I've been reading threads here for a while, just never posted until now.

I work at a dog daycare and I recently came across Rocky, who is up for adoption. He was chained outside for the first year or so of his life, then he was adopted to a family who gave him back because they didn't have time to deal with him. He is, in my opinion, underweight for a dog of his size. He weighs 56lbs right now

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I feed my dogs raw, and Rocky eats Science Diet (yucky) 1/2 cup dry, 1/2 cup wet twice a day. His foster parent says he doesn't enjoy eating, but I've never met a dog that doesn't enjoy eating chicken and beef. What do you think the best procedure would be to get his weight up? He is around two years old.

Edited by Connie Sutherland (05/22/2011 02:47 PM)
Edit reason: un-embed oversize pics

I'd start with a better quality food but make the switch gradually over 5-6 days to avoid any GI problems. Less & less of the old food & more of the new until all new. A food like Orijen or Taste of the Wild are a couple of the better ones. There may be others,but I feed raw..so am not totally up on the kibbles.

Then I would gradually increase it. Again slowly. You might also add in to high quality treats for traning like maybe some cooked chicken cut into tiny pieces. Or even hot dogs or cheese. But hot dogs do contain alot of salt.

Has be been checked for worms &/or wormed?

Switching to raw would be great...but again needs to be gradual. I wouls almost consider using a premade raw for a while with a dog like this to be sure that he is getting the ultimate blalanced diet until his weight was ideal & then later switch him to a homemade raw.

He looks like he doesn't have much in the way of muscle tone either. So getting the weight on & getting him into some regular exercise will help also. Will give him more appitite too.

Good luck, hopefully you will be able to get him into good shape. Sounds like he needs alot of socialization so lots of treats will help with this & help add some wight.

In addition 1/2 cup of dry and 1/2 cup of canned doesn't sound like enough food to me at all.

I feed raw, so it is a little hard for me to compare but I know that my young GSD gets a 1/2 cup of kibble for a bed time snack

He is definitely too skinny!

I was a vet tech for 10 years (retired) & this guy is definitely underweight. Remember, canned food is mostly water, so that 1/2 C. doesn't amount to more than a mouthful of food. And 1/2 C. dry twice a day is nowhere near enough for this size dog. I've never seen a dog not gain weight on Science Diet if they were healthy.

I'm concerned that he has a Depressed Appetite... that's the real problem. If he was eating like a normal healthy dog, no doubt he'd be getting fed more. How's his energy level? Has he been checked for worms (to echo Anne) & protoparasites (giardia). How are his stools?

My 8 week old pit bull pup is eating 1 3/4 C. per day, divided, of dry kibble & I think, the way she's eating, we'll be boosting that soon. What's that tell you about his level of caloric intake? And puppy food is more calorie dense than adult kibble.

I would definitely look into that appetite issue... it's pointing to something, either physically or mentally.

Somehow, I don't see Malinois as fussy eaters, but I've not had any experience w/them. But it's a rare shepherd--and not a healthy one--that fusses w/its food. They tend more towards the beached whale end of the spectrum when it comes to weight problems.

 Quote: anne jones

I'd start with a better quality food but make the switch gradually over 5-6 days to avoid any GI problems. Less & less of the old food & more of the new until all new. A food like Orijen or Taste of the Wild are a couple of the better ones. There may be others,but I feed raw..so am not totally up on the kibbles.

Then I would gradually increase it. Again slowly. You might also add in to high quality treats for traning like maybe some cooked chicken cut into tiny pieces. Or even hot dogs or cheese. But hot dogs do contain alot of salt.

Has be been checked for worms &/or wormed?

Switching to raw would be great...but again needs to be gradual. I wouls almost consider using a premade raw for a while with a dog like this to be sure that he is getting the ultimate blalanced diet until his weight was ideal & then later switch him to a homemade raw.

He looks like he doesn't have much in the way of muscle tone either. So getting the weight on & getting him into some regular exercise will help also. Will give him more appitite too.

Good luck, hopefully you will be able to get him into good shape. Sounds like he needs alot of socialization so lots of treats will help with this & help add some wight.

Ditto to all this. SD is a poor-quality food, so the switch to a much higher-meat food will have to be slow. (That SD canned probably has an IL that starts with: Water, Turkey, Cracked Pearled Barley, Ground Whole Grain Corn, Meat By-Products ... ) Note that the turkey contains all its water, so the barley and corn if combined as "grain" would almost certainly be way above meat in percentage.

Someone mentioned inappetance, which of course is a strong possibility for a dog not being trained and exercise and socialized (which it sure sounds like is happening and has happened), and not interacting with his pack, but this is probably extremely hard to gauge the cause of until the dog is in different circumstances.

JMO!

Oh yeah.... he doesn't enjoy eating? Check his teeth... especially the back ones.

what about satin balls there are several differnt recipes for them

Ashley

According to the adoption agency, he does not have worms.

I agree that he isn't getting enough to eat, I gave him an extra cup of food today and yesterday while he was boarding. His energy level is pretty good, as good as I expected for a dog only eating that little, he was running around playing fetch with me for a good ten minutes, but I gave him a break because I didn't want him to collapse or anything. I have no idea how his stool is normally, but almost every dog that comes to daycare or gets boarded has runny poop, solid logs are a rare thing.

I had him out with the dogs today and he played pretty well, no major issues. He seemed fairly well adjusted, on a scale of 1-10 (worst-best), he was probably around an 8. He didn't get involved in any scuffles, growl at any dog, snip at someone, or try and mount. He chased a few dogs around and swam in the pool a bit.

I did check his teeth, they looked fine to me, a little yellow but no rotting or plaque buildup.

I'm going to switch him from SD to Taste of the Wild. Do you think I should mix in Honest Kitchen in little amounts? Also, would you do two meals a day or break up his daily intake into 5 or 6 smaller meals?

Great minds think alike Ashley.

http://www.njboxers.com/satin-balls-recipe.htm

Putting weight on isn't a problem I normally have so I haven't had to use this but I know people that have and said they are successful.

It doesn't sound like he's lethargic, so that's encouraging. Is he pacing or hyper?

Check for slab fractures on the molars... abscesses don't necessarily show up right away, but they can put a dog off food a bit.

Is he gobbling up what he's being fed? Or dining piece by piece? If you can, & he's a slow eater, you might try free feeding, gradually mixing in the new w/the old over several days. Feed the amount rec'd for his ideal weight, not what he actually weighs... and see if there's any left by the end of the day. Say he should be 70#... I'd feed on the generous side of that range listed on the food.

If he's eating w/good appetite--as opposed to what was previously reported--I'd go w/3 meals a day.

I'd also add yogurt... just a spoonful or so... to get the gut settled. Or get a probiotic from a vet supply.

Are you thinking of adopting him or just want to get his weight up?