Dog just doesn't like to eat

[Delilah's_Human]

been to the vet. im thousands in and there is nothing wrong with her. she eats most of the time she's been on the same food since she was a pup. Im sure not all will approve but its diamond hi energy as it had the most fat and protien I could find at a reasonable price in my area. well she's not a picky eater she doesnt doesnt enjoy eating. she's high energy when outside but Ive been keeping play time to a minimum since she's too lean, much leaner than I'd like. the vet is stumpped and wants more tests to figure it out but to be honest Im tapped out. she's wormed. Ive started to feed her a crappy dog food that she likes better (purina dog chow) free choice and she gets 1 pound of raw hamburger/meat a day. She eats the meat leaves the rest and will pick at it thorugh the day. some days she wont even eat the meat (an will go a day or two and just nibble). Ive tried soaking I put cocosoya oil on her food as a coat and fat suppliment but thats all. She eats anything I hand her. if I hand her a kibble of food she will eat it to make me happy. any ideas of how to put weight on her?

[trudy]

how old is she?? She will probably add weight when fully mature at 2-4m yrs old.. She might be in a gawky teenage stage. Also German Shepherds tend to be a leaner dog which is healthier anyway, they are deep, not wide. So many people think they are too thin because looking down they are only 4-6" wide, but look at the depth of the body...If she is healthy, I wouldn't worry about her weight for a while, and yes I worried about my boy til age 3.5 yrs when he has finally gained 5 pounds, I can still feel ribs, hip bones, etc but less easily and he is very healthy and active...so don't worry

[Samba]

I have one doing that picky eating thing. I took her raw away as it made her less likely to eat the dog food. I have had picky ones that I fed all raw to though. That is an option.One thing I try to avoid is ground meats. I know a lot of people feed them though.

I had to go to canned food to wean off the raw. Once she was eating that, I gradually added kibble. She will tolerate no additives either. Picky. If she refused a meal, I gave her 20 minutes with it. Once time was up, I removed that meal and also skipped the next one. This would set me back in weight gain perhaps, but I figured the goal at this point is building appetite. I give her a B vitamin complex in hopes of sparking appetite.

Mine has a body score of 3. I am not wanting a loaded up dog. Lean is fine but my girl is in need of a few pounds. I'll be fine with a score of 4.

Link to chart....
Purina.Com | Dog | Caring | Understanding your Dog's Body Condition

[Midnight12]

Mine was always a poor eater and I put warm water and fresh meats like turkey or chicken in her dry dogfood. After many years on lamb flavor Breeders Choise bought chicken cause they were out of lamb after not eating for going on 2 days, had to go track down lamb flavor and then she ate

[Delilah's_Human]

well Ive never fed her raw prior. she was always just eating kibble. she used to eat real healthy if I put her in a kennel with a heaping bowl of kibble she will clean it up. if I put it in her crate, it MIGHT get eaten. if I give her 20 minutes twice a day with her food its prolly 3-4 days before she will finally lay down and eat her food. she has very little muscle mass and very lean her coat condition was crappy for awhile and now is just starting to perk up. she reminds me of a mildly thin grey houd but its hard to tell since she's a longer coat so she looks like she's of good weight but to me she isnt. Ive tried wetting her food with water, oil or various flavors of pure meat broth. she likes beef gravy but after the newness is gone she doesnt eat it. now we vary from pork steak, ground venison and hamburger or whatever beef we buy from our local store thats not fit for humans but I can still feed the dog. most is only a day past expiration and I freeze it or feed it right away and its all local meats too (its a small community)

so i guess the raw is all I can do right now. but the b complex is an idea. thanks

[Delilah's_Human]

she's 1 and a half years old and on that scale she's a 2 maybe 3 if that. she's 22 inches at the shoulder and about 50 maybe 60 pounds.

[Jax08]

My girl is 24 1/2 at the shoulder and just right at 62 lbs. It doesn't sound like her weight is low for her height if she's around 60. Do you have any pictures of her? Preferably from the top looking down to show her back and hips and also one from the side to show her tuck.

[Delilah's_Human]

here she is wet:
http://i44.tinypic.com/2em0x39.jpg

dry:

http://i41.tinypic.com/2csf1pw.jpg


and from the top this is the best I could do:

http://i40.tinypic.com/2jdnrjn.jpg

its really hard to tell with her long coat to tell her weight without putting hands on her. maybe Im paranoid cause she is show/working bred so she's running leaner an every other Ive ever had was like czec and west german bred.

[Delilah's_Human]

Originally Posted by Jax08

My girl is 24 1/2 at the shoulder and just right at 62 lbs. It doesn't sound like her weight is low for her height if she's around 60. Do you have any pictures of her? Preferably from the top looking down to show her back and hips and also one from the side to show her tuck.

my mom says she's closer to 50 than 60.

[Jax08]

From the wet picture she does look pretty thin. The top picture really needs to be taken with you standing directly over her shooting straight down.

Are you in the US or overseas?