Posted: Thu Oct 20, 2011 9:38 pm Post subject: SERIOUSLY UNDERWEIGHT....
as the title says...taylor is severly underweight and i just do not know how to fatten him up. Him and bella eat the same diet and bella has put weight on and really doesnt need to put any on tbh lol as she is a bit plump.
We currently feed country biscuits for working dogs and a tin dog meat for each dog slpit over the 2 biscuit meals.
any tips would be great also his fur is really wirey and dull...he is fully wormed so any tips really welcome. It has really only hit home how bad he looks next to bella. He has always looked fit and lean but the past few months he has really gone downhill.
If he is eating a quality diet and is fed the same as a similar sized dog and is yet not thriving, I would take him to the vets..
I wouldn't be happy if one of my dogs was looking ill when my others were looking well and all being fed the same diet.. Alarm bells would be ringing..
thanks hayley he is booked in at the vets for monday for bloods as when he had his health check there was nothing obvious except the weight if that makes sense.
God the photos thing is REALLY going my head in, but I will sort it out, however usually I would post some pics of my Bondy to show there really is nothing to be worried about. he was the skinniest, leggiest but bounciest boy you could ever wish to meet.... if you feel so inclined take a look at his picture gallery on his page on my website - www button below. He would get the runs if we fed him up, but never put on a pound for about a year and a half!! Or so it seemed....
Hes now at 2 and a half just starting to grow into himself, fill out and get nice comments, before that even people with smallish working frame labradors used to beg us to 'give him a good meal for gods sake!!!' such a change from owning showbred labradors whom they always thought the size of a house even when slim and trim 8for them*.
remember all dogs are different. If he has been given a clean bill of health by way of blood tests at the vets chances are he is fine. is he tall? Leggy? How old is he?
i don't knowthe food you feed but i'm sure its fine. I swapped Bondy from rice based foods 9which most are) to salamon and potato and added probiotic granules to his food every day for a while and it certainly meant we could feed him just a little bit more. he gets about 450 gms a day now split over two meals.
i would stop the tinned meat if I were you, its pretty nutritionally worthless, and up the complete food a bit, will be putting more in than the 95% water than tinned meat is - unless hes a fussy eater of course and won't eat kibble without it....??
Di
____________
The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
Just a thought. Are the Country Biscuits a Complete food, or are they a Mixer Biscuit (so have to mixed with meat to make the meal complete)? If they are a mixer, then you probably need to up the meat content of his diet and I'd suggest swapping the tinned meat (which is mostly water) to raw tripe, plus I'd probably give him a raw egg or two a day (with the shell on). Or failing that change his kibble to a good quality Complete one.
You can't compare your girl to your boy, as no two dogs needs are the same. For whatever reason, some simply burn food off much faster and more efficiently than others....Just like us humans really.
Di's Bondy is a good example of a Burner, who obviously burnt off every last calorie put in. Whereas others store the slightest excess of calories as fat (just like me ).
Di's Bondy is a good example of a Burner, who obviously burnt off every last calorie put in. Whereas others store the slightest excess of calories as fat (just like me ).
.....and, sadly, Bondy's Mum!
Di
____________
The boys!
Read: Wylanbriar Dog Blog on the website: Updated! 1st February 12´!
Mischa was a burner also, and her weight was the only worry she gave us at similar age, it was emphasised when we used to meet up with the breeder and two of her siblings who were filled out nicely. [her covering was a sheet not the blanket, which was the guide line I learnt on here].
I did up her food with an extra portion at lunch time, like Di's Bondy she did not put any weight on from six months till 2 years old from then it crept up very slowly to her ideal weight 26 kg, now I am watching carefully as would like her to stay at that.
The comments we get now are that she looks younger [nearly 3] and still runs like a greyhound, wish I had'nt worried so much as it did get to me when people commented on her lack of substance, [their dogs nice and chunky typical Lab shape ] it made me feel I was starving her.
Jules, just curious...
I read somewhere that raw eggs can prevent some nutrition of other foods that its fed "at the same time as" from being absorbed.
We give cooper a raw egg once a week (which he loves), and it makes his coat lovely and shiny, but we feed it to him as a treat outside of dinner times, because of what I had read.
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum You cannot attach files in this forum You cannot download files in this forum
SERIOUSLY UNDERWEIGHT....
] it made me feel I was starving her.
