To keep them healthy for a long time, domestic dogs should eat at most once a day. This will keep them healthy longer as they age, new research suggests.
Pets fed once a day are less likely to be diagnosed with age-related diseases than dogs fed more often, according to a survey of more than 24,000 pet dog owners.
“Based on this study, we do not recommend that people make any changes to the way they feed their dogs,” advises Matt Kaeberlein from the University of Washington in Seattle, who led the study.
In 2019, Kaeberlein participated in a project to study aging in dogs and related genetic and environmental factors, with both humans and other animals involved in the study.
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The results of the study indicate that intermittent fasting can slow down aging in some animals, and successful tests of this have been carried out in mice. Kaeberlein analyzed data from the project to determine how many of the once-a-day domesticated animals developed cancer, semen and other senile diseases. In most cases, dogs fed once a day were far healthier than their plump counterparts. “I think that’s pretty strong correlative evidence,” Kaeberlein says, acknowledging that the study still didn’t establish a causal relationship. “The total amount a dog eats, rather than how often it eats, may explain the correlation – dogs fed twice a day or more may be more likely to become obese,” adds the scientist.
The research is conducted as each dog owner has the right once a year to fill out a special declaration on the Internet, on which to answer the questions. However, the team of scientists is considering conducting a trial involving switching some dogs to eating once a day to see if this affects their health.
Alex German of the University of Liverpool in the UK, who is also part of the team, believes that “people should not change the way they feed their dogs until further studies are done”.
The advice many organizations currently give is to feed dogs twice a day. Eating once a day can only benefit dogs, given their evolutionary history as hunters, Kaeberlein says—their wolf ancestors often roamed for days at a time in search of prey. The Dog Aging Project is looking for more participants and hopes to go international in 2022, Kaeberlein says.
