Dog needs fattening up

callmekenneth

am fostering a dog from the pound for a rescue, a boxer, until she gets sorted. she's massively underweight, pretty much the worst i've seen, her spine and ribs are so visible it's awful. she's quite old too but a wee sweetheart. looks like she's been used as a puppy factory before being dumped (actually there was an old boxer girl in almost the exact same state last year). she's in terrible condition with sores and whatnot.

anyway, i need to try and get weight onto her, any suggestions? at the moment im just giving her what i feed my much larger male dog (slice of buttered bread in the morning and then a meal at lunch and evening, complete meal with some tinned stuff) along with a couple of scrambled eggs. anything else i should be giving her?

cocker5

callmekenneth wrote: »

am fostering a dog from the pound for a rescue, a boxer, until she gets sorted. she's massively underweight, pretty much the worst i've seen, her spine and ribs are so visible it's awful. she's quite old too but a wee sweetheart. looks like she's been used as a puppy factory before being dumped (actually there was an old boxer girl in almost the exact same state last year). she's in terrible condition with sores and whatnot.

anyway, i need to try and get weight onto her, any suggestions? at the moment im just giving her what i feed my much larger male dog (slice of buttered bread in the morning and then a meal at lunch and evening, complete meal with some tinned stuff) along with a couple of scrambled eggs. anything else i should be giving her?

well done on fostering her... its a very nice thing to do

Personally I wouldnt feed her any tinned stuff... or bread with butter sorry bu it has no value...... I would get some good quality complete dry food (not a supermarket brand)... I would try the following:

2 days per week....
one scoop of dried food in the morning... with a raw egg whisked in...
then a small bowl in the eveing of dried nuts again....

another day give her the nuts with a tin of sardines in oil mixed (mushed up) in (oil and all)...


Then all the other days two scoops of dried food per day...

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/dry_dog_food/burns/burns_adult/156518

you could also try adding some salmon oil...

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/supplements_specialty_food/hair_skin/more_skin_and_coat_supplements/139892

Its a great thing your doing... just give her some time ans she will put on the weight! she is lucky to have you as a foster parent!

Best of luck

ISDW

A good quality puppy food is great for getting weight on dogs, and the secret to weight gain is little and often, so I would suggest 4 small meals a day.

andreac

Def stop feeding the bread. Get a good quality puppy food and feed 4 meals a day. Add in things like mince etc and pasta as that helps with weight gain.

Inexile

Well done for looking after this girl - she sounds like she need a guardian angel

When I had a greyhound that needed fattening up I gave her chicken and rice or pasta four times a day and then started adding kibble. I couldnt give her kibble straight away as her stomach couldnt take it. I bought cheap chicken thighs and cooked them for an hour and then de boned them. Once her stomach was keeping in food I started adding more kibble. I also added things like potatoe and tinned fished and other meat that I could get cheap.

take it slowly you cant do it fast. But you will see a difference even in a few weeks.

Also take some before and after photos .

lorebringer

+ a million on the puppy food - I have used this several times with fosters that are underweight, it gets the extra calories into them without the bulk and it's easy on a sensitive belly. Feeding her smaller meals more frequently will also help her with the weight problem. The trick with building up weight is to do it slowly as she will be more likely to keep it on and it won't upset her system in any way. Adding a few bits and bobs (meats, tinned fish, rice, spuds etc.) to her meals will also help get the weight onto her. Feeding her things like bread could just upset her stomach (as much as she would like the taste!) and it doesn't have very much nutritional benefit for her.

callmekenneth

thanks for the tips all will take it under advice. the reason for the bread was just to give the big fella something small to munch in the morning as i dont feed him til lunchtime but i'll cut it out if it's doing no good.

below is a pic after her bath yesterday, you can't see her ribs with her curled up like that but you can see outline of her spine and her hips. i'm not sure how long i have her for but i'll let ye know of progress, thanks.

andreac

Oh god, the poor girl. Yeah just go with little and often. If you can feed 4 meals over the course of the day that would be best. Add tasty things like scrambled egg, mince, tuna, sardines, anything to give her a nice appetite.

What is her appetite like at the moment? Is she eating well?

angry kitten

callmekenneth wrote: »

am fostering a dog from the pound for a rescue, a boxer, until she gets sorted. she's massively underweight, pretty much the worst i've seen, her spine and ribs are so visible it's awful. she's quite old too but a wee sweetheart. looks like she's been used as a puppy factory before being dumped (actually there was an old boxer girl in almost the exact same state last year). she's in terrible condition with sores and whatnot.

anyway, i need to try and get weight onto her, any suggestions? at the moment im just giving her what i feed my much larger male dog (slice of buttered bread in the morning and then a meal at lunch and evening, complete meal with some tinned stuff) along with a couple of scrambled eggs. anything else i should be giving her?

Hi, I used Orijens dry food for my cat and he piled on weight so I took him off it. They do one for dogs. Its a premium dry high protein food and I got it at zooplus.ie. Just a suggestion. Well done for fostering

callmekenneth

andreac wrote: »

Oh god, the poor girl. Yeah just go with little and often. If you can feed 4 meals over the course of the day that would be best. Add tasty things like scrambled egg, mince, tuna, sardines, anything to give her a nice appetite.

What is her appetite like at the moment? Is she eating well?

There's nothin wrong with her appetite, she inhales her food and drinks water like a tanker taking on oil, only other dog I've seen eating so ferociously is a rottie. She clears her dish and would clear his too if I let her. Am takin her to the vet after work so we'll see what's what then healthwise

callmekenneth

pretty much all clear from the vet. nothing wrong with her as such apart from general neglect. i have her on puppy complete, 4 times a day with some either scrambled egg or tuna, cheers for advice all.

callmekenneth

just to update this, pepper went off to boxer rescue in england on friday, i had her just shy of 3 weeks but the change in her was incredible, after a good wash, plenty of food, walks and basks in front of the fire she was a different dog leaving, smell gone, coat shiny and most importantly, plenty of weight on, thanks all.

gud4u

ISDW wrote: »

A good quality puppy food is great for getting weight on dogs, and the secret to weight gain is little and often, so I would suggest 4 small meals a day.

This is exactly what I have just done to put weight on a scrawny pup I just took in, plus the egg and a bit of chicken.

Four small feeds a day, in one week he has gained just under 2lbs and is doing great.