thread: Advice - how to get my dog to gain weight

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  1. #1
    Registered User

    Jan 2010
    1,975

    My two poodles are too skinny, especially one of them. She is actually my mum's dog but we have her for a year. She's very nervous and neurotic and has always been a bag of shaking bones! I started feeding them 'Four Legs' about two months ago (used to give them homemade mince, rice and veg). Both dogs have gained weight and my boy is even feeling a bit tubby! Four Legs is little balls of meat and veg rolled in coconut (for their coat??) and you buy it in the refrigerated section at the supermarket.

    Off to check the protein content...

  2. #2
    2014 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.

    Mar 2008
    Vic
    4,806

    Thanks for the advice!

    I'd heard about trying puppy food, so might get a small bag of supercoat puppy and mix it through her normal dry. We'd like to give them some fresh meat, so will definitely be buying some mince. She's not a huge fan of rice, strangely enough (I thought beagles ate everything!). I'll see how she goes. I've seen the four legs brand too, so I might do a few mix ups of her dinners (gradually, of course)

    Krystals - This is a weird question.....how do lentils go when they come out of the other end of the dog?! We have fake grass, so not the easiest to clean!!!!!

  3. #3
    Registered User

    Jun 2009
    In a cottage in a wood
    760

    hahaha, I seriously haven't noticed! We just add some dry red lentils to her mix .... she digests them as far as I can tell- we have more problems when she eats canned food and gets chum-bum Smells like burning tyres!!!

    She's 10+ years, (rescue dog, not sure of her exact age) When she's working, she's quite active and will run for between 2-6hrs a day. (6 is extreme, and it's her choice to stop or start - as if we could stop her!)

    She has 1 cup supercoat working dog in the morning and 2 cups of wet food at night. She often gets the cut offs from our own meat, regularly gets bones as well. She doesn't eat any people food. When she's not working, we still feed her the same amount. She bulks up a bit, but loses it again quickly when she goes back.

    I think puppy food has a higher level of fat than the others...the working dog has higher protein which has worked the best for Ella.

  4. #4
    2013 BellyBelly RAK Recipient.

    Apr 2009
    3,750

    I took our cavalier to the vet for weight gain early this year (she is 2yrs and not desexed) and all they suggested was I up her advance dry dog food and cut out her chicken necks. She said chicken necks were full of water and although good for her teeth they would do nothing for her weight gain. It took several months for her condition to improve but finally now she looks better then ever. Her coat is also twice as thick as it ever has been. I've always struggled to get her to have a lovely cavie coat but finally she does. All she gets now is a few kitchen scraps, she has access to advance all the time I don't let her bowl get empty (have to go look at the bag but its for thinner dogs) and about every week she gets a few bones. She gets our chop bones which are a favourate to chew on and I go to the butcher and get dog bones. There is almost always a bone in the yard although after the first day there is no meat on it just bone. She now looks a million dollars finally.

    Is she desexed? That often fattens them up. We haven't desexed our girl.

  5. #5
    Registered User

    Dec 2009
    SE Queensland
    467

    Definately the working dog bikkies work. We have a white bull arab that FREEZES her butt off & drops away drastically in cool weather & the working dog bikkies keep the weight on pretty well.
    I feed 'Cobber Working Dog' or if they start putting a little too much on drop them back to 'Cobber country dog'.