Leo is a 8 month old male lab. I have been feeding him 2x a day, morning and dinner. The last week or so he has almost seemed uninterested in eating. Usually when I put the food down, he would eat quickly and lick the bowl clean, now I put the food down and he would rather play. He still eats, just not nearly as fast and with as much excitement. Today for breakfast, I was just going to take his food away and feed him for dinner, I have heard people say they do this and not allow free feeding.

Should I just be feeding him 1x a day? When does everyone switch to feeding 1x a day?

You can switch to once a day at 6 months if you want to. At 8 months he should have most of his adult size and I often find myself cutting back a little to maintain a good lean condition, see http://www.longliveyourdog.com/twoplus/RateYourDog.aspx His joints still are developing, and over weight will put them under stress. For the same reason, it is better to switch to an adult chow at 4 months. It slows growth giving more time to develop sturdy joints.

No matter what else you do, I would take up uneaten food after 15 minutes.

I always feed twice a day and always have to my guys, other than when they were puppies I then fed them 3x day.

Should I just be feeding him 1x a day? When does everyone switch to feeding 1x a day?


Personally, I prefer to feed my lab twice a day. I prefer him to not have empty stomach throughout the day and then just gulp down his food. When I went out of town for business, my husband did that because it was convenient for him but my lab ended up with gassy stomach and a bit loose stool. I think as he was gulping down his food (since it was his only meal) he was also gulping down air. Anyway, we have since went back to feeding him twice a day.

You can definitely cut back the amount per feeding.