Normal amount of time for a dog to gain weight?

[cassiek]

Okay, I may be being a bit paranoid here, but bear with me.

We adopted Diesel just shy of a month ago. He was very malnourished and underweight. He was weighed approx. a week after we adopted him, and weighed 55 lbs. It's hard to judge, but ideally we think he should be around 80lbs... maybe more.

We have been feeding him a fair amount of food. He is eating about 1 lb. of raw in the A.M. and 3 cups of kibble in the P.M. (Kirkland Lamb & Rice).

He seems to be gaining weight very slowly. We weighed him today and he has only gained 5 lbs in the last month. He does look a bit better, but his ribs and hip bones still jut out.

I have never had a dog that needed to gain a fair bit of weight, is 5 lbs in a month normal? He has been to the vet and has a clean bill of health. Should I maybe switch to a puppy kibble? He is fairly young - we estimate around 9-10 months.

He is fairly active. We usually do about an hour of exercise at the dog park a day plus him and Brynn play together alot. Perhaps I should increase his amount of food? But already he is eating so much, and sometimes needs a fair amount of coaxing to finish his meals.

Ideas?

[cell]

Since he was malnourished you don't want him to gain weight too fast since it will usually just go on as fat. Slower weight gain is ideal since it is converting to muscle. If you are concerned the weight is coming on too slowly adding a bit extra food to his bowl won't hurt him. There is no real expected weight gain it really since it varies by the dog. I am assuming when you got him he had a full deworming regime? Sometimes at the shelter they just get 1 basic deworming when its possible he could need a more complete regime.

Also remember shelters and changing homes are so stressful dogs can drop weight or not gain as quickly.
Since he is 9-10 months he could benefit from some puppy food. You could simply mix it in with the adult food so it doesn't go to waste. He's not nearly finished growing so no need to rush.
Extra treats that are higher in calories like peanut butter kongs etc also wouldn't hurt.

[serenamlambe]

I think that adding some puppy food to his diet would be a good idea, considering his age.

I was told by a friend of mine, who has a Great Dane, that the larger breeds can benefit from being on a puppy food until up to one & a half years old.

Slow & steady wins the race! He'll be fattened up in no time with your love and care

for Diesel!

[luckypenny]

9 months old is part of the gangly stage in Boxers, isn't it? I wouldn't be too worried at this point Cassie. A gain of 5lbs in one month is a lot. You want to go slow...gaining weight too quickly at this age can cause stress to Diesel's joints as well.

It sounds like he's eating an awful large amount of food as well. The largest of ours is about 70 lbs and he only gets a maximum of 1 1/2 pounds raw or, on the occasion Orijen is fed, he only get 1 1/2 cups maximum per day.

What are Diesel's stools like? When, and how often was he de-wormed? Using which product?

[cassiek]

Thanx for the advice everyone, and putting my mind at ease. I certainly do want him to gain muscle, not fat, and do not want to put any stress on his joints.

He did receive a de-wormer when he was at the humane society and went in for his neuter and vaccines (not sure what was given as the vet did not mark it in his file ). Because I was not aware that the vet had in fact given him a de-wormer (I found out afterwards), when I had him in to my vet we gave him a de-wormer. So he actually received two, which I am told will not harm him and is sometimes necessary to give a 2nd one anyways.

LP his stools have been okay. They were a little loose between a few food changes, and I am currently switching him over from the Kirkland to the Acana Pacifica in hopes he does well on it (I feed it to Brynn and Furby, so I figure it would be easiest just to have them all on the same kibble). As for the product that was used as a de-wormer, I am not sure. I do have the box the tablets were in when they were given at my vet, but I'd have to find it. And yes, you are correct, he is at that gangly stage...! LOL. He looks so awkward and gangly with those long legs!

Yeah, it is a fair bit of food. I guess how I came up with it is, I figured at his ideal weight (about 80 lbs) at 2.5% he would eat 2 lbs of raw. So I give half of that in the A.M. as for the kibble, if he ate half of what he would eat under ideal circumstances, it would be about 1.5 cups. However, I figured it wouldn't hurt him to have double. Maybe it's too much? If I fed him at what he would eat at his ideal weight (1 lb of raw in the AM, and 1.5 cups of kibble in the PM) would that suffice? Maybe I will cut back...

[TeriM]

I think a gain of five pounds in one month is probably about what you would want. The amount you are feeding is close to the amount I fed Riley at about that age and he was also very lean. I think it just depends on the dog and the activity levels. Poop is always a good indicator of feeding to little or to much.