How to help my dog gain weight?

[guatemama07]

Can anyone give some pointers on helping my dog gain weight? Vet agrees with me she does need to put on a few pounds. She is 68 lbs now and needs to be about 75 lbs.

I am feeding high-quality kibble and supplementing with raw chicken quarters and turkey necks.

She is a 5-year-old spayed female, with no other health issues. She lost some weight after a bad reaction to frontline and her spay surgery. (She's on Confortis for flea prevention now and tolerates that well.) She has healthy heart, hips, elbows, etc as per OFA (former breeding female.) She is from working lines out of Eastern Europe with high ball drive and energy.

Any ideas on healthy ways to get her weight up? I had considered adding some high-quality canned food to her kibble to get her to eat a bit more, but was wondering if there are other suggestions. Thanks!

[LaRen616]

Green Tripe

Egg

Cottage Cheese

Plain Yogurt

[Emoore]

More fat and calories. Healthy oils, peanut butter, eggs, or just a higher-fat, higher calorie formula of the brand of food you're already feeding.

[PaddyD]

Originally Posted by guatemama07

Can anyone give some pointers on helping my dog gain weight? Vet agrees with me she does need to put on a few pounds. She is 68 lbs now and needs to be about 75 lbs.

I am feeding high-quality kibble and supplementing with raw chicken quarters and turkey necks.

She is a 5-year-old spayed female, with no other health issues. She lost some weight after a bad reaction to frontline and her spay surgery. (She's on Confortis for flea prevention now and tolerates that well.) She has healthy heart, hips, elbows, etc as per OFA (former breeding female.) She is from working lines out of Eastern Europe with high ball drive and energy.

Any ideas on healthy ways to get her weight up? I had considered adding some high-quality canned food to her kibble to get her to eat a bit more, but was wondering if there are other suggestions. Thanks!

Why does she need to be 75? Is she tall? Or is she barrel-chested?
Just curious. My dog hovers around 69 at 25.5 inches and has good meat over her bones.

[Freestep]

I had to switch my older female from raw to kibble, as I couldn't keep weight on her. I'd suggest a higher-fat kibble, split into two meals. Is she a picky eater? If so, you could try soaking her kibble in warm broth, mixing in some canned food, or bacon drippings. Now I'm making myself hungry.

[N Smith]

Can we get some pics?

My DDR girl is quite lean - I always get comments about how "skinny" she is - but she very well muscled and is just in amazing shape.

Thankfully my vet is amazing and sees that she is in shape. A lot of vets can think that if the dog is not overweight its not healthy. When in fact the opposite is true.

If you could post some side pics, front pics and bird's eye view, then I'm sure some working Shepherd people can chime in!

[Courtney]

Originally Posted by PaddyD

Why does she need to be 75? Is she tall? Or is she barrel-chested?
Just curious. My dog hovers around 69 at 25.5 inches and has good meat over her bones.

All good suggestions regarding food above. But was also wondering the samething...75 pounds is on the larger side for a female. I want to be careful and not say overweight because alot depends on that.

Any pictures?

[guatemama07]

Originally Posted by PaddyD

Why does she need to be 75? Is she tall? Or is she barrel-chested?
Just curious. My dog hovers around 69 at 25.5 inches and has good meat over her bones.

The reason I mentioned 75 lbs is that right now, when you look at her, she really is too thin. I know you can feel the ribs of a healthy dog, but hers stick out and she has pronounced hollows on the side. I will try to post some pics. She is a tall girl, I need to measure her.

I discussed her weight with the vet and the vet agreed she was under-weight. The vet records I got from the previous owner had her at around 73-75 pounds when she was in great health and looked fabulous (still lean, but looking healthy.)

She lost a good bit of weight recently after reacting to frontline and not eating after her spay. She was treated at her previous owner's vet and they commented on her weight being low also at her most recent visit.

Thanks for the comments everyone.

[guatemama07]

For folks who mentioned pictures, here's some:

First, two pictures of Lena at her weight in the 73-75 lb range from vet records. These pictures were taken by previous owner and shared with me. These pics were *before* she got sick from Frontline (lost some weight after that) and before spay surgery (lost some weight after that.) To me she looks very healthy: trim, fit, but not skinny.

The second 2 pictures are ones taken with my cell phone this morning. Odd pose, but trying to capture how skinny she is--her ribs are plainly visible, hip bones prominent. (68 lbs.)

I can't find the measuring tape at the moment for her height, but she is a big dog.

We've only had Lena since Nov 27 and she is already my precious girl...I just want her to be in the glowing good health that I feel like she was in in the first 2 pictures. What do you all think? As a new owner I am open to advice. Thanks!

[Freestep]

She doesn't look painfully thin, but I agree, a few pounds would look good on her. Have you tried Satin Balls?