New Adoptee

[Lowchenlove]

I have been thinking of fostering for a while but then lost my heart to a rescue girl and adopted her yesterday.

She is a shetland collie/ mini poodle cross (honestly why do people keep experimenting with cross breeding - two great breeds combined to produce a dog with an unmanageable coat ).

Anyway she is four years old and a very gentle soul - my other three have taken to her like she has always been with us

She is about the size of a border collie but is seriously underweight - all of her ribs are showing and every bone is pronounced, her spine is showing and she really needs to be fattened up (makes a change from me always watching the others in case they put on too much!!) I have just spent the last 30minutes removing the poo from her bum and after I finished she very gently turned to me and gave me the nicest kiss

What is the best way to be feeding her - any advice would be welcome as I have never had to do this before.

Thanks in advance.

[Anissa]

Hey,

I would only add 10-15% more food to the normal food portion so that the weight very slowly increases. Like for us humans it's not very healthy to put on too much weight in a short time.

You can also add some oil (canola, olive ...) to her food but not more than 1 tblspoons a day since an overdose of vit. A (which these oils contain) can be poisonous. You can add some high fat yogurt, whole eggs or even cheese to add calories.

[tramissa]

Give her fatty but good cuts of meat (lamb flaps, I think chicken necks and wings are good for fat). Also increase her dry (if you feed it) by a small amount and give her a few meals over the course of the day if you can.

[Lowchenlove]

Thanks for that - had thought about giving cheese but not considered eggs and the oil is a new one on me.

Guess I am always so concerned about my dogs putting on too much and am so used to not feeding high fat foods that this seems strange.

Thank you both for responding - will follow your advice and see how it goes.

[badboyz]

Piccie please!!!

[lovemypitty]

whenever I take in a underweight rescue puppy , I keep the meal portions small and frequent , but I will move onto a performance or active diet as opposed to an adult maintenance diet , the dogs will always get lamb based meat which seems to be a little fattier , i try to get the weight back on them slowly and any change in diet I make is done very gradually . good luck

[shmoo]

how about Satin Balls to fatten her up?

do a search on DOL, loads of recipes

[Lowchenlove]

Promise I will post pics as soon as I can work out how too. Am waiting for OH to return from abroad and then give me an idiots guide to downloading pics - never even used a digital camera before (I am such a Luddite)

[ShellyBeggs]

I am very soon going to be in the same boat with a skinny pup....

Stockgain works wonders......and I will give it a go this time.

Buy it from stockfeed stores. I always used to mix it in warm water and add to their dinner.

Eggflip drink with egg and honey I have heard of......sounds yummy and I imagine can work well if not lactose intolerant.

good luck

[imy]

Depending on which dry food you feed, you can give the same amount of 'working dog' or similar. It has more fat and stuff for dogs which always use up loads of energy... that way you can increase other foods without adding more dry food.

Also, have a tupperware container of chopped up kabana, cheese, kransky, or similar stuff to use instead of more lean treats like you'd use for other pets.

Do it quickly but slowly if that makes sense! You don't want to inadvertantly cause other problems by giving too much fatty stuff at once. Although, no doubt she'd love it.