Senior dogs: More Frequent meals?

 Jewel does much better with tiny meals throughout the day, so I started *gasp* free feeding. They both got a little porky at first, but have slimmed back down. The frequent feeding has made a HUGE difference in her chronically upset tummy. I know, in general, that free feeding is a bad thing, but I couldn't do frequent enough meals for her.

I have tried to do free feeding for them.  I always get scared because they completley pig out!  Did your girls do that at first and then settle down?

I would be open to it if it would help, but I'm afriad he'll initially pig out and then have days of diarrhea.

 Umm, yeah. They ate a 5 lb bag of food in about a week, LOL. They did slow down, after that. If you have the ability to schedule it, schedule tiny meals. I just couldn't handle (with the recent loss of Emma, changes at work, etc) scheduling her tiny meals 4+ times a day. That is what SHE needed, so.... I just set the bowl down LOL.

Since Frisby (12 years old) got sick with IMHA (nasty autoimmune disorder where the body kills its own red blood cells), I've fed her 4 times a day (breakfast, lunch, supper, bed time) to help her deal with the hunger that results from taking lots of prednisone. (She was fed twice a day before that.) She's done well with the smaller, more frequent meals and I'll probably continue with it even when she's off the meds. (We might go to 3 meals instead of 4.)  Lately, she's gone back to a pre-sickness habit of eating her breakfast mid-morning (brunch, so to speak). 

Willow is 9 or 10 years old and she gets three small meals a day. 

Thanks guys,

I am going to try him on 3 meals a day see if that helps him.  He also is loosing weight and looking pretty skinny, hopefully it helps.