Gsp Not Putting On Weight

[CareyJ]

Leila is skinny. She is 17 months old and very teenager like but her back hips are boney and she is ribby. She is up-to-date with her worming and spot-on treatment, her coat is shiny and healthy, she is as bouncy as ever and the vet was happy with her when she went for her annual vac and check-up. I have noticed that she feels the cold a lot so she has the best ever crate which is covered and indoors, an indoor fleecy coat ( :D SBT123) which she wears to bed and an outdoor one for when it is cold at night and she has to be out/for walks. She also has a kennel with plenty of blankets when she is outside.

Do you think she might just drop weight because it is cold? Temps at night are about 2-8 degrees and 20ish during the day here at the moment. She is eating more than during summer - 2+ cups of Nutro chicken AM and PM (up until last week it was the lamb variety but she has gone off that, I think the bag bag went stale), with 2 chicken wings and a chunk of lamb neck in the morning Or just a chicken a carcass with a few biscuits for a meal. Plus training treats. We choose to feed a kibble base with heaps of extras just because it is convenient.

She weighs about 25 kgs.

This is what her kibble contains and she loves it (and so does the cat):

Nutro Natural Choice

GUARANTEED ANALYSIS

Crude Protein (Min.).........22.0%

Crude Fat (Min.)................13.0%

Crude Fibre (Max.).............5.0%

Moisture (Max)..................10.0%

Ash (Max.)............................7.5% Salt (as NaCl) (Max.).......1.2%

Linoleic Acid (Min.)..........3.5%

Zinc (Min.)................430mg/kg

Vitamin E (Min.)........500IU/kg

Vitamin C (Min.)......200mg/kg INGREDIENTS

Dried Chicken, Ground Rice, Rice Flour, Dried Beet Pulp, Chicken Fat, Sunflower Oil, Natural Flavours, Oatmeal, Iodised Salt, Potassium Chloride, Choline Chloride, Taurine, Natural Antioxidants (including Mixed Tocopherols and Rosemary Extract), Vitamin C, Vitamin E Supplement, Zinc Sulphate, Marigold Meal, Dried Kelp, Ferrous Sulphate, Copper Sulphate, Calcium Pantothenate, Vitamin A Supplement, Biotin, Riboflavin Supplement (source of Vitamin B2), Vitamin B12 Supplement, Potassium Iodide, Thiamine Hydrochloride (source of Vitamin B1), Niacin Supplement, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Selenium, Vitamin B6, Folic Acid.

Has anyone got any suggestions about what to add to put weight on?

[Danois]

Have you ruled out any medical reasons?

Otherwise I have recently switched to a power formula for working dogs, nursing mothers etc - I am using Eagle Pack Power and am seeing results.

[VJB]

Heidi always has more food in winter, seems more hungry. We feed Eukanuba and she eats probably about 3 cups total a day, plus a half cup of Tucker time. Training treats are cut up tucker-time, cheese etc. How tall is Leila? Heidi currently weighs 30 kilos. And Heidi also gets a couple of 2x2 biscuits and a venison ear daily.

Edited June 24, 2010 by VJB

[oakway]

I don't think the diet is high enough in fat and protein.

How about feeding her a lamb flap along with the dry.

I feed two Whippets a full lamb neck, cut length ways by the butcher with all the fat attached,

half to each dog.

[CareyJ]

I don't think the diet is high enough in fat and protein.

How about feeding her a lamb flap along with the dry.

I feed two Whippets a full lamb neck, cut length ways by the butcher with all the fat attached,

half to each dog.

Cheers for the advice. I found some great looking and large lamb offcuts that had all the fat attached on Wednesday night (3 peices totalling 1.3kg for $4.50) at woolies. The quality looked better than some of the expensive steak they had! I dont usually get meat from woolies. So I'll add more meaty bits with fat and see how we go.

The advice I recieved in the GSP thread seemed to indicate that it is quite common and she does suffer in the cold.

[Nekhbet]

protexin powder, cheap pet mince as well as the dry food. Even a supplement like Livamol can help. Dont put an already active dog on a high energy active formula, the reps have told me (and I found out with my dog) that it simply hypes them up so they run more = no weight gain.

If you get desperate make up some satin balls to add to the evening meal. Should definately be 2 meals a day for weight gain with the fattier meal at the end of hte day