Emergency Weight Gain Needed

[aatainc]

Hi guys, long time no post, been busy.

Anyway, I have continually struggled to keep enough weight on my Pointer (from Ashanali) who is now 10 months old. He will eat anything in sight - appetite is not a problem.

We have been to a few shows (for socialisation practice) and I would like him to do well but he is always too skinny for the judge.

I have been feeding him up lots of fatty lamb off cuts, chicken, BARF patties etc and he has slowly gained a tiny bit of condition. Unfortunately, in the last 3 days it has gotten a lot colder and I guess that might be the reason why his condition has dropped again and he is ribby all over again. We have a show on Friday (Rosewood - anyone going?) and I would like to put as much weight on him as possible between now and then. I would prefer not to resort to dog food. As he has a great deep chest and tends to inhale his food, he is a prime candidate for bloat - so I need to be careful about how much I feed him at one time and I would be worried about feeding dry food especially.

Any suggestions for keeping/putting the weight on him??

BTW - he is really really fit and healthy, has been wormed recently (As have all the dogs) none of the others are underweight so I doubt any of them could have worms anyway, he has excellent muscle tone and lots of energy. His poos are nice and small and firm so he's using what he's fed. He gets a 5 min walk to the off leash area (across the road) a few times a week where he trots around for maybe 10 minutes. I don't let him play with other dogs there as he burns too much energy that way. We sleep him inside and I put a coat on him to try minimise heat loss during the night if I take him out training or something. Should I sleep him in his coat too? Or keep it on during the day? I'm worried he might chew it off but maybe it might help conserve energy? What do people from cold places do?

I need a fatter dog!!! Any help is appreciated. My email isn't working so posting here would be great. thanks.

Edited June 24, 2005 by aatainc

[KitKat]

Someone here posted the recipe for something like 'silk balls' or some such...used for putting weight on a dog...it should be somewhere on this thread...i'll go have a look and see what i can dig up...

ok...not silk balls but satin balls...so i was kinda close :D and here's the Link

Satin Balls is a total canine diet. It can be feed by itself or as a supplement, for however long you wish. My dogs have been on Satin Balls for over a year; the only time that I have fed it alone is when I had a sick dog needing to be built up or an underweight dog that I plan on showing.

The only problem with feeding it by itself is figuring out the amount. It will put weight on a dog in a few days...that's why it is so great to feed just before a show.

Edited June 22, 2005 by KitKat

[dogbesotted]

here are some links to recipes for satin balls. Check both before making your descision and good luck

http://www.holisticdog.org/Nutrition/Satin...satinballs.html

http://www.doglogic.com/recipes.htm

[aatainc]

1 lb hamburger

1 package cream cheese

1 dozen egg yolks

1 jar all natural peanut butter

about 1 cup rolled oats soaked in milk

1 jar wheat germ

This is the recipe I like the look of the most, because it's not got that total stuff, whatever that is - we can't get it here I don't think.

Anyway, how much of this stuff?

i just fed him a saucepan full of rolled oats, 3 tablespoons of peanut oil, 2 tablespoons honey, 1/2 cup tinned peaches and 1 cup of fat trimmings from mum's raw rump steak. He gets this sort of thing occasionally - you'd think he'd be a porker by now!!

Anyway, thanks for the tips, I had never heard of satin balls before. Hopefully they do the job!

[WreckitWhippet]

Apart from adding to his diet i can suggest a couple of other things. I had a Dobe who despite being healthy would not keep on condition.

Make sure that the dog is rugged at night and if necessary provide him with a heat pad so he doesn't use up energy shivering. Keep him rugged during the day if it's cold also.

Some dogs are highly strung, they may appear normal but use up much of their energy with nervous tension. The B group of vitamins are helpfull in this situation and I can suggest Rebound ( for Greyhounds ) this contains the b's needed and is used for dogs under the stress of woork or dogs that travel poorly. It takes the edge of a dog, it will not harm them of make them dopey.

If he is in a kennel situation, make sure that he is not able to run s the fences of pace around his yard. Keep him confined to a smaller area and take him out for some explosive exercise not long walks etc.

I'm sure that you are already splitting his meals as he is a larger dog, but try feeding him more often.

