He needs to gain weight

[Fran27]

Tips is still skinny. He doesn't have worms, he took 1 1/2 lb in two weeks (8.15 now), but he's still skinny

He gets a cup of food a day (well 3/4 cup of nutro and 1/2 cup of innova now actually), plus various peanut butter and liver treats, that amount to probably 5-10 a day (which seems a lot as he's still little). He's 2 1/2 months old.

Any idea to make him put on more weight? I'm going to increase the dose as he's getting close to 10 lbs I guess.

 

[caseyolee]

Add vegetable oil to his food. I have Border Collies and they are naturally a thinner breed....I have a few dogs that are SO HARD to keep weight on and Veggie oil seems to do the trick....plus it makes their hair so shiny and nice.

For adult dogs I'd say 2-3 tablespoons of vegie oil (twice a day) and for pups I'd say 1-2 tablespoons of veggie oil (twice a day).

 

[Mordy]

i'd use a good fish oil supplement instead of the vegetable oil.

fish oil contains omega 3 fatty acids that only originate from marine sources. vegetable oil isn't as nutritionally valuable.

you might also notice weight gain once you switch over to innova completely. it's more digestible than nutro, which is full of fillers.

 

[Renee750il]

Mordy, wouldn't Fran be just as well off going ahead and switching foods completely?

 

[Mordy]

in some cases that's enough, but adding some extra fish oil can't hurt. it's the best fat you can feed a dog, and it comes with the added benefits of DHA and EPA.

 

[Renee750il]

lol, I meant just switch the food over instead of doing the gradual switch . . . AND add the fish oil

 

[Fran27]

I'm going to switch completely soon anyway, getting very low on nutro. If it doesn't do the trick I will add fish oil, very good idea

He's most certainly part border collie by the way.

 

[Renee750il]

I should have remembered this sooner . . . Mordy probably has some excellent advice for tweaking the recipe to improve it, but it's a good aid to build up an underweight dog: http://www.njboxers.com/satin-balls-recipe.htm