I am a vet tech so i bring him to work regularly we did a complete physical

-Blood cell count
-Differential exam of cells
-Internal organ function tests
-Fecal analysis
-Tested his pancreas
-A onceover from 2 of my 3 vets

12months old but has been skinny since forever

he is very very healthy

he is intact which probably doesnt help how lean he is and i like it that hes skinny while hes young to not add additional strain on his joints but i would really like to put a few pounds on him. he eats 4-5 cups a day of high quality grain free. his feces are nice firm of normal color and volume. I am just looking for some ways to get a few pounds on him

here is a picture
http://s10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/donneanderson/?action=view&current=biskinny2.jpg

Hi!


Your sig pic needs to be resized a bit.


To me, the photo isn't scary. He is shiny and I couldn't really tell for sure if his hip bones stuck out, but it didn't seem so.

Others with much better growing-dog experience will respond too. I wanted to ask: Does he eat all that you give him?

his hip bones can be seen along with ribs, he usually eats what i give him and i'll add more then he wont touch it so i think the ammount im feeding him is fine

A time honored way to add weight to a dog was to put a tablespoon of bacon grease on the dry food.
So while that's not probably healthy, the basic idea of adding a high quality fat of some sort that is palatable and well tolerated will do the job. Perhaps some better marker training treats is all you need.
He will bulk up with time--he probably hasn't even finished growing yet.

i have to resort to hot dogs to get engagement under distraction lol

If you are feeding twice a day, then I too use fat under these circumstances. (If you're not, if the dog is just getting too full at one sitting for the calories needed to bump the weight up a tad, I'd feed twice a day.)

There's a recipe called "satin balls," BTW, that has a few problems with it as a tool for weight gain. I'm bringing that up so you'll understand more why both Dr. Betty and I are saying fat for most healthy dogs who are getting a good balanced diet and are still just a little too lean. For one thing, they are loaded with cereal and sugar. For another, they have too much calcium from all those egg shells for the amount of food.

They call for a lot of fat that I wouldn't feed dogs, too (corn/vegetable oil).

Probably most important is that only the fat in the recipe has more calories than the other two macronutrients. (Protein and carbs have the same calories; fat has a little over twice as many.)

So I pick a good fat and use it, sparingly at first (not to trigger diarrhea) and working up to the tablespoon that Dr. Betty mentions.

Healthy dogs in general, IMO, do well digesting/using a little extra raw fat. (A raw feeder might just add a bit more raw animal fat.)

For instance, can you get some raw coconut oil, probably at a natural food store? This looks like mayonnaise .... not liquid at room temp. It's spendy but has several benefits.

JMO!

PS
For a growing dog, a balanced diet is crucial, so the goal is not to add a bunch of one macronutrient (fat) at the cost of, say, protein. But most kibbles are lean enough that a tablespoon of fat isn't going to do that. And that adds over a hundred calories a day in one swoop.

Both my Shepherds were what people called "skeletons" when they were young (well one still is ), and I don't know how many times people felt the need to call their "anorexia" to my attention. Really, this is what young *athletic* dogs look like, think marathon runner. You want lean with nice muscle on both front and back, you will most likely be able to see the tips of the hips bones and a few ribs for a while longer.

If your dog is healthy, and eating well, let him grow on his own. If you want to put weight on for *your* benefit, then you can. Your dog, your choice. If there is no muscle, then I would think there would be something to worry about.

Your boy looks like a gawky teenager to me! LOL

IMO if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Let him finish filling out at about 3 years old, then you will see what nature had intended.

 Quote: Niomi Smith

Both my Shepherds were what people called "skeletons" when they were young (well one still is ), and I don't know how many times people felt the need to call their "anorexia" to my attention. Really, this is what young *athletic* dogs look like, think marathon runner. You want lean with nice muscle on both front and back, you will most likely be able to see the tips of the hips bones and a few ribs for a while longer.

If your dog is healthy, and eating well, let him grow on his own. If you want to put weight on for *your* benefit, then you can. Your dog, your choice. If there is no muscle, then I would think there would be something to worry about.

Your boy looks like a gawky teenager to me! LOL

IMO if it ain't broke, don't fix it. Let him finish filling out at about 3 years old, then you will see what nature had intended.

You totally sold me!

You're right. He's young. He's not "done."

Niome has it right.

My male (also still intact & living with a whole female)was skinny (still is thin)but muscled until he was about 3 1/2 when he filled out more. He looked like a tall,leggy coyote.
He NEVER stops moving so keeping his weight up was challenging when he was young.

I feed raw & when he was young I just added an additional small mid day meal a few days a week.(or you can add one closer to bed time if you cannot be home at mid-day) So he was fed 3x a day on those days. That kept his weight up. But his structure is more marathon runner then my female that is more bulky structured.

If you overfeed him you will just trigger diarrhea. So you just want to add a little more food.

You don't want a heavy young dog because it will take it's toll on his skelletal system...better a little too thin then a little too fat. Ignore what anyone says about your skinny dog.

If he is healthy don't worry about his weight..he WILL fill out more as he matures.

 Quote: Anne Jones

Ignore what anyone says about your skinny dog.

If he is healthy don't worry about his weight..he WILL fill out more as he matures.

Anne added what I forgot. When people feel the need to tell me my dogs are being abused, I will usually come back like I didn't hear them...so it goes something like this:

Stranger: "Wow, what a beautiful dog. But she is soooo skinny. She needs more food I think".

Me: "Sorry? Did you say she was incredibly fit? Wow, thanks! My vet thought so too on her check up last month!".

It works like a charm everytime! And make sure to say the last part fast, because you weren't really asking their opinion...LOL!