Shadow is looking skinny at the moment. Two nights in kennels has made him look like he's been in a concentration camp. My issue is that if I increase his food too much, he gets the trots. I can't get green tripe here. I can get white (human-grade) tripe, but I know that's not as nutritionally rich. Any other suggestions for feeding him up? Thoughts I've had: Give him four meals a day rather than three. Don't worry about the soft poop unless it becomes liquid - he'll still be getting the calories from the food and as long as he stays hydrated, is it a problem? Give an additional meal of chicken and rice, which is easy on the tummy. Increase his salmon oil intake, which is high in calories anyway (and' he's a way off the maximum dose). He still has huge energy levels and is up to date on his wormer. I know there are a few hard-gainers on here who have gone through this before. Wish I was one of them
I bought some CSJ treats off their web site last night, and had a browse through some of their stuff. There were a few supplements claiming to help get a keep condition on a dog. Don't know if any of those would help/are any good. I'm a bit worried about Charlie's muscle tone at the moment. He seems to be losing muscle (not weight) so I'm puzzling over his diet too!
Both rice and plain boiled potatoes are good for bulk but both are also easy on the digestion , might be worth adding to his food . Sam was really ill a few weeks ago, didn't eat for five days or drink for two , he looked shocking even after he began to improve , lost lots of weight and looked gaunt . Our Vet suggested the potatoes, which I have used before . Hope Shadows condition soon improves . Oh yes , for the coat , I use coconut oil , the raw virgin type, massaged in .
Their coats have both gone a bit greasy and their skin dry. Weird after only two nights. I gave them a good groom yesterday when we got home and will go the same today. I got loads off of Willow which was unusual, and she seems a bit itchy, so getting back on the salmon oil (they didn't get any whilst away) and a nice coconut oil massage later night be in order. Thanks for the potato idea, I'll give that a go. I presume it's good to keep the skins on for nutritional value, too? I know that protein is better for muscle growth, but for now I'm more interested in getting some cover on him. In general, he has a pretty muscular rump for a skinny runt ( poor man! ) , but obviously if he's losing weight, he'll be losing muscle mass, too, which we want to avoid. I seem to remember reading elsewhere that someone else's dog lost weight on Burns, so it may be that I need to change, or supplement, his diet. Which is nice, after inadvertently buying 60kg of the stuff It's just annoying how difficult it is to buy decent food here. Especially now the snow has arrived, getting it delivered to Spain and collecting it from there is a bit of an epic journey.
You could try a working dog feed. Most of the Gundog/competition feeds have a working option for when dogs are being worked hard. Skinners, CSJ, KRONCH I think all have one.....
Tarka was very skinny at that age and like Shadow would get soft if I increased her kibble. I fed her a third meal of minced meat/bone for a few weeks and that improved her tremendously.
What is Shadow's ratio of 'food' to training treats? For Charlie it's often 50:50 or even more in treats. This is because Charlie needs so little food though. If I have to look at Charlie's diet, the first thing I do is look at what I'm using for training treats. I saw this on the CSJ's site: http://www.csjk9.com/productcart/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=110&idcategory=14 Something like that used for training treats would add calories without adding too much volume to his diet - and it might fit through your letterbox at least.
I love the way it says pemmican can be easily broken up you could build houses with the stuff!!! Loads of people swear by it on a cold, wet days shooting though
Thanks for the comments/suggestions. Shadow's meal:treat ratio is about 50:50, too. When out and about, these tend to be things that are easy to dispense (kibble, turkey frankfurter, cheese, sausage etc - and now, sea biscuits, too) and at home, I use things that are less "chunkable" (raw meats, roast chicken). I do sometimes worry with this ratio, as it means he's getting a lot of processed foods in his diet, which is why I started to increase the amount of kibble that I use for the easy stuff, because at least I know that's a balanced food. CSJ don't deliver to here, sadly. I think I'll go and have a word with our pet shop next time I'm in the capital and see if they'd be able to source anything like that. kateincornwall - the funny thing with fibre is that it can help loose poo, too, by soaking up the excess liquid in the colon, I believe. It helps constipation by absorbing liquid from outside the colon. I might try with and without and see what happens! I'll add more sardines into his meals, too. Which he'll be beside himself about. Sardines are the Best. Thing. Ever.
