also utterly unbothered by food some days. He's a rescue so we did worry at first and try to get enough in him, but now he will eat if he wants to (as in, will scoff it!) and not if he doesn't, so breakfast goes down around 8am (grain free kibble) and if he hasn't eaten it by about 3pm it gets taken away and becomes dinner. If he has eaten it, dinner is around 6pm with us.

He's got energy, seems happy, and isn't losing weight. So we leave him to it, essentially! But I recognise that with a smaller dog there's a bit less flexibility if they lose some weight so I do sympathise.

I have a 7kg cockapoo.

She's has a licky mat at lunchtime (1/2 tiny jar of beef pate).

Raw food in her bowl anytime between 5 - 11pm.

She can go up to 3 days without eating her bowl (I put it in the fridge & present it back to her the next day).

Often has a hoof, bone, trotter etc hanging around which she can eat (after hiding it!).

She has treats when put on a walk if she does as she's told but that's it.

She is very unfussed by food generally but her favourite thing ever is the lunchtime licky mat.

I think it's a cockapoo thing as everyone I know whi has ones is also similarly unbothered by food most of the time too.

It used to really stress me out but she's now 2, happy & healthy so I've stopped worrying about it.

My two, Lab and springer, are fed on kibble. About a third at 6 a.m and the rest at 5.30. As long as your dog isn't losing weight I wouldn't worry. But try one meal a day, perhaps about 6 p.m?

Six dogs, fed dry food twice a day. The oldies get a dribble of milk (about 6 drops!) to encourage them if necessary - apparently this transform dry kibble into ambrosia!

Yep yorkie are far worse , you get morning meal ready and all she is interested in is your corn flakes , hum

Small handful of kibble for breakfast - they come running as soon as they hear the coffee machine.
Dental stick if we go out and leave them alone.
Main meal at 6pm. Kibble. Older dog insists on this and will appear at 1 minute to 6 precisely even if the clocks have gone forwards or back.
9pm Younger dog is on lifelong medication which he gets in a small piece of cheese. Older dog reminds me of this as well as he likes cheese too.

We have 2 young terrier mixes of 4kg and 7kg. Cats left overs for breakfast, lunch of fresh cooked liver or white fish or chicken breast with kibble between 12 and 2pm, proprietary wet dog food, home cooked lean meat and veg around 6pm, small bedtime snack of kibble and dentistick around 10pm.

It’s totally fine to feed her once a day if that’s what she prefers. In the agility world, it’s really common to feed a small energy breakfast (yogurt, fish and oils) and then their main meal in the evening. Why don’t you try it and see how it goes?

if you’re worried about doing it all in one go, and she will eat it from a lick mat, then do a small amount on the mat and then most of her meal at night. Because she’ll then get to rest all night, you’re not going to cause issues feeding a big meal and then exercising for example, like you would if you fed it all in the morning.

you haven’t said in your post, but have you tried toppers to entice her? Smell is a big thing for them so maybe a tin of sardines? Some cheese? Anything to get her started.