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Weight Gain Needed


Guest Anonymous

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Guest Anonymous

I would like some information on natural ways to add weight and to increase appetite. Sadie needs to gain about 30lbs and I want it to be a healthy way.

Thanks Krista

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Guest Anonymous

Yes I did read the reply, it does sound good, and easy to follow. I added another thread for others who may not have known what Pet Tinic is used for. Also Sadie is rarely given people food due to the fact she has a sensitive stomach and tends to vomit after eating it.

Thanks again, Krista

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People food is usually the easiest, healthiest way to add weight.

If you absolutely cannot go that way you could try feeding a bit more of a real quality dog food. Maybe one of the preformance ones designed for very active dogs such as Solid Gold Mmillenia. What are you feeding now?

If you can slowly introduce people food I would do that. Some regular ground beef with a bit of rice if your dog will handle beef, in addition to regular feeding might work. Also adding some yogurt, once the food is cooled, may aid your doggies stomache upset problems.

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Guest Anonymous

Thanks for the replys. I do want her to gain weight and I feel better about doing it naturally. One thing I wonder is feeding raw eggs and other raw products. I am a Medium Well person myself. But is it okay to feed these things to our dogs? My Schnauzer got into my trash one time to get at some chicken bones, he ended up with food poisoning. He was very ill not to mention a $300. vet bill.
I feed her Nutros Natural Lamb & Rice and she is allowed to eat all she wants. Her bowl is always down and full of food. I tried to feed only at set meal times when she was a puppy to help with house breaking. But she is a grazer, only nibbles a little bit at a time through out the day.
I have bought a Nutros Natural Max for more active dogs, it has more calories & fat to increase weight. I am mixing the two for now to get her changed over.

Thank again, Krista

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kissta, dogs and humans have completely different digetive tracts and handle raw foods differently. giving those eggs raw will supply all the unaltered nutrients, vitamins and enzymes. if you are dead set against feeding anything raw, you can lightly scramble them, but this way you are going to lose a good portion of valuable nutrients.

you also might want to consider a better quality food. while nutro isn't as bad as some other mainstream brands out there, you are paying a premium price for a mediocre product. nutro contains less than 30% meat, the rest are various fractions of rice and some beet pulp.

when i first got my dog, i fed him nutro puppy food and had lots of trouble keeping weight on him, mainly because he didn't even want to eat half of the amount he was supposed to eat daily - it was just too much for his little stomach and he didn't get enough nutrition out of it.

nutro max natural is an even poorer quality food than nutro natural, with more cheap protein fillers (gluten meal) and even less real meat.

have a look here if you want to learn about the differences in commercial dry food and how to avoid the poor quality stuff:
[url]http://www.mordanna.com/dogfood[/url]

i highly recommend switching your dog to a premium quality product, but if you are limited to shopping at petco or petsmart, your choices are going to be very limited. natural balance is one brand that's of good quality and not as difficult to find as others. my top recommendations are innova and canidae, but there is a good number of other good quality products. you just need to do your homework and locate a place that sells them.

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I used to feed RAW but then I started cooking because like you I was worried about food poisoning. The entire time I fed fresh raw food I never had a problem and no one I know personally has had a problem with it either but I still feel more comfortable cooking for my dogs. Everyone is different. I still feed raw eggs occaisionally or put it in their still very warm food - semi cooks the eggs. People eat raw eggs.

I sympathize with your low weight problems. My Border Collie Kavik was underweight for 2 1/2 years nearly. What worked for him was one meal a day really high quality kibble - either Innova or Canidae when I can't get Innova. For the other meal in the day I cooked - 1/3 ground meat, 1/3 brown rice/wild rice, 1/3 veg. mush.

Ground meat - big family pack of lean or regular ground beef, reg pack of lean or extra lean ground chicken, reg pack or lean or extra lean ground turkey

Veg Mush - cut up vegs and maybe an apple or something, vegs are whatever I have, often sprouts, celery, carrots, peas, beans, lettuce, tomatoe. I cut up and cook for breif time in microwave, I usually cook them in a tin of campbells healthy choice veg beef and barely soup, this softens them, then I blend them. I do this because my boys have yet to digest vegs fully unless I lightly cook and blend them. I cook them in the soup for added good stuff and flavour and any vits or mins lost in cooking may be retained in broth some.

