What are YOUR VIEWS ON FREE FEEDING PUGS???

[Pat's Crew]

I was chatting to this lady in bulldog rescue and she free feeds all her dogs out of the same dish.
I said if I did that the pugs would gorge themselves over and over again. she said they would be soon they would learn the food is always there
and regulate their own body weight better then a diet..
any thoughts on free feeding
I can see where this could bring up a host of issues with guarding the food dish too...she said yes that happens too..but if the guarder is not eating..you just spray them and away they go and they soon learn to NOT guard the dish

hmmmm a different idea

any thoughts?

[Wally 'n' Leto]

LETO WOULD WEIGH A TON IF WE FREE FED HIM; wALLY WOULD BE ok.

(sorry caps lock)

I don't think every animal can figure out how to self-regulate; they say free fed horses on 24h turnout will never get fat, but Dakota got to be 450 lbs overweight. If you never feel full, you never learn.... I know some people like that too... hmmm....

[Wonka & Nilla]

she said soon they would learn the food is always there and regulate their own body weight better then a diet.

LOL Nilla would "regulate" her body weight up to 40 pounds!!!!

[Pat's Crew]

that is my views exactly
lol
huge huge huge pugs..lol

[Tinker's mom]

I think Tinker would eat until she exploded!!

[diesels.mom]

we free feed... kind of. We put 1 cup of food into the bowl in the morning before we leave, so it's not like they can eat and eat and eat. They usually have some nibbles in the morning and then some nibbles once or twice in the evening. I know I'll probably get a lot of tisk-tisks! but they both manage very well: Boo probably eats almost 2/3 cup a day (which is fine, because he is skinny!) and Diesel only eats about 1/3 a day. Usually there is food left over at the end of the day - which makes up part of their 1 cup for the next day.

They also don't eat when nobody is home..

[Pat's Crew]

she says that some rescues will eat and eat until they sick then do it again but soon they get the idea the food is staying. she feeds all her dogs free feeding
personally this will NOT work with 3 overweight pugs that I am sure would die of overeating.. they would gorge and gorge and gorge all the time
not going this route with my group here
Zeena is soo tiny she needs her food and the two big pugs would take over the food dish if the bullies did not get it first...so NOT happening..lol here

[Snifter]

[Beautifully_Chaotic]

I think whiskey would make himself sick, hes always trying to eat, weather its dog food or crumbs or bugs and plants outside. I did have a pug/shitzu mix that was free fed with great results, but he was one of those dogs with no appetite hardly.

[6 Beautiful Pugs]

I used to free feed my big dogs, for the most part they maintained a good weight, a couple of the older females were slightly chunky. I also fed table scraps. A huge problem that came up was rats and mice and stray cats being attracted to the food left out. Also spoiling in the rain (I kept the food outside, under the eave).

When I first got Marty I free fed him as well and he was the fattest little pug puppy ever! We stopped and put him on a schedule when he had double FHO surgery (dogs who have FHO surgery should be kept very lean) and a bout of pancreatitis. No more pancreatitis issues for him.

Some dogs can do it, but most pugs can't.

Take care,
Lisa