# Using an Automatic Dog Feeder



## Mfmst (Jun 18, 2014)

No experience with automatic feeders, sorry. I always moisten Buck's kibble, so I doubt if he would eat dry kibble unless he was desperate. I can imagine him pushing the lever to amuse himself and making a big kibble mess on the kitchen floor


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## Beautiful Blue (Apr 24, 2017)

What would be the advantage over simply putting their allotted food out for them to eat as desired during the day.

What has worked best for me lately with our re-homed 2 year old male is to simply put out in the morning 2 of the 3 cups of kibble that he's supposed to eat per day. He usually will eat some or even all of it by mid afternoon.

If there is any left in the early evening, I add the remaining 1 cup to it - moisten it a little - and he eats.


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## blueroan (Dec 28, 2015)

Mine is VERY picky. We found that she simply will not eat in the morning, other than a few treats. So we feed her dinner that is cooked (usually ground beef, peas, and other things like that) and have a treat ball with kibble. If she's hungry during the day she goes and eats out of the ball. Otherwise she doesn't eat kibble, even for dinner (we tried). 

Giving her the choice seems to have worked for her well. Some days she doesn't eat the kibble at all, other days she asks for refills. So it's been good because this dog is SO hard to put weight on!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

The only problem I would have about automatic feeders is that if it is too large the kibble will get stale....kibble starts deteriorating the minute you open the bag, and some kibbles even become rancid because of the oil content in them. I only put out my dog's daily measured amount of kibble in her bowl as she is a 'grazer' and it may take her all day to eat!! ( She does get a raw meal in the A.M. that she eats immediately!) Of course with more than 1 dog this would probably not be possible to do cuz you could end up with a dog not getting enough while the other gets fat! LOL!


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## PoodleDoodles (Jul 25, 2017)

Beautiful Blue said:


> What would be the advantage over simply putting their allotted food out for them to eat as desired during the day.
> 
> What has worked best for me lately with our re-homed 2 year old male is to simply put out in the morning 2 of the 3 cups of kibble that he's supposed to eat per day. He usually will eat some or even all of it by mid afternoon.
> 
> If there is any left in the early evening, I add the remaining 1 cup to it - moisten it a little - and he eats.


We have a very...special... cat in the house who has made himself sick form eating the dogs food before. I can't understand how the food is that different for each animal that it made a cat puke for a whole night, but we now need to make sure that he isn't tempted(however difficult that might be) and still work around the finicky eaters in the house.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

If it weren't for the situation with the cat I would also recommend free feeding the poodles. If you can figure out a way to keep the cat away from the dog food that really would be my answer.


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## twyla (Apr 28, 2010)

No real advise, but I do feel your pain. I have four little dogs and one big cat.

My eldest poodle is on a kidney diet which is at the moment canned lamb.
My youngest poodle is intolerant of chicken, beef and especially lamb.
My middle poodle will over eat if you allow her
My non poodle is food agressive, and a finicky eater

The cat has megacolon and can only eat his prescription diet otherwise he will get very ill

The solution is...Everyone is fed seperately and exactly at the same time. They are given 10-15 minutes to finish their meal which they are fed twice daily.

For the finicky one I rotate her food which helps along with picking up what she doesn't eat, occasionally she is still hungry and has learned to come get me.


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## PoodleDoodles (Jul 25, 2017)

twyla said:


> No real advise, but I do feel your pain. I have four little dogs and one big cat.
> 
> My eldest poodle is on a kidney diet which is at the moment canned lamb.
> My youngest poodle is intolerant of chicken, beef and especially lamb.
> ...



I tried this before and it didn't work too well as Joey is stubborn enough to just not eat if he doesn't want to and then go hungry all day until I get back from work. Maybe I should give it another try before shelling out for an automatic feeder though.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Not to say this is what happened here, because I know poodles can be pilly eaters (Lily is and so is my mom's mpoo), but I remember an episode of a vet show where a woman brought an Afghan Hound to the clinic because the dog wouldn't drink unless she added milk to its water. The vet couldn't find anything physically wrong with the dog and decided it was a chicken vs. egg issue and told the woman to stop putting the milk in the water and let the dog decide it was thirsty enough to drink water and it did just that.

I would stick with a simple solution as much as possible. For example with my mom's very picky eater I always give him about 15 minutes to eat his food on the first day he visits at my home. The next day he gets ten minutes. After that he gets five minutes. At the end of the allotted time period I don't pick the food up, but instead send one of my dogs to eat his food in front of him. He now always eats right when his food goes down while he visits and has generally been a more consistently good eater when he is at his own home too.


