ot - fattening up a dog
- Thread starter Kung
- Start date
We rescued an adult pit last year and she was a mere 22lbs. You could see every bone in her body. We have switched to DrsFosterSmith chicken based dry food over the last 6 months and have had excellent results over a couple other brands we tried.(Purina Beneful, Iams, Science Diet to name a few) It seems to be easy for her to digest, it's not full of fillers and she seems to prefer it over any other food. We feed her twice a day, keep her well excercised(walk/run ~4mi/day) and she has put on a TON of muscle on those bones! The reward you will get for taking on a rescue dog is well worth the extra effort. Glad to see someone else steering clear of pet stores and breeders.
uhuru
New member
Kung, congrats on your dog! Just like with humans, if calories in > calories out, your dog will put on weight. I would start with the manufacturer recommendations (there are many foods that have a higher caloric content), and go from there. If you really want to do it right, you should weigh her regularly and log the data. Don't rush it. Slow, gradual weight gain is best to avoid other complications.
BTW - how old is she? has she been dewormed? tested for parasites? you should form a relationship with your vet
BTW - how old is she? has she been dewormed? tested for parasites? you should form a relationship with your vet
Same here. Any chance of posting some pics of her when you get a chance. I've been trying to talk the wife into adopting. Unfortunately, it hasn't gone over so well. Oh well, I'll keep at it. They always say that the squeaky wheel gets the grease...or is that wheel gets replaced?
Since she is a high energy dog, my own opinion would be to feed her Taste Of The Wild. It is a high protein food like Jeff said, and it has definitely helped my friends sister's boxer when they first got it. Now it is up to a good weight, and thats the only stuff they have been feeding.
I would stay away from any foods that contain alot of Corn because a dogs stomach can't digest corn. (A lot of foods that contain corn are: Science Diet, Many Nutro Products, Iams, and Purina, as well as most walmart/big box store brands)
I would stay away from any foods that contain alot of Corn because a dogs stomach can't digest corn. (A lot of foods that contain corn are: Science Diet, Many Nutro Products, Iams, and Purina, as well as most walmart/big box store brands)
jakano
New member
I second the Diamond dog food suggestion its a very good food. It is a staple of hunting dogs and those breeds require lots of high protein food since they work so hard. When I still hunted with my dog it was a minimum three nights a week and with this food he was packed full of muscle and was in wonderful shape. Diamond is now being offered in more conventional pet stores so go to the Diamond website and check out what sellers are near you.
If you want her to put on the weight I recommend using frozen biljac mixed with some high quality dry food...I recommend Canidae because I use it personally for my Cane Corso puppy and she loves it, here are the other recommendations for your new family member
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showcat.php/cat/8/page/1
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showcat.php/cat/3
They are all really great foods and wont be high in fillers, grains, or byproducts like almost all mainstream foods and those all have real meat in them, another recommendation is to feed raw food like Natures Variety frozen foods...my puppy was packing on over 10lbs a month when i was feeding her frozen
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showcat.php/cat/8/page/1
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/showcat.php/cat/3
They are all really great foods and wont be high in fillers, grains, or byproducts like almost all mainstream foods and those all have real meat in them, another recommendation is to feed raw food like Natures Variety frozen foods...my puppy was packing on over 10lbs a month when i was feeding her frozen
I completely agree with the NO CORN statement....the Nutro Nat choice is their corn free feed. Biljac is another great conditioning food...so are eggs! Diamond does have corn as the main ingredient, so that would be further down on my list than the Nutro Nat choice....but it is definitely better than iams, sd, or purina.
I worked in pet food store (NOT a stupid big box...a locally owned store) for quite awhile...stay away from iams, SD, purina, and any other dog food that doesn't list some sort of meat or meat meal (NOT meat by-products) as the #1 ingredient. You can also top-dress a quality dry dog food with egg and/or soybean oil. If you are getting local eggs, there's no real need to cook them even. When I raised laying hens, my St Bernard got a raw egg everyday...I've never seen a shinier coat on a long-hair dog! (note: don't give your dog a whole egg then let him walk into the living room before biting into it!)