I mix it all together and feed.

I give fresh fruit, veg, raw eggs, yogurt for treats and Benny Bulley Liver treats wich they go nuts for.

Nutro is not a bad food but for the price you can do better, you would need to go to a specialty store though. What city do you shop out of? I'll see if I can find some good specialty shops in your area.

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[quote name='DogPaddle']I do this because my boys have yet to digest vegs fully unless I lightly cook and blend them.[/quote]

dogs do not have the enzymes required to break down cell walls and they lack the teeth to do it mechanically. so they can't digest fruit and veggies unless you do it for them - either by blending or cooking.

there is actually no need to do both, it's enough if you stick the fruits and veggies in the blender, blend them thoroughly and then stir it into your recipe. preserves more vitamins and enzymes too. :)

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[quote]Also Sadie is rarely given people food due to the fact she has a sensitive stomach and tends to vomit after eating it[/quote]
Does she only vomit after eating human food? you could try bland mixtures such as boiled hamburg or chicken and white rice. Then start adding veggie mixtures (mixed in blender first). I would also try elavating her food dishes so the food is easier to swallow/digest.
[quote]My Schnauzer got into my trash one time to get at some chicken bones, he ended up with food poisoning. He was very ill not to mention a $300. vet bill.[/quote]
Any dog would get sick after eating chicken bones. The cooked chicken bones would splinter, raw ones do not. If you are nervous about feeding raw then slightly steam meats before feeding of course if you are going to partially cook any meats make sure they are deboned. I also steam my veggies as it makes them much easier to blend.

I am also wondering if you mix in canned food with the dry food. My Rottie Athena would NEVER eat plain dry food :lol: she would starve her self first. With my dogs (although it can be expensive) I always add in a tablespoon of canned dog food. I rotate between Innovia, Wellness and solid gold...they love the canned solid gold. I also add in canned sardines, canned wild salmon, yogurt, hemp oil, ground flax seeds etc etc. of course not all in the same meal. Its also a good idea to add in digestive enzymes to ensure your dog is getting all the nutrients other herbs which are great for nutritive support are nettle leaf, dandelion leaf, wheatgrass and barley grass (you can grow these at home for your dog to nibble on)

When I rescued my lastest addition Beau my Dobie mix he had been running at large for a few months and eating out of garbage cans etc. He was half starved and serverly malnourished when I took him in. He did not lack for an appetite (as your dog does). What I did with Beau to get weight on him in a healthy manner was to feed 6 mini meals a day. He stomach was small and I didn't want to over do it. I mixed in canned food with his dry kibble, in my own opinion, its not really spoiling your dogs...its giving them a nice meal which smells great and certainly stimulates the appetite. I never leave my dogs meals down for very long (bacteria etc.). I think the biggest mistake I made years ago was with a border collie mix I owned when I was a little girl, she was a fussy eater. I started sitting down with her and hand feeding her meals...she ate...but, she would not go back to eating from a bowel it always had to be fed by hand...she lived to be 17 years old and I dedicated myself to 2 times a day to hand feeding her :-? it turned out to be a pain in the butt.

I found a variety to my dogs diet really helps them to anticipate and enjoy their meals. Of course if your dog has a sensitive stomach this may not be a good idea.

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Guest Anonymous

Thanks again everyone for your advice. I think the raw food hang up is my own. I will try lightly cooking the meats and eggs and gradually go raw. The dairy products I can handle. I will start out giving her a bit at a time so she will get used to people food.
At one time I did feed Canidae. It was great, but her gas ran us out of the room. I do have other options to buying better food then PetSmart so I will look at a few other brands. I know the place I shop now carries Wellness, Solid Gold and Canidae.
Whats weird is there is a Bullmastiff breeder not far from me(not the breeder I got Sadie from) all his dogs are beautiful. His females are 115 to 130lbs. He feeds OlRoy and Purina Dog Chow. He told me the key thing was he fed them Happy Meals from McDonalds a couple times a week.
Go figure! I do all this research and all I ever needed to do was go to McDonalds for Happy Meals....lol
Hamburger for everyone!!

Krista

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