My little AmBull puppy weighs 7 lbs and is skinny. She's currently eating 2.5 cups of Bil-Jac frozen(336 kcal's/cup) and then an additional 1 1/3 cup of Nature's Domain(336 kcal's/cup).

So almost 4 cups of food. When I portion out her meals for the week a single days food is literally bigger than her body and she still needs more. She gets about 6 meals a day. Her poop has been good ever since I switched to Panacur. She had a real heavy worm load when I got her and I think she might be still playing catch up. She was actually getting some cover over her ribs last week and then she grew a bit taller and the ribs are sticking out again.

I added live-culture yogurt on the recommendation of my vet.

Do you guys have any suggestions to help get some weight on her? Higher calorie foods or things I can supplement with without causing diarrhea? Should I consider switching to a food with grains?

That much food in a 7lb puppy sounds like a vet check may be in order.

Pups of large heavy boned breed who have had worms can often take awhile to smooth out. The bowel is healing and it takes 2-3 wks for that to occur.

In addition, growth is so fast now that there is no extra for subcutaneous fat which is what makes a puppy soft and sleek.

Keep the pup warm as toast and provide ample opportunities for sleeping. While resting no extra calories are burned. Hard play and chilling burn calories fast.

Meat is the most calorie dense food, the biggest bang for the bite. For a young pup, in my view the meat should be cooked to avoid pathogens/diarrhea.

From what you describe I doubt the quality of the ration is the problem -- the pup is most likely thin from a combination of worms, rapid growth of long bone, and perhaps a large litter or a dam not milking well--a bit of a rough start. Just a guess.

Is there a chance she has parasites that the Panacur doesn't kill? How much weight has she gained since you got her?

I'd feed a more calorie dense food - Nutrisource performance food for instance has close to 500 cal/cup. A couple others that I've fed with good results are Victor performance (they also make a grain free line with over 400 cal/cup) and Red Paw 32k.

I think Betty is probably bang on - I would think some probiotics and enzymes might be in order to get that gut back on track.

Are you feeding any supplements? Sunday Sundae, I think would be right up this pups alley.

You said poop was good, I assume you mean solid? But what about amount, are they big? How many times a day is she going?

Moving to a higher calorie food may help, but may just cause more digestive upset, I would be careful if you switch to a higher calorie food and supplement with some rice gruel for a bit during the switch. I feed LOTS of pork fat and chicken fat to my dogs, but they can handle a heavy fat load diet, and I worked up to it slowly. Maybe something to consider in a few months if this puppy is still a hard keeper, weight wise, and medical has been ruled out.

I also feed the 32K from Red Paw 1-2 times a week (Dogs are raw fed), and absolutely will never switch again. It is a REALLY good food and great price too.

Could you post some pictures, birds eye view and from the side? Just interested, as some people view normal puppy growth as "too skinny", but they are sometimes just lean and right on track.

Any kind of fat is the most calorie dense food there is. It's more than twice as caloric per gram as either protein or carb. (almost 9 calories per gram of fat; 4 calories for protein or carb.)

I'm not suggesting that you should add fat to this pup's diet, especially if there are other health/digestive issues. Just that in terms of volume, fat is the way to get a lot of calories into a meal. If you rule out everything else, and still want to add weight to the dog, you can gradually increase fat in the diet. You could even just start with a spoonful of olive oil and work up from there.

I also agree with Niomi that a trim puppy is way better than a fat one (especially in a large breed). And I don't see a lot of skinny puppies.

Everybody is right, fat is the most calorie dense --- by meat, guess I was thinking beef, which is what I have, and since it's usually marbled, there's fat in it......



Does your pup have a huge tummy?

AND -- how about a photo?

She's a little perpetual motion machine even in her crate. She also gets taken out for training about 8 times a day. Quick sessions(5-15 minutes) but it's still active work.

When I got her at 6 weeks she was 3 lbs and already a bit thin. The breeder was having problems with worms. She's 14 weeks now. I got the worms under control at 10 weeks with the panacur. Prior to that she was shedding visible roundworms.

I will try to post a pic of the little monster but my internet is a bit dodgy right now.

Found the nutrisource performance(491 kcal/cup) locally so I'm trying that for now. My cattle dog thinks it's candy. It might end up being a training treat for him.

Everyone got a dose of panacur tonight and will get another in 3 weeks followed by a fecal on at least Rogue and Tanner.

Just wanted to post an update on Rogue.

She's now 12 lbs and at a nice weight. Still has a hint of rib showing but my vet was really happy to with her weight. She's gained the weight on 2 cups of the NutriSource Performance that she wasn't on nearly 4 cups of other foods. Her poop has been good after the first day. I would definitely recommend it for a dog that needs to gain weight.