Putting weight ON a dog.

Hi guys, I need some feeding advice.

My blue heeler pup, Boots, is about 10 months old. She was spayed last fall and then pulled her stitches out which resulted in emergency surgery and part of her intestines were removed.

She's perfectly happy and healthy now and the vet did a GREAT job of saving her.

My concern is her weight. I can't seem to get weight on her. She has access to free choice puppy chow about 18 hours a day. Only time she doesn't have access is at night when she's crated.

She only eats when she's hungry and she's not too thin, just thinner than I'd like. I can easily feel her ribs and hips. She runs like a crazy and is burning off what food she eats. She has good muscle tone and such, I just want to make sure she's getting enough nutrition for the amount of energy she expends during the day running cattle (not working just being a pain in the rear) and playing with the other dog.


Soooo... How do I get a dog who doesn't free choice eat more than she wants, to gain weight without adding a bunch of 'crappy' food to her diet???

I'm not sure why you would want her to gain any weight? Its much healthier for you to be able to feel her ribs/hips easily than to feel them with a layer of fat. Esp for the younger dogs, it really decreases their growth problems. As long as she is eating close to the amount on the bag (which is formulated to meet their requirements) you are just fine in terms of her nutrition. What kind of puppy chow are you feeding her? Do you have any pics?

Purina puppy chow.

I'll try to get a couple pictures of her today, she's outside right now, chasing snow flakes!

She's lost a little weight, our weather before today, has been up in the 70's and she's been running a lot more. (she also has a metal pin in her leg which has healed beautifully and she's running more than she ever has before)

I've noticed a weight drop in the last 3 weeks and with her having less intestines than a regular dog I'm concerned that she's burning off calories faster than she's consuming them.

I don't want her to get too thin. Ya know?? Maybe I'm being overly concerned but she's been through hell and high water already I don't want to see her sick again.

<<<----- Is a concerned puppy parent!

You could try moist dog food. Feed her a little of that every day?

Moist gives her the runs....

She doesn't have the intestine needed to extract the excess water from the food so she goes soft serve style. With regular dry food she's got normal poo.

Lol... I wish poo didn't have much to do with this but the vet said it will be a way to tell how well she's digesting her food. *shrug* I don't know a whole lot about this issue and my searchs on the net are running me in circles.

*sigh*

Aww that stinks. Hmm. I don't know of any other ideas off of the top of my head. I'll keep thinking though. It wouldn't hurt to find something else still though as summer is coming and dogs are usually pretty active in the summer. You wouldn't want her to drop too much in the coming months. Maybe the vet would have more ideas?

Lol... Thank you for trying Kariina, you're in the same stuck thinking boat as I am in now.

That is exactly my concern, I don't want her to lose too much weight over summer as I know it will be harder for her to put it back on.

Last time I had her to the vet she weighted 25#'s that was in January.

I'm guessing that she's not lost more than 2-3 lbs MAX but I'm noticing it when I'm laying on the couch at night watching the nightly news and she climbs on my lap for our nightly cuddle session.

She doesn't look bad but I can feel it with touch. I'm just trying to stay ahead of the game rather than playing catch-up.

I would switch foods before she becomes more active. Purina will meet her requirements but there is a lot of filler type stuff in their food, I.e. You will need to feed more to reach the requirements. There are much better foods out there that will give her more energy with the same amount of food (seeing as how she only eats so much). Try Nutro, Solid Gold, Fromms.... I have fed all of these to my dog & noticed noticable improvement with skin/coat/muscle tone + they are more conc energy so if she eats the same amount she will prob gain/maintain weight when she starts moving lots more.

That's great that she is doing that well after having a pin in her leg. My dog had a pretty major shoulder surgery when he was 6 mnths old & he is doing great, now he is 7 yrs old and completely healthy! Believe me I'm a "worrier" mom too. My whole family makes fun of me... but he's my baby boy!

LOL... sounds just like me!!! Thanks for the food names, I'll check into them!!!

Boots was stepped on by a cow when she was about 4 months old, my neighbor owned her at the time...my neighbor went ahead and had the surgery done to fix her leg and I ended up with boots about 3 weeks after the surgery as the gal I got her from didn't have the time to tend to a dog that couldn't be let to run.

It's been a long road in keeping this one healthy and alive. Born in May, stepped on in September, Spayed in November, Emergency surgery 3 days after the spay, then a bout of mange in December after her immune system collapsed after the surgery.

Crazy little thing stole my heart though.

Here is a picture of her last month.


Here are a couple of her when she was fighting mange..





And my favorite pic