Basenji eating habits

[Kipawa]

I am curious - does your basenji eat all their food at one sitting, or does your basenji graze? Is one better than the other?

I was seeing that Kipawa was tending to graze over a period of about a half hour. I have heard that whatever food is not eaten should be taken up from the floor.

I have added a little (a tablespoon or so) of Taste of the Wild canned food, and Kipawa is now eating food at one sitting.

Thoughts/comments??

[renaultf1]

Yup…controlled feeding is the way to go, IMHO. Mine get 15 minutes to eat and if they don't, it is taken away and they don't get fed until their next meal. The great things about controlled feeding - controlled output and it is pretty simple to tell if something is wrong if they go off their food.

Both my boys may skip a meal now and again - the girls would never dream of it.

[Kananga]

@renaultf1:

Yup…controlled feeding is the way to go, IMHO. Mine get 15 minutes to eat and if they don't, it is taken away and they don't get fed until their next meal. The great things about controlled feeding - controlled output and it is pretty simple to tell if something is wrong if they go off their food.

Both my boys may skip a meal now and again - the girls would never dream of it.

+1

Always controlled. Keeps them in a consistent routine (which dogs tend to prefer) and alerts you to anything unusual.

Sometimes you just have to try a few different foods to find something they like.

[tanza]

100% agree, controlled feeding ….. same with mine, they get 15 minutes to eat and either it is gone or not... it goes away.

And yes.... renaultf1... agree... boys will sometime skip a meal... girls would not even consider it...

I usually will add something to the dry kibble as I think it is pretty boring to be eating dry food every day... keeps them interested in the food with a little mix of different things

Also I rotate the dry between 3 or 4 different ones. That way they are very used to change and I don't have to worry about introducing new foods if I want.

[DebraDownSouth]

Yep, agree… eat, don't eat, not an issue, the food is gone in 15 mins.

[Janneke]

Tillo does the "gone in 60 seconds" thing and he never skips a meal. If he would be a slow eater, I would wonder if I maybe gave him too much. And I would not give him more than 10 minutes to finish.

[Patty]

I'm always worried about a normally slow eater in a Basenji. In my opinion it is not typical of the breed unless there is a problem. If i had a grazing eater (and there was no physical problem) I would try other food until I found what suited. I find that adult males are sometimes picky during the mating season but this I normally resolve by either feeding meat only or letting them choose whether they have a meal or not - in my house food is never left down as there is always someone ready to finish it off within seconds!!.

[lvoss]

I have two boys that had the tendency to be grazers, father and son. I do keep both on a schedule and pick up food if they don't eat after their allotted time. I don't think it is unusual for some dogs to be this way but I like to establish good eating habits.

[sharronhurlbut]

Good advice here Fran. How is your little jewel doing??

[Shaye's Mom]

My girls started out being grazers, but I found myself worrying who was eating more and since they are such different body types I couldn't really tell. I have been feeding them half their daily dry food in the morning with a little canned food warmed and mixed in so they really like it, and after they stop eating (about 10-15 minutes) I pick up anything left, and later in the day I do the same, but put about a handful of dry kibble down for a little bite before bed, which Shaye will sometimes take, so they don't go to sleep on an empty stomach.

[MacPack]

My Topper was a grazer, if he ate too much at one time he would throw up, but as long as he could munch off and on all day he kept a wonderful weight, so it does work for some dogs.