Do you fast your dog?

dieterherzog · 10-13-2009, 03:20 PM

I've read that fasting your dog once a while (perhaps once or twice a month) is a good thing. Has anyone ever tried this?

I know that if I ever fast my dog for a day, it would break his heart since we've gotten into a very routine of walk --> potty --> food --> snuggle --> play down to a pat and he KNOWS when he'll get food and gets ultra excited. If we're late even by an hour he curls up into a ball and looks like he'll drop dead.

Anyone ever had an experience with fasting their dogs?

RBark · 10-13-2009, 03:25 PM

Usually only when they are sick.

dieterherzog · 10-13-2009, 03:29 PM

"Fasting your dog mimics what the dog would do in the wild which is to allow the dog’s body a chance to clean itself out. It will also allow the dog’s system to focus on healing the disorder instead of digesting food."

I wonder if this is particularly useful for detoxification and helping the body get rid of toxin buildups - just like for humans, it's sometimes necessary to do that. Can this help in reducing chances of cancer?

deege39 · 10-13-2009, 03:29 PM

I've read on a few websites that support RAW diets, mention that one day out of the month they just give their dogs a meaty bone, enough of a good taste to make them think they're eating and the rest is just bone...

I'm still not clear on why you would do that? I think it said something like "detox", but I've also heard that switching diets [to a raw diet], the dogs go through a detoxification... So what would be the point to do that once a month?

I'm not really sure, but I will say that the only time I've denied my dog food was when he wasn't feeling well and every time he ate he either threw it back up or had to go outside immediately.........

RBark · 10-13-2009, 03:34 PM

Can it help? Maybe. The question is how much? There's no good research done on this. Observing that animals fast in the wild is anecdotal. True, they do fast in the wild. They also starve to death in the wild.

So I really would not take that into account. Any benefit there might be from fasting once a month will be very very trivial.

Michiyo-Fir · 10-13-2009, 05:04 PM

I don't fast Nia but she always fasts herself. She sometimes doesn't eat for 2 days or so.

I personally don't think it's necessary to fast a dog.

PappyMom · 10-13-2009, 05:12 PM

I fast for illness only, because frankly, I do not enjoy cleaning diarrhea from my carpet. =P

Michiyo-Fir · 10-13-2009, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PappyMom

I fast for illness only, because frankly, I do not enjoy cleaning diarrhea from my carpet. =P

LOL I don't enjoy any kind of liquid on my carpet. I just gave Nia her first ever raw chicken meal. It was chicken breast with a few pieces of chopped chicken feet (quite small pieces like 2-3 cm in length) and somehow she ate all the breast and took all the chicken feet pieces onto my carpet

Chicken feet were the only kind of bone I had in my house...so I had no choice. I'm feeling a little traumatized right now...

RonE · 10-13-2009, 05:34 PM

If it's good for the dog, maybe it's good for the owner. How many here fast voluntarily? (Skipping breakfast doesn't count.)

If we truly want to mimic what a wild dog would experience, we should make them hunt or scavenge their own food.

luvntzus · 10-13-2009, 05:36 PM

I definitely don't fast my dogs. They vomit bile if they don't eat about every 10 hours.

dieterherzog · 10-13-2009, 05:48 PM

So the general consensus is not to fast? I'm trying to put him on raw here in the next couple of months so this is all good learning experience.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RonE

If it's good for the dog, maybe it's good for the owner. How many here fast voluntarily? (Skipping breakfast doesn't count.)

If we truly want to mimic what a wild dog would experience, we should make them hunt or scavenge their own food.

I fast voluntarily - like once a year, only because most of the other time I pig out tons and it's a great way to look fit for summer

.

My dog eats better than I do and if anything, he'll get the grass-fed beef and I'll get the gigantic 12lb bags o' ground meat from Costco.

Canadian Dog · 10-13-2009, 08:13 PM

I don't fast Molly. The odd time she'll skip a day on her own and then resume eating regularly. I let her decide if she's hungry as she never over eats.

pugmom · 10-13-2009, 08:17 PM

I surprised to see how many dogs here actually skip a feeding on their own?....my guys can hear a piece of popcorn hit the floor from two rooms away.....they would never voluntarily miss even a crumb of food LOL

RonE · 10-13-2009, 08:29 PM

I suspect that, if Esther thought I was more than a few minutes late for her breakfast or supper, I would risk losing a limb or two.

Molly is only slightly less voracious. When I feed five dogs together, I can predict in exactly what order they'll finish.

Kathyy · 10-13-2009, 08:29 PM

That is the way my dogs act too. Well not Sassy, she cannot hear well enough any more. The only time they fast is when they had upset stomachs.

Today Max got a big meal, about twice his usual feed so he will be getting about half his usual for a couple days. He can be fasted since he has been fed raw but it just doesn't seem to be right for him. On kibble he had bile vomits a couple times a month and on raw about twice in the past year.

I do have to play, train and treat him when Sassy eats or he gets grouchy so even though I feed him once a day he gets a few grams of treats several times a day.

wolfsnaps · 10-13-2009, 08:48 PM

My dogs sometimes fast on their own. They get good food but sometimes they just don't want to eat. Ocassionally, I will fast them, depending on what they have been eating (I.E. they have a huge raw meal, they fast the next day). When they are just getting dry kibble, they seem to be ok with missing a meal now and then. I figure dog kibble is like...cereal. Nutritious, but boring after a while.

BentletheYentle · 10-13-2009, 09:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pugmom

I surprised to see how many dogs here actually skip a feeding on their own?....my guys can hear a piece of popcorn hit the floor from two rooms away.....they would never voluntarily miss even a crumb of food LOL

LOL, this is exactly what I was thinking! I think Bentley would be depressed if he ever had to skip a meal...there is nothing he loves more than food.