Make my dog fat!

Britestar

Britestar

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Well not fat, but fatter than he is.

18mth Border Collie. Never stops, on the go all the time. Weighs 17kg, fed JWB for a 35Kg dog. Nothing wrong with him at all, been vet checked and had bloods, just totally hyper active.

Just as well he's a fluffy one, if you touch him, you can put a finger between his ribs, and feel every vertabrae. Can sit you hand between his hips.

Beautiful shiney coat, loads of energy, just really really skinny.

Any suggestions? (No RAW, neither time or inclination, I am a veggie)
 
If he's fit and healthy it wouldn't really bother me, better a skinny than a porker and he sounds in good condition.

Eggs and oily fish/salmon oil put on condition, or a good splosh of veg oil on top of his normal food.
 
my collie cross was similar, maybe not quite so thin but he has a short coat and out walking him i got "looks" but he was fussy eating as well, if he hadn't done loads of running he simply wouldn't eat. He got better when he got to two and filled out but salmon oil on his dinner made a difference both in weight gain and tempting him to eat.
Ilooked into different god foods and there is one called turbo something which is extra high calorie and is popular with agility and flyball peeps
 
If he isn't on a performance dog food try that or mix in 50% puppy food.
Standard foods are for normal activity.
 
I had a greyhound who looked like a resuce case, when I changed from JWB to burns she did start to put weight on but it took time
 
Green tripe and chicken leg meat is apparently fab. To be honest, to heck with the veggie principle, you should be looking to what is best for your dog and if that means tripe or something equally icky, then give it a go. My springers are about 20kg (12 months old this week) and lean: I reckon a BC ought to be a bit heavier, quite frankly.
 
yeah, my friends agility dog is a bc and is super fit and on the lean side and weighs 17kg too. she's very energetic and healthy so 17kg sounds about right and op has mentioned the dog needs to gain weight
 
Our Pointer was like that. It's normal for active dogs to appear to be skinny, and his weight is OK. You could try switching to a working dog food.

Our's is now nearly 3 years old, and is only just starting to fill out, but is still lean. She's very active, and does as much exercise as a working dog. She's on Hills Science Plan for active dogs (and I feed her double the recommended daily amount). About once or twice a week I boil up some mincemeat with a little bit of gravy and mix that in with her food as an extra treat.

She's still capable of dropping off very quickly though, especially if our routine changes and she loses her appetite a little.
 
Modern commercial dog foods are designed to make the dog eat more without putting on weight, so you buy more food and they make more money!

Try adding fat trimmings from the butcher or a good dollop of lard.

As a previous poster has mentioned, nothing to beat raw beef tripe which is what I feed mine -- but the red tape from DEFRA will drive you nuts!
 
My friend has a very skinny black lab and she always worries about him. I spoke to a vet whilst out walking and he said as long as he has bags of energy and is shiney, just dont worry..
 
Sardines in olive oil a couple of times a week mixed in with normal feed has done wonders for my old boy's weight and they love it.
 
cinammontoast said:
Green tripe and chicken leg meat is apparently fab. To be honest, to heck with the veggie principle, you should be looking to what is best for your dog and if that means tripe or something equally icky, then give it a go. My springers are about 20kg (12 months old this week) and lean: I reckon a BC ought to be a bit heavier, quite frankly.
Click to expand...

Exactly! You choose not to eat meat, dogs are designed to i'm afraid (and bones and offal :p).

My pointer x is very lean at the mo and i'm trying to put a bit more condition on him but at this time of year with tall crops to hunt in and lots of things around to chase, it's hard as he is just running on addrenaline all the time!

I'd feed 2/3 times per day if you can and include oily fish and tripe mince if you can't bear to feed it in it's raw state.
 
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