The American Beagler Forum

Normally I feed my dogs once a day. Now that its getting cold, I am thinking of feeding them twice a day and adding water to make a gravy. Do you guys change your feeding habits in the cold weather?

I don't add a feeding, but I do increase the amount that I feed my outside dogs when the temperature drops. They burn more energy living outside in the cold, so they need that extra food.

Like dog said in cold weather a dog will burn more energy to stay warm thus needing more feed . I
actually add warm water in the real cold weather and feed after dark . Straw works well in keeping
them warm to . 2 waterings a day wouldn't hurt anything .

I feed my hounds twice a day year around... about a half a cup in the morning and evening during the hotter
less active months... but when it gets cold I go to about 3/4 cup twice a day and I change from black gold
26/18 (black bag) to 24/20 (blue bag). They are running more and the cold evenings uses more calories to
keep warm. The higher fat content in the blue bag seems to keep everybody at a good weight during the winter.

I'm a big fan of twice a day feedings.

As far as how much to feed, I monitor that daily. If a dog is getting a little heavy I cut back a little, if they look a little thin I give them a little extra. It blows my mind that this is commonly so hard for guys to figure out. With few exceptions there is no reason for a dog to ever get real fat or real thin.

I wonder if there would be so many overweight beagle owners if they were cut back to 1/2 a cup once a day?

Mybeagles

i hear ya. i have a big self feeder setup in my kitchen, and it's starting to show.
on the dog feeding subject. when it gets cold and i start to run hard (two and the same) i switch back and forth from dry food with hot water over it and a little samon oil and what ever scraps i have. and raw = chicken quarters/beef/venison. keeps them lookin great even when i'm pounding them in deep snow.

Any drawbacks to once a day feedings?

I try and feed around 1-2 pm usually the warmest part of the day just to cut down on the time they spend exposed to the weather. I feed a lot of raw in the cold months.

I try and water twice a day though they can get dehydrated pretty quick in the cold especially if your weathers like ours and a water bowl can freeze over in an hour or two.

I keep heated water bowls. keeping a animals gut moist in winter is one of the best ways to keep livestock healthy. They will drink more water when it is not freezeing cold. Feeding twice a day also helps.

twice a day

SwampBuck wrote:Any drawbacks to once a day feedings?

Not in my opinion. I used to do the twice a day feedings until a fellow beagler mentioned that if I switched to once daily feedings my dogs would have more stamina. I don't know exactly what it is but I tried it and sure enough they can last all day now, when I go up North I like to run 8+ hrs a day, with twice daily feedings my dogs were dragging after around 5 hrs now with the once daily feedings they last 8 hrs and they still have some spring in their step when I leave. The other advantages are that their bowel movements are out of the way when I load up in the morning, they also come in easier when I call them at the end of the day because they are ready for dinner. I feed my dogs when I get home from my hunt (there's a hour plus ride home so they are settled down by then) and I give them a little snack just before I go to bed of either a biscuit or rawhide chew. I've been doing this for a few years and I'm extremely happy with the results, my dogs look great and have energy to spare.