Two bowls or one?

Question

I have two dogs, they've eaten out of the same food bowl since they've been together, and I've tried to get them each their own dishes but they always ate out of each other's or just ate out of one. So is it ok to just feed them in the same dish and let them share? I feed them dry food-it is sitting in the bowl all day so they eat when they want to.

Answer 1

Well, you could allow them to share one bowl, but I'd recommend splitting them up at meal times, putting down separate food dishes in different rooms and closing the door in between and what they don't eat in 15 min gets put away till the next meal.

The reason why I recommend this is that, quite often one dog or another will need to be put on a diet, and feeding once in a.m. and once in p.m. and NOT leaving food down for free feed is the only way to control the diet of the one who needs the diet. AND... if one has to be controlled, so does the other. It's really the only way it works.

I have 3 and 2 need diets. I feed the slender boy an added meal when he asks for it, which is usually around lunchtime. Since each is only allowed to eat out of his/her own bowl ONLY, I give my two dieters a specific lowered amount of food at each meal.

Answer 2

If THEY don't mind eating out of one bowl, and YOU don't mind them eating out of one bowl, then I don't see how there can be anything wrong with it.

I tried the same thing with two bowls, thinking they would each want their own, or they would get touchy around their food. Soon, it became clear they they didn't mind sharing at all, and almost seemed to prefer sharing one bowl to eating from separate bowls. Since I didn't care either way, I let them decide. I took one bowl away and have never had a problem.

As long as you are keeping track of their weight (gain or loss) and how much each is eating (since suddenly not eating can point to health problems), then it's fine. If you can't keep track of these things, then you may want to go back to separate bowls. Otherwise though, I'd say it's perfectly fine.

Answer 3

When ever I've had two dogs I've always feed them in separate bowls. If you try to put two bowls down now they probably wouldn't eat out of separate bowls anyway. Just make sure they're both getting a good amount of food. My other thought is have you spoken to your Vet about this, and if so what do they suggest? I also have two cats now and a dog and the funny thing is the kitten will eat out of our dog's dish and sometimes he'll let her and sometimes not. I don't think it's unhealthy for them to eat out of the same bowl, my only concern is that they're both getting enough to eat. They just seem to be really close to each other and that's not a bad thing, I mean who knows if you tried to force them to eat out of separate bowls it may scar them for life. Who knows with dogs? LOL I hope this helps.

Answer 4

One thing to consider in a situation such as this is the likelihood that both of your dogs are eating exactly HALF of the food in the bowl. If not, then you have your alpha-male likely eating the larger portion of the meal - while the other dog has to deal with being underfed.
Another thing to take into consideration is your decision to leave the food out all day. Imagine sitting at a table in a high class restaurant's where food is constantly being placed on the table; now imagine sitting at the McDonalds drive-thru. Although you're likely to order more while at the drive-thru, you're much more likely to overeat at the restaurant. This is because the food is right in front of you all night. Similarly, by leaving your dogs' food out all day, you are simply asking for them to overeat!

My suggestion is: when feeding time comes around, take both dogs into different rooms. By feeding both dogs separately, one does not have the opportunity to intimidate the other for food - thus, both eat a healthy portion of food.
After about fifteen minutes, pull the food away and allow the dogs to come into contact with each other. By pulling the food, you teach your dog to eat its meal completely at once (while simultaneously ensuring that your dog's do not have the opportunity to overeat throughout the day).
Do all of this for about a week or so, until it becomes a habit for your dogs to eat in separate bowls. Then, if you'd like, slowly start reintroducing them to one another during meal time. By now the dogs will be so used to eating separately, they will forget their previous habit of eating out of the same bowl!
=D

Hope this helps!


[One problem that you may see arising as you choose to execute the plan I recommended above is that one - or quite possibly both - of your dogs will not eat all of their food. If this happens, I recommend mixing their dry food with a small amount of canned food. The new smell will entice the dogs and they'll eventually forget that they've been separated and likely concentrate on simply eating their delicious meals...]

Answer 5

If they seem to be doing fine, why change it? Some dogs have food aggression issues, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. As long as both are eating, what difference would two bowls make?
=)

Answer 6

as long as they do not fight it is fine. I had the same problem and I just kept on training them to use each their bowls. It worked. They now drink from the same bowl only

Answer 7

One bowl is fine as long as they don't fight over it. My dogs always ate out of the same bowl.

Answer 8

My dogs REFUSE to eat out of different bowls. When one gets empty they both move over to the next one. I can't figure out why I still use two bowls????? They have never fought or even growled about it.

Answer 9

We have one bowl - it's been shared by as many as three dogs and two cats. Every now and then there's a fight, but not very often. They kind of set up a pecking order . The top dog will eat until it's full, they won't overeat.

Answer 10

One bowl is fine as long as they are both on the same food but say one is still a pup then that one should be fed seperate and fed puppy food.