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## Beautiful Blue (Apr 24, 2017)

For what it's worth, when I brought home the 4 month old cream girl to be Brown Clown's companion = end of picky eating. Because Cream Girl was from her breeder's gang of a few dogs and still a pup, she had a good and ready appetite for whatever was offered. And it stimulated Brown to eat.

I always talk about how much the younger learned from the older, but the Brown picked up a few things from the presence and behavior of the younger too! 

GO to them (with enthusiasm) when they call.
EAT (right away) when they feed you.
JUST DO IT (don't always complain) when asked to go to your room.


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## PoodleDoodles (Jul 25, 2017)

lily cd re said:


> Not to say this is what happened here, because I know poodles can be pilly eaters (Lily is and so is my mom's mpoo), but I remember an episode of a vet show where a woman brought an Afghan Hound to the clinic because the dog wouldn't drink unless she added milk to its water. The vet couldn't find anything physically wrong with the dog and decided it was a chicken vs. egg issue and told the woman to stop putting the milk in the water and let the dog decide it was thirsty enough to drink water and it did just that.
> 
> I would stick with a simple solution as much as possible. For example with my mom's very picky eater I always give him about 15 minutes to eat his food on the first day he visits at my home. The next day he gets ten minutes. After that he gets five minutes. At the end of the allotted time period I don't pick the food up, but instead send one of my dogs to eat his food in front of him. He now always eats right when his food goes down while he visits and has generally been a more consistently good eater when he is at his own home too.



Hmm that seems like it could work. I was very that meticulous when I try and feed the boys. I think I will still look at a simple automatic feed if I can find one so that if these suggestions don't work I can try that the next day. Thanks for the advice!


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## Beautiful Blue (Apr 24, 2017)

PoodleDoodles said:


> I tried this before and it didn't work too well as Joey is stubborn enough to just not eat if he doesn't want to and then go hungry all day until I get back from work. Maybe I should give it another try before shelling out for an automatic feeder though.



But to set your mind at ease a little...I am home all day, my 2 year old healthy male, Rio, has access to his food from about 9:00 in the morning.

We get up about 6:30. He goes for a walk with my husband. I play with him in the back yard after we inspect and work in the garden. Etc. I make sure he has fresh water, and put out his kibble. Which he likes. 

But which he doesn't eat until 3: or 4: o'clock in the afternoon typically.

Why? I do not know, but he does not eat until then, even though he is quite active.


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## PoodleDoodles (Jul 25, 2017)

Beautiful Blue said:


> But to set your mind at ease a little...I am home all day, my 2 year old healthy male, Rio, has access to his food from about 9:00 in the morning.
> 
> We get up about 6:30. He goes for a walk with my husband. I play with him in the back yard after we inspect and work in the garden. Etc. I make sure he has fresh water, and put out his kibble. Which he likes.
> 
> ...


That does ease my mind a bit. Lately I have been pulling long shifts as our other chef walked out and my sous is almost useless. I know that the dogs are not getting enough time with me already, so I don't want their feeding to suffer as well


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## PoodleDoodles (Jul 25, 2017)

PoodleDoodles said:


> Hey PoodleForum, loving the vibe on here so far. Everyone is so friendly and encouraging.
> 
> I have been thinking about getting an automatic feeder for my poodles lately. They are very picky about when they eat (not at the same time each day normally) and this means that sometimes they suddenly want food when I am either not there or there is something else happening(like us eating). We used automatic feeders on the farm before so the dogs could eat whenever they were hungry but that with with a lot bigger dogs.
> 
> Are there any feeders you can recommend? I have looked at some online and the choices are so diverse. There are some that are obviously too big, but some seem like they could be a good choice but it is hard to tell how heavy the food door is. Any advice that you lovely people have would be amazing


I have decided to try some of the suggestions that everyone here has given meas to how I could get the dogs to not be such picky eaters and lets hope it works! I have a little bit of extra time off this week so I should be able to spend more time with them. I did however pick up an automatic dog feeder as well, I saw it for a really good price at http://www.used.forsale/automatic-dog-feeder so I got it in case this doesn't work, and then I will be able to try it out right away. Thanks again everyone!


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Let us know how it goes. If you post your solutions then there will be additional resource for people who are searching on this topic. We also want to know that you got a system that works!


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