Getting a starving dog to gain weight

[MJ808]

Can anyone help? I rescued a German Shepherd who had been abandoned, last JAN about 5 months ago, we don't know how long he was out on his own. He is a beautiful and good-tempered dog, loyal and smart. the vet thinks he should weigh 90-100 lbs for his build, he was 55 lbs when I got him, he couldn't lift his hindquarters for the first week, now he is trying to run around with my very healthy Blue Heeler pup (1 yr old) and is keeping up, even established clearly that he is the Alpha. He needs to gain enough weight so that I can have him treated for heartworm. He is a beautiful guy who is savable if I can do this.

My question is how to get him to gain enough weight. I have had him for about 5 months and feed him cooked meat with rice, and whatever vegetables I can get him to eat. I add vitamins and enzymes (in capsules, because he turns down anything with a funny taste) He is a picky eater because of his level of malnutrition. I was advised by our vet to give 2:1 meat/rice plus vegetables, and go through about 5lbs chicken or hamburger a day. He is gaining 1-2 lbs per month, and is very hard to feed. After I put down his his meat/rice mixture sometimes he won't touch it. He has turned down raw hamburger. He does have energy to play with my pup, though I keep him in a small fenced areas so that he can't pick up speed with his heartworm. His coat is dull but thick.

Does anyone have tricks or advise on getting him to eat more and gain weight? Sometimes he comes and asks me for food but then he turns it down, I think he could eat more.

[Faster horses]

The vets here sell Science Diet Dog Food and it is available in
different formulas. Maybe it would help if you could find some of that
with extra calories.

Good luck and bless you for taking the dog in.

[balestabber]

i knew someone that fed their dog an egg or two a day,don't know about the weight gain but it sure put a shine on his coat.

[BAR BAR 2]

I bought a horse last year that was not used to the climate and range here in Wyoming. It wasn't long and he was going down hill, so I got some Amplify feed supplement from Purina. It was long and he looked better than when I bought him. I fed this too him and a couple of young ones thru the winter. They looked awesome come spring. My point is though, when I fed this stuff my dog couldn't keep out of this stuff when I opened the bucket. He would go after it like a crack addict. Is wasn't long, his coat was shiney, he looked healthy and he was getting a little fat. I had to cut him off. This stuff may not be for dogs but it works. It comes in a 30# bucket. I'm not a vet and what I say is strictly my opinion. It seems the meat and rice would be high in protien for muscle building, but wouldn't he also need some fat in his diet?

[jingo2]

Get some vitamins from the vet

Biscuits and gravy

mix left overs from supper with his dog food.....

I've used that can gravy from WalMart to entice dogs to eat uptheir food when picky or hindin' a pill or so from them

[the_jersey_lilly_2000]

I have one wiener dog that is a 'hard keeper' he is 5 years old or so, and he gets puppy food to this day because if he's on anything else he looses weight.

Also instead of one meal a day...split it up into two meals.

And none of our dogs can resist the horse feed buckets when we make em. They each get several bites while we make em up. LOL

[MJ808]

Thank you everyone,

Some really good ideas I will definitely try to see what works,.. and I will keep trying. At least he is gaining and not losing. He hasn't been eating normal dog food (wet or kibble) unless he really gets hungry, and we don't want him to go a long time time without eating to get that hungry. But maybe if I make some home-made gravy out of the water the meat is boiled in and pour it on his kibble (we have Science Diet and Eukanuba out here). I will see about trying the Amplify too. The vet said that he should have a low fat diet with 2:1 protein to carbs, because his breed can get hip dysplasia if they get too big later, but he should be getting enough fat in the meat he gets. Thanks again!

[hypocritexposer]

You might want to see if he will eat raw cut up chicken skins. If you boil them, you would lose some of the fat into the water. You could also use the broth to make porridge and feed him that too.

You might want to do some internet surfing and see if you can find some good sled dog rations.

[MJ808]

I found some good links that talk about canine nutrition:

http://www.highveldsleddogclub.co.za/feeding.htm
http://www.mushwithpride.org/Guidelines/Feeding.htm

We will experiment and see what works for him, he's still a young dog and is active as much as I'll let him. That and all he has been through have probably made him require more nutrition to heal and recover. Sounds like a little salmon oil is good too.

Thanks!

[MJ808]

Also found K9 Puppy Gold, which is made for puppies but is used for debilitated dogs too. I will talk to vet about my ideas.

[Kato]

I'm wondering. Are you trying to get him in shape to be treated for heartworm? Does he already have heartworm? Or so he can have heartworm prevention medication.

[MJ808]

He had the heartworm when I first got him. Vet wants him to be about 75 lbs so we can deworm him, when the worm dies it releases a lot of toxins and the medication can kill the dog. So I am trying to get lean muscle and good quality weight on him so that his immune system can handle the treatment. He has a murmur, we hope it will be less when the worm is out, but I hate hearing it. He is a strong dog though, even with everything.