What to supplement so my 4-month old puts on weight?

[brianna079]

I have 2 dobermans, 1 will be 1 year old in 2 weeks and the other just turned 4 months old. We were living in the city where all kibble was easily available, but just moved to the country where not all dog food can be bought.

We were on Orijen in the city, but up north we couldnt find and switch to EVO, but decided that since we would be returning to the city every couple of weeks to buy it there, and we just switched back to the Orijen.

The older dobe is perfect shape and size, but the younger one is skinny. He will definatly be bigger than my first, and i have notcied that he is growing very fast (he is also really energetic). I have started to add cottage cheese to his breakfast and a tiny bit of bacon fat to his supper.

I just remember that my older dobe never had a problem putting on weight (my last vet actually told me he was close to being obese!), and i'm just a little flustered as to what to do to put some weight on the little guy.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated! thank you!

[want4rain]

whats your vet say about the 4mo old??

-ash

[brianna079]

he is due to go back for some vaccines, so i will ask the vet to do a blood test - last time he was skinny (not as much though), and they said to just try to feed him more. i never had this problem when the other one was this young, i have been around animals all my life (dogs, cats, and horses), and we usually didnt solve a weight issue with 'more food'...usually had to do with something else.

[hazelrunpack]

Parasites can impact a dog's weight. Perhaps when he goes in for his shots you should bring in a stool sample, as well.

[brianna079]

he had been dewormed, so i hope it is nothing too serious if it might be a parasite problem i will bring the vet a 'puppy muffin' when we go

[RaYne]

Bubba, my male Saint will not keep weight on if he's just fed Orijen or any grain free food for that matter. He needs the carbs to maintain weight. You can either add carbs yourself to the Orijen (rice, pasta.. whatever) or just mix in some 'with grain' kibble. I use Acana since it's made by the same company as Orijen (Champion pet foods) I do half Orijen half Acana. Since adding the Acana he's putting back on the weight he lost and no longer looks like I starve him. Thank god.. I was getting so tired of the 'comments'.

Meanwhile Lola our other Saint got a little chubby on Orijen.

Definitely rule out the parasite problem first. But it does sound similar to what was going on with Bubba. Some dogs just don't do well on the grain free foods.

[gypsy_girl]

You may want to look at a kibble with more calories, such as GO! Chicken. It has the most calories of any kibble, it is very effective for putting on weight. Because residual protein does not lay down in the body as fat, your dog may not be getting enough energy. Adding carbs would also be good, these carbs could then be used as instant energy, and the proteins and fats could be used AFTER the carbs for energy.
I like to use rice, oatmeal or quinoa.

[erykah1310]

Honestly at 4 months of age I wouldnt worry much about weight. I mean unless there was a parasite causing it, but if not... I would rather see a pup grow slender then add weight ( especially breeds that are prone to hip/joint problems) then overly stress the joints with excess weight.

My Tibetan Mastiff pup looks big and well "weighted" but in reality she isnt... shes not wormy, has no parasites, I am happier that she is growing lean, as is her breeder and my vet.
Once she is done her growing then we will bulk her with muscle (not fat) but until then, I dont see a problem
*again unless its horrendous emaciated like state we are talking about here.

[edwpang]

Originally Posted by erykah1310

Honestly at 4 months of age I wouldnt worry much about weight. I mean unless there was a parasite causing it, but if not... I would rather see a pup grow slender then add weight ( especially breeds that are prone to hip/joint problems) then overly stress the joints with excess weight.

My Tibetan Mastiff pup looks big and well "weighted" but in reality she isnt... shes not wormy, has no parasites, I am happier that she is growing lean, as is her breeder and my vet.
Once she is done her growing then we will bulk her with muscle (not fat) but until then, I dont see a problem
*again unless its horrendous emaciated like state we are talking about here.

I agree with your statements. When Butter was 4-5 months old, he was considered to be skinny by many people, only the vet said he was fine. Gradually he took on more weight, and now he is at his perfect weight. BTW, he is a 16 month labradoodle.

[jcampbell21]

what about adding some canned food as well?

[RaceLaguna]

I just wanted to add that I had a similar experience with grain-free kibble with my youngster, too. I tried Evo (which she LOVED), Taste of the Wild (which she didn't like all that much) and Merricks Before Grain (which she loved, but gave her bad gas) she would not gain any weight on these foods, as good as they are. I was convinced that I should not feed anything that had grain in it, but it just wasn't working for my dog.

I know a dog that has been fed Natura's Karma for her entire life (she's about 2.5 or 3 years old) she has always looked like the picture of health! I asked her owner what she feeds and she said her Vet swears by Karma! So I bought some and have been feeding it for a few months. Despite the fact that it is extremely grain heavy and goes against everything that I have been reading about dogs and grain, my dog is doing fabulous on this food! She is gaining weight, has great energy, a coat so shiny you gotta wear shades and good firm stools. She also really likes it! Which helps...

Here is a link to the website....http://www.karmaorganicpet.com/

[brianna079]

Hmmm...maybe i should add add some grains then...i actually made a doggie meatloaf and have been replacing his dinner with that and maybe he has put on an extra pound...it has only been 5 days though.

when i actually got my first dobie, he was being fed some really crappy grocery store type food, and the woman at our fantastic pet food store suggested not to switch him over to no grain right away. So we put him on Chicken Soup for the Puppy Lovers and it did not agree with him at all. We kept him on it until the end of the bag, thinking to "wait out" the change in diet, but he still was not digesting it well so we put him on the orijen and he was great with that (and is great on EVO red meat as well).

but, when we moved up north (and got our second dobie)and ran out of our dog food, we could not find a decent pet food store. when my husband went into the best we could find, the best they had was Eagle Pack, so he bought it to "tie us over" but the dogs did not agree on this either...that was why i went back to Orijen for the little guy (yes, i drove a little over an hour to go pick it up)...just thinking the grain was not agreeing with him...?

i'm hoping to get him to the vet next week (there is supposedly a vet somewhere around here that has dobies too)...i miss my vet in the city he was fantastic