.Coyote wrote:UGH! Does anyone else's dogs eat less food and altogether seem uninterested in it during the summer? This is the first year one of my dogs have, though I know he has always had more trouble than the other one to stand the heat. So I called the vet and asked about it, and the first thing she said was "does he live outside?". Yes -_-.
She said it was pretty normal, and that they were more likely to eat more food early in the morning and late in the afternoon, and that if he is otherwise acting normal he should be fine. But I've dropped his meals from 4 cups a day to three, and it still isn't all being eaten. He gets all excited like normal when he sees the food, but then I put it down and he just eats reaaal slow like, always taking breaks to look around between chews. And somewhere in there he just leaves the rest!
I've been giving him three meals a day for that reason, to space out the food and that seems to help a little. So does feeding in a kong toy, like it gets him more interested in the food that way? But I only have the large kong, thinking it would be big enough for my large dog (aha, no), so it takes a really long time to feed him with that. Anyway, later I think I'll mix in some good stuff with his food and see what he does. Maybe he is just bored of it.
What are you feeding? 4 cups sounds liek a lot anyways. xD
I wouldn't be worried, I feed my two one large meal around midnight everyday. They both get 2~ cups of food. As long as he isn't getting to skinny, ribs are fine showing as long as he maintains muscle. Unhealthy weightloss includes muscle loss, look for muscle receeding along the spine and hip bones being see-able. Ribs = healthy. Spine and hip bones = not. =)
Durring the summer dogs also typically do not need as much food since they do not have to keep themselves warm. My girls get their food bumped up in the winter, then cut back in the warmer months.
