Putting weight on a dog

PoundPuppy

Hi All,

My landlord doesn't provide proper care for his very sweet Shepard. Now that its getting cold i've started bring her inside (I called and told him she was here if he wanted to pick her up... surprise, no answer!) and she really needs weight on her. You can see her ribs and her hip bones and her coat is dull. I've started soaking her food in warm water because she has bad teeth (even though she's only 2-3yo) but I was wondering if there was anything else I could do to help.

I mainly do horses and I use oil for them and would def. de worm them first, same sort of thing? Obviously horse de-wormer woudl be way too much for her.

rosemaryninja

Before giving her anything I would first bring her to the vet. Bring a fresh stool sample if you can, so they can check for parasites.

All about Eva

You can always start her on puppy food. yeah deworming is a great idea because you are going to never put weight on her if she has worms real bad. plus who knows if she has ever seen a vet. Good luck with your new dog(haa ha) Heck maybe youll get a discount on your rent!!!

Bellasmom

One way we always kept weight on our hunting dogs during the winter was to make a white gravy (grease drippings with milk and flour) and pour it over their dog food. It helps to put the weight on.

Willowy

Raw ground beef (not the low-fat type....the cheap 70% lean stuff) will really put weight on a healthy dog. You do have to make sure she's healthy first, so a vet visit is needed. But if the vet gives her a clean bill of health, the ground beef, in conjunction with a decent dry dog food (no generics or anything cheaper than Purina Dog Chow), should fatten her up. For maximum calories, Google "satin balls" and try that.

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PoundPuppy

Thanks guys... the Satin Balls look awesome. I forgot to mention she was seen by the vet in the last 6 months because she was taken in by Animal Control and he had to pay for all the vet care before he could get her back. I honestly think she just doesn't have any food. She frantically eats all the grain the horses eat at the barn.

Zoe'sMom

Thank you for being so nice to this dog! I'd try to keep her away from the horse's grain, my gut tells me that would be bad (maybe cause blockages?). I agree with all the weight gain tricks the others gave, especially putting her on a puppy food.

If she saw a vet 6 months ago then for now I'd keep an eye on her stool, it doesn't take long for a dog to pick up a worm, especially if they're having to scavenge for their own food. If she doesn't pick up any weight, or of course, if you see something in the stool, take her back to the vet for ID and meds.

Good luck!

rcravey

I am currently fostering a little Jack Russell that has heartworms. He is at the end of his treatment and is doing fantastic, however, when we first got him he was fairly thin. I discovered that he loves the Science Diet chicken canned food and so I have been feeding it to him for the past 3 weeks or so. He has really put on weight. Maybe you can find a food that he really loves (and that is good for him) and he will eat enough of it to help him gain weight. All of my doggies love the Science Diet canned food. It's like Thanksgiving dinner to them.

rosemaryninja

Science Diet canned food is yummy to dogs because they drizzle it with things like bacon drippings that taste and smell wonderful, but are nutritionally disastrous to them. If you learn a little bit about dog food ingredients and what dogs need in their diets, take a look at the Science Diet ingredients list and you'll notice it's full of fillers and preservatives that are doing nothing for your dog nutritionally. Think of it as being the McDonalds of dog food. They'll eat it, and it'll fill their stomachs, but it's not healthy for them at all.

rcravey

Melissa,

I was surprised to read your response. I am very familiar with dog food ingredients and am very careful about what foods I feed my dogs. The top two ingredients in the Science Diet canned food are water and chicken...which is good. I read the ingredients on the label and find nothing that indicates it contains bacon drippings.

SMoore

Science Diet is over priced for what it is. I wouldn't pay more then $20 for it, it's garbage. Vets get paid by Hills (who also pays for a portion of their nutrition training) to sell Science Diet to people who don't know any better.

It is nothing but by products, low quality gains and other fillers that offer little to no nutritional value. Which might be fine if you're a pig, but not a dog.

Do some reviews on science diet and see for yourself: http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_f...t=1028&cat=all

Dogs need MEAT in their diet.

According to dogfoodanalysis these are the ingredients:

ngredients:
Ground Whole Grain Corn, Chicken By-Product Meal, Soybean Meal, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid), Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Liver Flavor, Dicalcium Phosphate, Brewers Rice, Fish Oil, Flaxseed, Soybean Oil, Iodized Salt, Choline Chloride, Potassium Chloride, Vitamin E Supplement, vitamins (L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), Vitamin E Supplement, Niacin, Thiamine Mononitrate, Vitamin A Supplement, Calcium Pantothenate, Biotin, Vitamin B12 Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Riboflavin, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement), minerals (Ferrous Sulfate, Zinc Oxide, Copper Sulfate, Manganous Oxide, Calcium Iodate, Sodium Selenite), preserved with Mixed Tocopherols and Citric Acid, Beta-Carotene, Rosemary Extract.


As far as for fattening up a dog, i second the satin balls, it's worked wonders for me when I adopted Max and he was pretty skinny.

rcravey

Thanks for the link to the Dog Food Review website. There is a load of great content on there. Unfortunately, they have not done a review of the specific food I am feeding my dogs but I'm anxious to get back to the site and find a replacement anyway.

Willowy

Most canned foods are better than the dry foods of the same brand. The only thing wrong with the Hill's canned food that I didn't like is the corn and by-products (ingredient list: http://www.petfooddirect.com/store/p...9F29XNC2D64S4F ).....for that price you can easily get a food that doesn't have by-products or corn. I'm sure it would help a dog to fatten up, but I prefer to go with a more natural option.

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