I’ve never seen or read anything reliable about letting the digestive tract “rest.” My reasoning for wanting dogs fed regular individual meals has more to do with my experiences in the vets office. People who free feed can never tell the vet how their dogs’ appetite is when it comes in suddenly sick. They have no idea if the dog ate nothing, picked at it a little, ate about half what it usually does, or what. Also If you use toppers or wet the food in any way, the food needs to be eaten in a timely manner or it becomes a breeding ground for bacteria.