I worked in pet food store (NOT a stupid big box...a locally owned store) for quite awhile...stay away from iams, SD, purina, and any other dog food that doesn't list some sort of meat or meat meal (NOT meat by-products) as the #1 ingredient. You can also top-dress a quality dry dog food with egg and/or soybean oil. If you are getting local eggs, there's no real need to cook them even. When I raised laying hens, my St Bernard got a raw egg everyday...I've never seen a shinier coat on a long-hair dog! (note: don't give your dog a whole egg then let him walk into the living room before biting into it!)
We rescued a boxer yesterday from a backyard breeder as well..
We breed and show boxers and have rescued many over the years. They are a very muscular lean dog to begin with, but 35 lbs sounds about ten under for a small female, if you have a pic can you post it. You should see very refined musculature and ribs/hips should be defined but not prominent. If you have a tape you can take her height at here shoulders as well and that will give you a good estimate of what she should weight.
As far as dog food, a lot of good comments, i shudder everytime i see someone throwing away $30-50 on corn meal, ie iams, science diet, etc,
As mentioned for fattening up hard boiled eggs are perfect, great balance of protein and fat for them. Their coat will also look great.
We have fed diamond, nutromax, and now feed exclusively canidae. They are all decent food, but with the HUGE increase in the cost of nutromax we now feed only canidae its a little more expensive but GREAT food. With five big dogs in the house, the decrease in yard cleanup duty is well worth it.
You will learn to love the joker of the dog world, boxers are great!
We breed and show boxers and have rescued many over the years. They are a very muscular lean dog to begin with, but 35 lbs sounds about ten under for a small female, if you have a pic can you post it. You should see very refined musculature and ribs/hips should be defined but not prominent. If you have a tape you can take her height at here shoulders as well and that will give you a good estimate of what she should weight.
As far as dog food, a lot of good comments, i shudder everytime i see someone throwing away $30-50 on corn meal, ie iams, science diet, etc,
As mentioned for fattening up hard boiled eggs are perfect, great balance of protein and fat for them. Their coat will also look great.
We have fed diamond, nutromax, and now feed exclusively canidae. They are all decent food, but with the HUGE increase in the cost of nutromax we now feed only canidae its a little more expensive but GREAT food. With five big dogs in the house, the decrease in yard cleanup duty is well worth it.
You will learn to love the joker of the dog world, boxers are great!
uhuru
New member
Corn is not as bad as people make it out to be. Corn gluten for example is an excellent protein source when combined with meat sources. Corn meal is actually a great source of carbohydrates and is even used in prescription diets for overweight or diabetic dogs. Unless you have one of the few dogs with an allergy to corn, it certainly has its uses in dog food.
BTW, I'm a big fan of Royal Canin, but I don't use (anymore) it since I don't get it for free I also use Innova, Purina, Hill's, Eukanuba... yup I use them all, and they all work great.
BTW, I'm a big fan of Royal Canin, but I don't use (anymore) it since I don't get it for free
I also use Innova, Purina, Hill's, Eukanuba... yup I use them all, and they all work great.Corn isn;t bad in a dog food by any means...it's when it is the #1 ingredient and most of the protein in the feed is from it.
The big thing you find when you switch from a corn based feed to a meat based food is the amount of waste is WAY less. If there is less poop then your dog is getting more nutrition out of each ounce of your $40+ dollar bag of dog food. You can typically feed less of a quality meat based food and get the same amount of calories as a larger amount of corn based feed.
The big thing you find when you switch from a corn based feed to a meat based food is the amount of waste is WAY less. If there is less poop then your dog is getting more nutrition out of each ounce of your $40+ dollar bag of dog food. You can typically feed less of a quality meat based food and get the same amount of calories as a larger amount of corn based feed.
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