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.

[TeriM]

Originally Posted by luckypenny

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.

LP - 1.5 cups orijen per day or per meal? Riley is now approx 110 but that hasn't been until this last year or so. If I were to feed all kibble today then he would need about 4.5 cups or Orijen to maintain and when I feed all raw I usually feed 1200 gram (2.5 pounds) per day.

When Riley was younger (around 8 months - year) he would have required about six cups of Orijen to be able to maintain and finish growing. He could not process that amount of kibble without getting major splats so at that time he got fed a lot of raw. I now usually do raw in morning and kibble at night. When we travel it is usually all raw as it is easy to buy at grocery stores and his system handles the travel better.

[luckypenny]

It's possible he may need to be de-wormed again. Can you bring in a stool sample to the vet for testing? Our experience is that underweight dogs are usually that way because of parasites, not because they were underfed. Pups coming from shelters/pounds get de-wormed with Panacur here three times at ten day intervals ie. 3 days Panacur, 10 days without, 3 days Panacur, 10 days without, and 3 days Panacur again to ensure all life stages of parasites are eliminated. It's the most effective intestinal parasiticide we've used. We then follow up with a monthly topical treatment like Advantage Multi or Revolution.

[luckypenny]

Originally Posted by TeriM

LP - 1.5 cups orijen per day or per meal? Riley is now approx 110 but that hasn't been until this last year or so. If I were to feed all kibble today then he would need about 4.5 cups or Orijen to maintain and when I feed all raw I usually feed 1200 gram (2.5 pounds) per day.

When Riley was younger (around 8 months - year) he would have required about six cups of Orijen to be able to maintain and finish growing. He could not process that amount of kibble without getting major splats so at that time he got fed a lot of raw. I now usually do raw in morning and kibble at night. When we travel it is usually all raw as it is easy to buy at grocery stores and his system handles the travel better.

Riley's a Lab for sure . If fed only Orijen, Lucky get 1 1/2 cups per day...raw, only 1 1/2 lbs per day to maintain his weight even though he's pretty active. Funny, Nukka needs the same amount as him and she only weighs 25lbs....Penny needs 2.5lbs raw or 2 1/2 cups Orijen. Weird how the largest one needs the least .

Average male Boxer's weight is 70lbs if I'm not mistaken. How much does Diesel weigh now, cassie? I may be wrong but 1lb raw in the am and 3 cups of kibble for dinner sounds like a lot . That's why I'm thinking parasites.

[TeriM]

Lucy was like Lucky. At her most active she only ever really ate about 1 pound of raw and she is usually about 65lbs .

It's a good thing I don't have two dogs that eat like Riley or I'd need another freezer .

Cassie, I agree with LP and think a follow up worm treatment is probably a good idea. You could also consider cutting his evening kibble meal back a bit and then giving a snack before bed. I found that helped with Riley gaining.

[cassiek]

Originally Posted by TeriM

LP - 1.5 cups orijen per day or per meal? Riley is now approx 110 but that hasn't been until this last year or so. If I were to feed all kibble today then he would need about 4.5 cups or Orijen to maintain and when I feed all raw I usually feed 1200 gram (2.5 pounds) per day.

When Riley was younger (around 8 months - year) he would have required about six cups of Orijen to be able to maintain and finish growing. He could not process that amount of kibble without getting major splats so at that time he got fed a lot of raw. I now usually do raw in morning and kibble at night. When we travel it is usually all raw as it is easy to buy at grocery stores and his system handles the travel better.

Teri I have found the same with kibble... I have checked Acana, Orijen, and Kirkland and all of them say for Diesel's ideal adult weight (about 80 lbs), he would eat from 3-4 cups a day. Of course this will vary with the dog, activity level, etc. but he is fairly active, so I don't think that seems unreasonable. Even Brynn at age 3, requires approx. 1.5 cups of Acana or Orijen when she eats kibble all day and she is only 45 lbs, to maintain her weight.

I have started splitting up his supper meal - usually 2 cups at supper and 1 around 9 or so at night. I try to avoid giving the "snack" too late at night so he doesn't end up needing to get up in the middle of the night.

We do have a vet appt. next week to get his second set of shots, I will talk to the vet about doing a fecal test for parasites just in case. I guess it does seem like a lot of food - but it's not really that much more than he would get once he receives his ideal weight? I'll double check on the parasites though!

LP the average weight of an adult male boxer can vary widely. It can be anywhere from 65-100 lbs. He is quite tall, almost at the top of the breed standard at 24 inches, so I figure 80 lbs is probably reasonable. It's hard to judge, and it will really depend on how he ends up looking, 80 lbs might end up being too heavy on him or he could still need to gain more.