feeding for weight but not fizz?

[pippixox]

I have quite a lot of knowledge about horse feed! how to keep weight on without pumping up the sugar levels!!!

but can it be the same with dogs?
I did feed my last dog (a sensitive GSD) raw, but newish rescue collie would often stick her nose up at it. So switched to high quality kibble (currently canagan, as stocked in near pet shop and high meat content)

but I was after advice on what might be best if your dog is on the skinny side ( she is sooooo active! and certainly could do with a little more weight, as much as I do like to keep pets on the lean side)but also a hyper, neurotic collie!
will different food/level of protein/ make a difference?

I am just concerned she has become even more hyper with more food! not that I want to starve her,but she does get a lot of exercise, can't fit much more in! if I had an underweight but lively horse, I would mostly just try and up their forage, but it isn't the same with dogs!

 

[Shady]

Hi Pippixox
I have exactly the same problem at the moment with my 5 month old Weim , he looks amazing BUT he is very ribby and if i'm honest if somebody was to stop me and say they thought he was too thin i would agree, iv'e tried upping the amount but he just poo's more! i also tried changing to a higher meat content but he got an upset stomach , he never stops as he is free to go out wherever he wants here and i like to walk them a lot too.
I looked at various options and because of some posts on here i gave Millies Wolfheart a ring last week and spoke to a really helpful lady(Holly) who recommended one of their mixes to try. It should give him more fat but not too much of stuff he doesn't need more of at his age. For me she recommended the Endurance 50/50 Turkey and Duck. I'm going to order a trial bag this week.
I imagine there are loads of very experienced people on here to advise you as well, i am a fairly novice owner but hope this helps you a bit

 

[druid]

Might be worth trying the Calm and Focused food from VetSpec (grain free). I feed high fat and protein to my workers

 

[aztec]

but I was after advice on what might be best if your dog is on the skinny side ( she is sooooo active! and certainly could do with a little more weight, as much as I do like to keep pets on the lean side)but also a hyper, neurotic collie!
will different food/level of protein/ make a difference?

You haven't said how old she is?

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I've used Millie's Wolfheart Endurance for a hard-to-get-weight-on golden retriever and its done the job.its 'only' 50% protein but its for dogs in hard work, which mine isn't really!

a long time ago I had a hyper collie and it was recommended I feed him a higher fat diet (and by this I don't mean massively high fat, just a few % more than your usual kibble-it was over 20years ago). Helped him calm down and put on a bit.

 

[aztec]

Hi Pippixox
I have exactly the same problem at the moment with my 5 month old Weim , he looks amazing BUT he is very ribby and if i'm honest if somebody was to stop me and say they thought he was too thin i would agree, iv'e tried upping the amount but he just poo's more! i also tried changing to a higher meat content but he got an upset stomach , he never stops as he is free to go out wherever he wants here and i like to walk them a lot too.

He's still a baby, he's nowhere near developing his adult body shape! As long as he's happy, active & healthy keep doing what your doing. Weimaraners are big dogs & it takes time for them to mature.

 

[Shady]

He's still a baby, he's nowhere near developing his adult body shape! As long as he's happy, active & healthy keep doing what your doing. Weimaraners are big dogs & it takes time for them to mature.

Don't want to hijack Pippixox's thread but thanks Aztec . He's my second Weim and i can't put my finger on what bothers me but i feel he is too thin , almost whippet lean, if you know what i mean, could be just his breeding, he is narrower in the head and chest but compared to my last , who had the same life he does look underweight. I do totally take your point tho and i could be over worrying( i'm rather fond of him!) x

 

[pippixox]

Sorry she is about 2.5-3 years old so done growing. But Didn't get walked or out of a tiny house and garden for her first 2 years so has gained plenty of muscle since living with us!

 

[Umbongo]

Would recommend giving millies wolfheart a ring, or try https://tails.com
Working dog mix? Adding in salmon/fish oil?

 

[aztec]

Sorry she is about 2.5-3 years old so done growing. But Didn't get walked or out of a tiny house and garden for her first 2 years so has gained plenty of muscle since living with us!

Ok, I'm assuming her worming program is up to date & there are no medical issues?

If you think she needs to gain a little weight I'd be looking at a slightly higher fat content than her current food. You don't say which flavour of Canagan you use but they seem to be around 17% fat so maybe something around 20-22% is something you could try?
There are high fat kibbles available with 30% plus but your dog would have to be extremely active to make use of that.

Alternatively you could try a high fat blend & mix it with her Canagan, giving you the option to adjust the ratio up or down.

As noted by Shady above, feeding higher protein foods isn't the answer as a dog can only process the amount it needs, the rest is excreted (wasted) & this food is expensive!

 

[aztec]

Don't want to hijack Pippixox's thread but thanks Aztec . He's my second Weim and i can't put my finger on what bothers me but i feel he is too thin , almost whippet lean, if you know what i mean, could be just his breeding, he is narrower in the head and chest but compared to my last , who had the same life he does look underweight. I do totally take your point tho and i could be over worrying( i'm rather fond of him!) x

I understand your concerns but, as long as everything else is ok (worming etc) I personally wouldn't be worrying too much, he has a lot of growing to do & a good proportion of what he eats is going into that.

You could have your vet check him over to put your mind at rest?

 

[SadKen]

My junior GSD has always carried zero excess weight and at times has looked like a welfare case. If he's been stressed, busy or cold you can see him shed kilos overnight.

Our solutions were a fleecey coat to keep him warm round the house (now in a new build so not an issue!). Stress kept a minimum, I used some calming sprays etc and a regular routine helped loads. Food wise we use Wainwright's trays and he gets a really good glug of quality olive oil on every meal. He's now just right and won best condition dog at a local show this summer.

In my experience it was tweaking different feeds which helped. He is BONKERS on kibble of any kind, it makes him totally hyper and no amount of exercise runs the madness off. I don't give him grain or cereal feeds as it all comes out too fast. Orijen had the same effect. He did very well on Aldi's gluten free tripe tins but I was slightly worried about the quality and it did pong.

Good luck with solving it; there is a huge amount of info on the net about losing weight for dogs and very little for gaining it.

 

[pippixox]

Ive done it with horses and yet would not of thought to add just oil to dogs food. Does it matter what oil? My old dog loved pinching the horses linseed, but she does t.
She is a stressed, although this has improved a lot within 6 months and she relaxes a lot more now. I will check fat content.

 

[SadKen]

We have tried cod liver oil, extra virgin olive oil and coconut oil. The coconut oil was well received buta bit costly. The cod liver oil was fine but he threw it up once due to unrelated illness, so I stopped it as it was a bit grim for a vegetarian to clean up. The olive oil seems to work best for us but I'd imagine that any quality oil would have a similar effect; it's just energy dense and non heating calories.