How to help her gain weight.
Another question about Molly! When we took her to the vet they told us she needed to gain some weight. She's 15 months old and about 65 lbs. She does feel pretty thin. We can feel her ribs and her spine pretty easily. The woman we adopted her from had lost her home and Molly and her father had been living on a farm outside since last July. Apparently her dad was pretty mean about taking her food. Now that she's with us, she doesn't seem to have much of an appetite. Any ideas how to bulk her up without drastically changing her diet and causing tummy troubles? Thanks! Jami and Molly Blue http://www.facebook.com/media/set/fbx/? ... 190cb80dd3 |
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| Small frequent meals are one way. If she just seems to be getting full, she may be able to consume more food in a day fed like this. Also, one thing I did for weight gain was read labels for some specific info. Many foods are now listing kcal/cup. This is the number of calories in each cup of food. This way, they get the most caloric content for however much they can eat. If it's not on the bag, it usually is listed on the manufacturer's website. I actually went down the aisles reading bags and settled on one that was readily available and ingredients I liked and a price I was comfortable with. The one I got was around 510 kcal/cup. I was surprised at the wide range - many were only in the 300's. Another option is fatty or higher calorie snacks. This can be gravy-like toppings, extra snacks, or there even are recipes for items that promote weight gain - satin balls are one that has been around forever. Most important is to add whatever you chose to give a slow steady gain. Adding too much volume or too rich results in loose stools and gas...not good! It can also lead to actual health concerns - pancreatitis and other things. Good luck! |
she could come to my house my fatty boys will share their treats oh she is a lovey girl  |
| Oh, my, I just can't help myself from commenting on how cute she is. Her blue eye is just amazing! |
| If she's ok with all different sorts of food you could add some cheese, yoghurt or even a raw egg to her meals. Be careful of her tummy though she might not be used to rich foods. I'm guessing your vet has had you worm her too as worms can cause a dog to not gain weight. Sometimes dogs who've been stressed need to be rewormed to really get rid of an infestation. |
| Uh, 15 mos old...? With all due respect for your vet I wouldn't be stuffing her. My first OES was like that. Picky/light eater. Until one day when she was more mature that all changed and then we spent the rest of her life keeping her from porking up. Bigger issue is you don't want excess weight on a large breed dog (encourages joint problems). Most vets who predominantly see pets seem to develop warped notions of proper body conditioning since so many pet dogs are overweight. Your girl is quite likely at a very good weight, I'm guessiong she could maybe use a little muscling is all. It's not like you have her on a diet. When she's ready to put on some weight, she will. That's my philosophy, at least. Of course, my girls tried to sabotage me writing this post and are just waiting for me to leave my computer so they can PM you and get your vet's name!  Kristine |
| Better thin than overweight. There is a "treat" called Satin balls that is a nutrient dense weight put on recipe. Since she is still a growing pup tho, it is not necessarily recommended as joint plates are still strenghening. We started to use Satin Balls on our oldest Boxer when she hit 2+years as she is a hard one to keep weight on. |
| I kinda go with Kristine on this. Too many pups are too.......fluffy. At that age is she growing in strange directions which often leads to a lean pup. Also she may not be a good eater. Paige was like that, Miss Fussy all her life. Even a vet commented on it and I explained, "This is her choice." Several comments about satin balls, here is the recipe: 10 lbs. ground meat 1 jar wheat germ 1 large box of oatmeal uncooked 1.25 cups vegetable oil 10 eggs 10 sm. pkgs unflavored gelatin 1.25 cups unflvored molasses pinch of salt 1 large box Total cereal (about 2 lbs) Mix all well. Portion out as desired, for example like small meatloafs. Put into separage freezer bags and freeze, thawn as needed. Can be fed alone or with kibble. |
| I agree with Kristine too, and lean is better than overweight, however, so many oes vary so greatly in size 65 lbs may be heavy for some and drastically thin for others. How tall is she at the withers? (floor to top of shoulders) Feeling ribs is one thing, can you easily feel her spine and hip bones? A good quality food, exercise and water are probably plenty and will get her to a healthy weight at a safer rate than supplementing her diet. If she just won't eat enough you could try sprinkling a bit of parmesan on her food. |
| hi everyone, Sorry it took me awhile to get back to this. Molly is such a trooper, I just took her to the vet yesterday because she has a ruptured and infected anal gland!! I'm pretty upset since she was JUST at the groomer and they said everything back there looked good. Anyways, now she's really not eating well! I know every dog is different, and I don't want her to be overweight, but she definitely needs to gain some weight, I'm not sure how tall she is exactly, but she feels thin. We can easily feel her spine. We're trying to slowly introduce treats that she likes and help her realize that no one will take her food! Her dad was a big bully, we can see in the first pics we have of her that she was afraid of him. Even now in our house without any other dogs, she takes her food one bite at a time into another room to eat it. Hopefully when she's feeling better and feels more comfortable here she'll start eating better! Thanks so much for the advice and treat recipes! Jami and Molly Blue |
| OUCH!!! |
| Oh that's a shame that's she's not well now. I hope she's feeling better soon and eating better. Maybe she would be more comfortable if you put her in a small room like the laundry or bathroom by herself with her food and shut the door so she could eat in peace. |
| Poor baby she has had a rough start and now the rupture as well. Firstly what sort of Kibble is she on? Make sure a high grade one as even though she is not eating too well the higher grade kibbles are more packed with everything she needs. As mim said too, feed her in a confined area and leave her in peace to graze for awhile, then she will learn she doesnt need to take off to another area to pick at her food and come back for more and keep eating that way. That's ingrained into her at the moment because of the previous life she had before. It will take a bit of time for her to realize hey it's all mine and no one is going to knick my food. With making things more interesting try a bit of warm broth over her kibble to make it a bit more interesting and tempting. Things like sardines too on her meals wont upset her tummy, poached chicken or fresh meat. I find when a dog is unwell and not too interested in their food, just warming it up a bit with a chicken or beef broth makes it a bit more tempting to get them to eat. Add veggies to her diet, one at a time and try and see how that goes, things like, sweet potato, pumpkin, broccoli, zuchini these wont upset her and for more bulk to her diet, boiled rice in with everthing till she starts to gain a bit more weight, also a bit of variety added to the kibble if you are only feeding that to make it more appealing to get her really interested in the food along with some meats, fish and veggies. I find stinky things to us is appealing to them, so sardines and I use even Tuna in Springwater and makes them devour everything in the bowl that is in front of them. So firstly what kibble is she on? Secondly do you add anything else or just feed kibble? thirdly I would give her a quiet confined area and let her eat with no distractions. Pop her in there with her food and leave her to graze for about 20 minutes then go in and if all gone, great, if not then take the bowl up then and go through the same routine again at her next scheduled feeding. Fourthly Smaller meals more fequently through the day till she get it that it is hers and looking at 3 small meals a day rather then trying to get her to eat a bigger bowl full in one or two goes. Treats cheese, apple, dried liver treats, cooked chicken cut into little bits for treats is good too, most of those sort of things for training wont usually upset her system either even a good hard dog bikkie as a special treat too. Best wishes, she has had a hard start but you will get there with her and also with a good routine that she can click onto eventually when she realises all is hers to eat without anyone knicking her food. |
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