Pemmikan bars are ideal for extra energy, but I think you would have to feed a lot for weight gain. Unless you are working your dogs very hard, flyball or agility you could end up with a very hyper dog IMO. What about a simple tin of 'Chappie' we feed it with the kibble, and find that during the shooting season a tin between 2 dogs is fine keeps the weight on. it is also Fish based. Bella was a skinny miss when younger the chappie helped put weight on her. Sue.
Thanks, Sue. We can't get Chappie here, sadly. It's very tricky to get anything other than Pedigree or supermarket own brand.
My dogs definitely lost weight on Burns. You could try buying Burns "Alert" if you like Burns. You could also try adding a little animal fat but be careful not to add to much as it can contribute to pancreatitis.
We have had lots of difficulty getting weight and condition on Blake. The only routine that has worked has been Peak Performance (millies wolfheart) which is very dense, high fat, medium protein. He gets high dose salmon oil on top of this. He has gained around 7 kgs and improved condition. He is moulting out his horrid dry coat and this is being replaced with lovely soft creamy fur.
Charlie was like a rake when he came to us as a 9 months old rescue and we tried Burns but it didn't help at all he just couldn't gain the weight he needed. What about Fish4Dogs? Hattie & Charlie are happily of Skinners Salmon & Potato and Charlie's weight and coat have never been better and I get it off Amazon pay & subscribe so don't have to remember to order it as it arrives monthly. I know it's difficult delivery wise where you live. Poor Shadow I hope he's OK and you find a solution. x
In chipping in late Fiona,sorry,if Dexter looks skinny I just give him lunch for a couple of days ....he upsets easy but his Tummy can cope with that...Dexter is totally kibble fed for his meals though. Did Shadow go off his food in kennels? x
I can't really weigh in on the food advice as you've had loads already but I noticed you said you were a little concerned about their coats after a couple of days in kennels. As you may or may not remember I've spent several years working in kennels, and the poor coat/flaky skin is something I've seen a lot. This can be primarily due to stress - even just a couple of days in kennels will be stressful to some extend in most dogs. I don't know the reasons behind it but when a dog is stressed it causes them to have dandruff in their fur. I wouldn't worry too much about the coat thing unless it persists, I would have thought it would clear up by itself.
Oh, interesting, thanks Lauren! Yes, Shadow was very stressed when we left him, poor man. It was their first time in kennels in Spain and I won't be going there again. The man who was looking after the dogs was absolutely lovely and fabulous with the dogs, but it's nothing like the place we have taken them to a couple of times in England. Shadow seemed a lot calmer when we arrived to pick him up, albeit he was very happy to see us, but unlike most kennels, there was very little noise from the dogs. Most of them are dogs live there, though, so are obviously used to being kennelled. It's what you'd call an industrial breeder, or probably a puppy farm in the UK, which shocked me. I didn't see any puppies, but there were lots of adult and young dogs. I'm not quite sure how it works. On the plus side, all the dogs looked very healthy and in great condition, as well as alert and interested in what was going on, but they clearly lived in their kennels most of the time. Not for me, thank you. I think that it was maybe the stress of the kennel that stripped his condition more than going off his food. They generally sleep a lot in the day, but I imagine they were awake for most of the day there, which obviously burns a lot more energy. My two already get three meal a day, so since yesterday I've just been upping the between-meals treats. Kibble and sardine kongs and more little training sessions to get the food in. He already has a little more cover - back to how he was looking before he went in kennels, but still on the skinny side, like he was when we were in the UK. I've been looking through the higher energy foods to see what I can get delivered here. At the moment, I can't even get to the end of the road (didn't get our snow tyres on in time) but when I can, I'll have something delivered to Spain to pick up. I found that VetUK has Burns Alert on their website, and they deliver to Spain for a charge, so I could try that. I generally order from ZooPlus but they don't have any of that sort of thing. Fish4Dogs is definitely out (which saddens me, now I know they love sea biscuits!!). I'll see how we get on after a few days of feeding more calorically dense foods with and in addition to his meals. So far, no sloppiness!
Perhaps you can add some eggs once or or twice a week. I boil them and make them small with a fork, including the shale (sp?). As for the kennel, Finn is always very tired when he comes home after having stayed in the kennel. He has lost weight then too! He sleeps for days to catch up! For Euan the kennel is too much. He can't stay there anymore. I think he is too old with too many issues!
