Free feed or timed/ bones

I free fed my cats but I feed my dog once a day. My dog is on a raw diet so the raw chicken will be just fine as long as it's fresh.

My girl is fed twice a day, and she clans her dish in short order.  However, one golden I had liked to eat a little, go play, came back and eat, go play, and he sometimes took a couple of hours to clean his pan.  Most say i should have taken his pan up after 15 minutes and made him wait til next meal.  BUT I am a slow eater and I want to tak my time eating.  Hubby is always LONG done, gne outan ha iscigartte, beforeifins. And one f my granddaughers is like that.  So, I never forced Hunter to eafaster than he wanted to and he maintaine weight of 77 to 79 pounds his entire adult life--til ProHeart the 6 month heart worm preventative injection killed him at 4 years.

i will say when you have more tha one dogs, this can smetimes be hard to do, but we worked it out.

 My dog's diets consist of mainly raw chicken.  Bones and all.  You want to avoid cooked bones of any kind, but the majority of dogs can eat raw bones.  The myth that chicken bones are bad for dogs is just that, a myth, unless they're cooked of course.  Chicken bones are rubbery and don't splinter.  And if your dog chews his food properly he'll be fine. 

That said, since my dogs eat raw food, having it available for them at all times would just be gross.  LOL.  Feeding kibble is a different story.  If you feed just dry kibble, there's nothing really wrong with leaving their food out all the time with the provision of a few things.  First of all, you want to measure the amount of food you set out everyday, so that you always know how much your dog is eating in a day.  This is often the first sign that something is wrong with your dog that might need vet care.  Next, your dog needs to be able to regulate himself.  Some dogs are natually chow hounds, that is, they eat whatever they can get into.  These dogs will just make themselves fat if free fed.  Other dogs, some breeds commonly, are self regulators.  My dogs, if fed kibble would regulate themselves I think.  I know my big dog would, maybe not my little one.  

To specifically answer your question, I feed once a day, with small treats throughout.

Cheyanne gets feed 1 cup of kibble in the morning and a raw chicken leg and thigh at supper. She also gets whatever left overs we happen to have.

Lillie gets 2 cups of kibble in the morning with an egg, a raw chicken leg and thigh in the middle of the day, and 2 cups of kibble with yogurt at night.

Kujo gets free feed from 8am to 6 pm. She gets a little cooked chicken once in a while, not often though.

I personally try to avoid free feeding only because it sometimes leads to overweight dogs/cats.

My dogs are fed kibble in the morning, then raw in the evening. Same goes with the cats and ferrets, actually.

A raw chicken leg is great to feed! I wish I could feed all my animals raw full time, but it's just not financially possible with 4 dogs, 2 cats and 3 ferrets. So I do my best and feed half commercial and half raw.

free-feeding is such a bad idea. Leads to fat dogs, devalues food, messes up potty schedules, removes one of your most important resources from your control, destroys your best way to detect serious illness early. Carefully measure out the amount of food your dog needs to maintain a healthy thin body weight and feed. Twice a day is probably the best for most dogs. If your dog doesn't eagerly consume the amount of food given within a few minutes something is wrong.

I always have fed twice a day, controlled feedings and have read studies that say dogs live longer fed this way.  However, now that I work 4 days a week, I've been just putting  the dog's breakfast down when I am getting ready for work and she definitely is just picking at at b/c she anticipates me leaving.(she's a little skittish girl)  One day last week the food was still in the bowl when I got home at 5:15.  I'm thinking now to just feed once a day in the evening and give her a couple of dog biscuits in the morning or maybe just give canned in the AM (I know she will eat all of that).

huskymom

Some dogs are natually chow hounds, that is, they eat whatever they can get into. 

He was in a foster home before we got him.  He and the other 10-12 dogs were given a couple huge pans of food once a day.....and it was a free for all !   When he first joined us...mealtime was real interesting     OTH, I have a friend with a Jack Russel who free feeds and self regulates.  It will take him days to go through a big bowl of food.

 Now, Baily gets a very specific amount twice a day.  

 Somebody else mentioned leaving a measured amount down for the day.  I think that could work depending on the dog.  You control the caloric intake and are still monitoring how much gets eaten.  If you have more than one animal in the house......I wouldn't recommend it.   We have 1 dog and 3 cats.  Everybody is fed twice a day so we can keep on top of things.
 

My 2 dogs get fed measured meals twice a day.  I want to keep a close eye on what they take in and what comes out.

The 3 cats are free fed; and I've beent thinking about changing that to designated meal time...the youngest cat is overweight.

mudpuppy

If your dog doesn't eagerly consume the amount of food given within a few minutes something is wrong.

That is not necessarily true. 

Tootsie is fed 2x daily. If she doesn't eat, I know something is wrong. I used to free feed the cat, but she has a lovely habit of eating as much as she can and puking it up. Very nice. She is now fed 3x daily, dry food and canned. 

I prefer to feed on a schedule.  Both my cats and my dogs are fed twice a day.

I feed raw chicken wings/legs whenever I have them, no problems.