Anybody ever have an underweight dog? What did you do to fatten them up?
We adopted our dog 2 months ago. She is still thin, where you can see her ribs. She is finally heartworm NEGATIVE She went through treament, and tested again and all is AOK. I thought she would be gaining weight. The vet said yes she needs to add about 10 pds or more, but wasnt overly concerned. He said to try puppy food(She is between 18 months -2 yrs )as that has more calories. So we have been giving her Nurta max puppy food, and canned puppy food. She eats good, but still so thin. She is a yellow lab mix, and weighs only 49pds..Ive never had a dog so skinny before. The vet said she is in otherwise good health.

By Luv2fly on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 02:08 pm:

Our vet said to put a good quality cooking oil on the dog food. It seems to have helped our dog gain some weight.

By Reds9298 on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 02:09 pm:

My jack russell is small...you don't see her ribs, she's just underweight and LITTLE. I think maybe we got the runt of the litter and didn't know it. She's just not an eater, although it sounds like your puppers will eat just doesn't gain weight. Shelby turns most food away, so fattening food doesn't help her because she won't eat it. She eats her recommended daily food amount about every 2-3 days, while my other jack will eat literally anything like it's his last meal. That one doesn't even chew! Polar opposites they are.
I used to worry about Shelby not eating and thus not gaining weight, but it's like a kid - I just figure now she'll eat when she's hungry and there's not much I can do about it as long as she's healthy. We've gone through tons of different foods trying to find one that she will eat more of with no luck, so we just stopped and now she eats what the other one eats.
That is small for a lab mix, but if she's healthy and eats good, she'll probably be just fine. Sounds like she has a loving family to keep her happy!

By Kellyj on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 02:23 pm:

The puppychow will add pounds but it may take time. Dogs usually fill out in weight by the end of their 2 year but since she was ill it may take longer. Just make sure that she doesn't start losing weight. I imagine she's been tested for intestinal parasites since you've had her undergoing extensive treatments at the vet. My cat wasn't gaining when she was a kitten and it turns out that despite deworming she still had worms. Once those were gone she began gaining.
It's so great that she beat the heartworm. It really takes a toll on them. If the vet says she is healthy I wouldn't worry too much.

By Dawnk777 on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 03:40 pm:

Innova is a good rich food, made with good ingredients and are fairly dense with nutrients and calories at 557 KCals/Cup.

Info about dog food

California Natural, which I feed Jasmine only has 511 Kcal/cup. She doesn't really need the extra calories of Innova!

By Ginny~moderator on Sunday, October 16, 2005 - 10:52 pm:

Jackie, my son (the vet tech) says yes, increase the amount of food she is getting, but feed her 3 or 4 times a day - smaller meals but more food overall. He says labs and lab mixes tend to bolt their food and can develop gastic problems. Of course, if you do this (feed her more food), you will have to walk her more often. He agrees that your vet is right in giving her puppy food, because it has more calories and more protein. He says exercise her a lot, so that the extra weight doesn't just turn into fat (he also votes no on adding oil to her food as that just builds fat). Yes, you want her to gain weight, but you want her to gain healthy weight - i.e., muscle. Hence the exercise and don't add fat to her diet, just more calories and more concentrated calories (more calories per ounce), as in the puppy food.