Any advice on how to keep weight on my JRT please!

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Frisbee123

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Hi, I would just like to see if anyone has any good ideas on how to keep a bit more condition on my jack russell. He is 8 and is naturally long legged and lean and very active. He has seen the vet this week for vaccinations and is very healthy but she felt he needed to have a little more weight on him.
He is a bit stressy by nature and burns weight off quickly, especially if he has had a stay in kennels for a few days (which he maybe does 3x a year max and his lab friend goes in with him). He gets an hours walk a day, so not excessive exercise.
He is on a complete dried food (healthy option chicken and rice) 2x a day and eats more than the labrador. However, If I try to increase his rations for a few days, he just leaves it. I don't want to feed him junk or titbits because he does get a bit of collitis if his diet is changed a lot.
So, I just wondered if anyone else has this issue and if you have any suggestions of how to bulk him up a bit. He's not too skinny but you can see his ribs - hes very muscular and looks like he could have had a bit of whippet in there somewhere, but I know he doesn't!
I'm not too worried because he's always been like this, but at this time of year he seems to really burn off the weight so I'd just like to give him a bit more if poss. Thanks.
 
When my JRT was young we had trouble keeping weight on her, switched her to iams food because its supposed to be richer and they don't have to eat as much of it to get more energy from it.
I also find giving her jumbone chews helped because they are very high-calorie.
Although she always tended to just run round more everytime we fed her more- in the end the only thing that helped was when we got her spayed- supposed to make dogs fat but it made her ideal!
I know this isn't a huge help, but if your dog is happy and full of energy I wouldn't worry too much about it, just let him eat as much as he wants food wise and trust him to eat enough.
 
Which food is he on?
A performance or puppy diet may suit him better but without knowing what you are feeding it is difficult to make informed suggestions.
 
Thanks for your replies. I agree, he is healthy and happy so part of me thinks I shouldn't worry, but I just wanted to see if there is anything simple I could change.
He is on 'Healthy option pet foods' chicken and rice dried food. (a lancashire based firm who promote foods with no rubbish in them). We went onto this as my mum has daschunds with skin allergies, and this really helped. Hes been on it for years and is really healthy and has as fab coat in all other ways.
I had thought about puppy food, or working dog food but not sure which ones are good/bad. Also, could I add salmon oil or similar? or I thought about adding some meat or nature diet to increase his appetite, but someone suggested this might give him too much protein!!!
 
http://healthyoptionpetfoods.com/dog-food/chicken-rice/
INGREDIENTS: White & Brown Rice (min 55%), Chicken (min 20%), Maize, Peas, Chicken oil, Seaweed, Sunflower oil, Vitamins (A,D3 and E Alpha tocopherals as acetate), Antioxidants (natural mixed tocopherals) and pre-mixture yucca extracts.
Typical Analysis
Daily Amount
Protein 19.5%
Oil 8.5%
Fibre 2.0%
Ash 8.0%
Vitamin A - 30,000 iu/kg
Vitamin D3 - 3,000 iu /kg
Vitamin E - 125 mg/kg
(Alpha Tocopherals as Acetate)
Trace Elements
Ferrous Sulphate 200mg/kg
Zinc oxide 139mg/kg
Manganese Oxide 81mg/kg
Cupric sulphate pentahydrate 30mg/kg
Calcium iodate anhydrous 2.45mg/kg
Sodium selenite 0.22mg/kg
Antioxidents (natural mixed
tocopherals/rosemary extract)
A low protein & fat diet which should be ok for a slobby lab but not at all suitable for a high energy dog. It is very expensive for those ingredients. (50% more than Skinners equivalent.)

Try mixing it 50/50 with this - http://www.burgesspetcare.co.uk/products/supadog/burgess-supadog---puppy---.html
 
Totally different breed (Border Collie) but I had trouble putting condition on her till we started with Fish4dogs. I don't have to feed too much (she also doesn't like "big" portions) and she's a nice weight now - lean but not boney.
 
I recently bought a year old whippet bitch who was skin and bone. The previous owners said she was so thin as they had had her two weeks and she wouldnt eat. I was absolutely shocked. I had used webbox chubb roles from supermarkets with success on a lean akita so tried the whippet on the same stuff. She never stopped eating since the minute i got her home on this food and has stayed healthy and the correct weight. This stuff seems to be good at conditioning have even had pups on it too and it has worked wonders. Now the whippet gets it as main food but the akita just has it mixed into her biscuit food to encourage her to eat. Works really well. It wont break the bank either!!!
 
You're feeding over half rice. If you ate 55% rice, you would drop weight like a stone! It's great for tummy issues, but will keep the dog almost thin. You're also feeding maize and peas, neither of which are digestible by dogs.

I don't mean to be horrible, but I would suggest that this is a great food for overweight dogs! I'd suggest higher protein, very slowly introduced to avoid tummy issues.

I just wrote this for someone else whose dog is not a good do-er:
http://www.petforums.co.uk/dog-health-nutrition/111437-raw-feeding-everything-you-need-know.html
 
No, I don't think you are being horrible at all. I am grateful for all your opinions. I realise this food is low protein and I was led to believe by the supplier that it was best because most dogs were fed too much protein which led to skin conditions? This probably arose because of my parents dogs having skin conditions and being advised to look at diet etc.
I am glad I posted because I will really look at their diets properly again now and I'll give your article a read.
Thanks again
 
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