Rescued Boxer food advice

Macspower

Hi all,

Our beloved boxer Rocky passed away in November at the right old age (for a boxer) of 13 .. As pet owners know this is a heartbreaking on a family.

Anyway we hadn't intended getting another until a friend of mine sent me a pic of a 1 year old boxer who was on death row in the pound. With the help of the KWWSPCA he was rehomed with us yesterday.

He's a wonderful loving agile playful dog that will need work on the training as he is as mad as a brush. He's in good condition apart from the fact that he is very very thin.. I believe he had been abandoned and was "on the road" for a number of months. He is chipped but the ones registered on the chip don't want to know!!! ( He's better off without them anyway)

I have never seen a dog to eat like him.. He doesn't eat he hoovers...!!

Our last boxer always had a sensitive tummy as the premium dog foods gave him terrible gas.. ( I know they have it anyway) The one that we found best for him was red mills Winner. He lived to the right old age of 13 on this and if he ever got anything else the tummy would be upset immediately.

Anyway this little fella needs some building up and I was wondering is there anything in particular you would recommend? My friend feeds his on Husse and swears by it.. I had some red mills left here and he has hovered 2 portions of it yesterday and 1 today so far.

Opinions and recommendations welcome.

Nody

Husse puppy review; not glowing reward of two stars exactly. This is what I found googling for the food in general for the adult version:

First two ingredients are wheat and wheat flour - a lot of dogs have difficulty with wheat. Generally speaking a specified meat or meat meal should be the first or second listed ingredient.

Third ingredient is meat meal - it doesn't specify what meat! If an ingredient is unspecified, you can assume it's low-quality.

Fourth ingredient is "greaves" - had to look that up on Wikipedia...

"the residue that remains after animal fat has been rendered. Rendering is a process that converts waste animal tissue into stable, value-added materials."

From the thread at topdog.ie. In general the fact they don't post what's in it on their website also makes me wonder why they don't want to share it...

As to your dog; what ever works with him personally can't be to wrong. Giving him more then normal sized portion and possibly look into one raw meal a day (served seperatly and never with kibble) could be one way to go as well to put some more meat on him so to speak.

Toulouse

If he's underweight then I'd suggest giving him 4 to 6 small meals a day. Little and often is the name of the game to build him back up. You can add pasta/rice/sardines/eggs to bulk it up.

Also keep in mind that Boxers can be prone to bloat so you may need to slow down his eating if he's a hoover but he could just be eating quickly due to his condition and recent past.

As for brands, I wouldn't feed either of those brands. If you're going to feed dry food then make sure that meat is the first ingredient mentioned, not cereal and not meat derivative. I'm sure the others will be along with some more suggestions as to what they find good. I feed Robbies as if I give my dog anything else she gets itchy, switched her slowly onto Barking Heads a few months back and her skin flared up terribly even though it's a decent food.

odckdo

Toulouse wrote: »

Also keep in mind that Boxers can be prone to bloat so you may need to slow down his eating if he's a hoover but he could just be eating quickly due to his condition and recent past.

Maybe a 'slow feed' bowl might help here? I got this one last week from Amazon and it works. My dog has a long nose though so maybe check if it would work with a Boxer?

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00251EPL2/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

borderlinemeath

Stuffed kings or a kong wobbler/food dispensing toy will also help with the hoovering & use up a bit of mental stimulation figuring out how to get the food out.

aonb

and just to say, really really WELL DONE for rescuing him. I hope he will be as loved a family member as your old boxer obviously was. He will need lost of TLC after the horrible past he has had. Hope all goes well for you all during the settling in period

Macspower

thanks for the advice folks,

I was at the pet shop yesterday and they advised on James Wellbeloved Junior. He is 20 Kg which he tells me underweight by about 6-7 kg. No surprise there. I was told to feed him 300g per day as as recommended above do so in 5 portions a day.

He likes the food anyway and hoovers it like the other food.. ( I'd say he'd hoover anything). No dickey tummy and seems less gassy..

opinions?

He has a few behavior issues as expected but I'll sort them in time.. He's eager to learn with treats as a reward.. sit, down and paw and bed are all instant now.. "Come" seems to be a big issue and once outside he will just take off and gladly trot 6 paces in front of you with head in the air ignoring your pleading. I must have done 2 miles today of trying to get him back on the lead..

Anyway work in progress.. I can't expect him to get it all right the first week..
Anyway.. loves his comfort and enjoying the luxury

Toulouse

Again, just to say well done. You would not believe how hard it is to rehome Boxers so he's a very lucky boy that you found him and took him on!

One word though, don't walk him off lead yet. He doesn't know you, doesn't know the area etc. I would not be leaving him off until youve all gotten to know eachother and you have done a little recall training with him in your back garden or out further afield using a long line.

orchidsrpretty

I rehomed a very underweight boxer a year ago. She was only 14kgs. I fed her raw for 5 months to build her weight up. Lots of chicken thighs etc that had to chewed on so she couldn't wolf it down. Within weeks the change in her condition was amazing, so if you are willing maybe look it that diet.

Macspower

Many thanks for the help.

He seems to be going well on the new food and is as savage as ever to wolf it down.. I slowed this a bit with a slow feeding bowl. now takes 5 mins to where it used to be 5 secs.. He's smart though and decided it was much easier to stand on the bowl and tip it over and then hoover from floor.

Giving him 5 or 6 portions a day.

Training is going reasonably well and recall is good now unless distracted by anything.

He's great with me now but he's completely excited by visitors and want to lick them to death and jump all over them.. all in due course but he's making progress.

thanks all.

okiss

Can you put up a photo of him. He sounds like a nice dog who has got the good home he deserves.

Macspower

okiss wrote: »

Can you put up a photo of him. He sounds like a nice dog who has got the good home he deserves.

Gladly.

On his arrival after neutering ..


he figured out what the collar was for


5 days in and already looking brighter


Malnourished as I mentioned..

OldmanMondeo

He's a beaut. I would have been in the same boat in August, we got Kofi and he looked the same. Like you lad will eat anything, eats like a duck, swallow first ask questions later. The one thing I had to be careful on is over feeding. I have 3 kids as well and Kofi gets more than he should. But plenty of exercise has him in good stead now, 25kg and the Vet is very happy with his weight. Hopefully he will help me keep the weight off too.

Macspower

A month in and all going well. He is still on the james wellbeloved food and gaining weight slowly.

training is going well and all the standard commands are instant now and recall is perfect inside our garden and he walks on the leads perfectly with no pulling whatsoever... Still having a challenge when he is let off the lead.. All training and sense is gone out the window and the game of catch me of you can starts all over again....

anyway compare these too taken at the same angle.



one month in


and with play mode engaged!!

kylith

My trick is to recall and give a treat regularly when the dogs are off lead, they're more likely to come back for food. I also randomly put them back on lead and let them off. The important thing is that they learn that being called back doesn't necessarily mean the end of the walk, that it will generally mean a treat, a rub, and then being sent off again.

aonb

Im sure some of the experts will be along with tips for recall training. I know my youngest dog has PERFECT recall during training sessions - he will come back instantly in the house, and in the garden, but let him off leash (we walk off leash in our pretty quiet rural area) when out walking and you could lay a 16oz sirloin steak on the ground and he wont come when called if hes distracted by something/approaching dog/whatever. The other dogs (they're related) no problem. This dog is a doozy (v.obedient in every way except recall!)

OP You have done such a good job with him - he looks so happy in that last photo - worlds away from your very first photo