Cheers

[WreckitWhippet]

whoops. Hit the button twice

i can add that we are from the cold and during winter the dogs spend much of their time either rugged or in the kennels. They prefer to lay around in the kennels where its warm. They still go out to exercise but as soon as they have finished playing and are ready to rest it's back inside.

Cheers

Edited June 22, 2005 by Warley

[trina]

I have had the same problem with my whippet bitch - tried everything but something that seem to put the weight on was boiled sheeps heart and brown rice, added other things to it as well like cream cheese also oats soaked and cooked in goats milk or coconut cream.

[poodlefan]

I'd suggest increasing the number of meals - perhaps to three a day?

Some young dogs are very hard to put weight on - my Darcy was on two meals a day until he was 18 months old and was very lean. Perhaps when the judge goes over him you can say something like 'oh he's such an active dog, he's hard to keep weight on" and give a winning smile.

After all, he's a juvenile gundog, not a couch potato. :D

[Miranda]

This is the recipe I like the look of the most, because it's not got that total stuff, whatever that is - we can't get it here I don't think.

Sustain is the Australian equivalent

[aatainc]

aha! thank you!

[Dogsfevr]

He has just as much chance of getting bloat whether feed barf or biscuits & if a dog is lacking condition then i would be trying biscuits aswell,pointers are hard to maintain weight & what you may want to feed doesnt mean its right for this dog.

I have deep chested breeds & they are feed biscuits plus there raw food & are exercised for an hour each night plus the free running on an acre but i always have to adapt the feed to each dog in question as each one thrives on something different.

Maybe try pancreas tablets aswell

[Prydenjoy]

It can be hard keeping the weight on them with a strict BARF diet because they burn all the energy they consume - great for older dogs and non show dogs because it all turns into beautiful muscles, but for a young show dog you can feed as much as you can, but they will still not put on the weight they need for the show ring.

I had the same problem with my Whippet boy, he ate like a horse and until I added kibble to his diet he looked like a skeleton! He now gets a cup of Eagle Pack Power in the mornings, and his BARF meal in the evenings. The kibble is always soaked and he stays in his crate for about an hour after he finishes it to prevent bloat. If bloat is what you are worried about then feeding oats is no better than feeding soaked kibble. However, for the first time in their lives my dogs now have a doggy odour! So as soon as it warms up again they'll be off the kibble, when it is cold again after that hopefully they'll be grown and wont need kibble! But if you don't want the doggy odour, just feed oats instead of kibble. Oats with eggs and lamb heart, possibly with goat or coconut milk (as trina suggested), and plenty of off-cuts. Also, feed chicken wings and thighs instead of frames, I've found that makes quite a difference also.

Personally the Eagle Pack works for my dogs, but if you don't want the doggy odour and everything else that goes with kibble then try a few other things instead - or you could just do what I'm doing, get the weight on them with kibble then put them back onto BARF and see how they go

[aatainc]

well I fed him 300g worth of that satin ball recipe yesterday afternoon, plus a chook frame - rugged him up really nice and warm last night - and guess what - got him up this morning and his ribs have dissappeared!

i Can't believe he could put on weight so quickly - but he has a definite covering that wasn't there yesterday. Gonna keep him on a small amount of satin ball every day.

I definitely don't want to go back to any dry at all. He has been fed many large meals lately trying to fatten him up - and he has bloated twice - both times when he was fed dry food. (and he's only eaten a dry food meal about 3 times so I Think that's enough.)

Also, even the tiniest amount of dry food in his dinner makes his poos sloppy and stink to high heaven.

What I am feeding him is definitely right - he has great muscle tone, energy , brilliant coat - just needs a few more calories - if he wasn't a show dog I wouldn't care about his weight because he is very healthy.

[dogbesotted]

now that is good news!

I swear by satin balls

[Akitaowner]

ooOOOoooo im gonna try those....altho my show is tomorrow doubt itll make too much difference!!

[MaxSpots]

well I fed him 300g worth of that satin ball recipe yesterday afternoon, plus a chook frame - rugged him up really nice and warm last night - and guess what - got him up this morning and his ribs have dissappeared!

i Can't believe he could put on weight so quickly - but he has a definite covering that wasn't there yesterday. Gonna keep him on a small amount of satin ball every day.

WOW

I must admit I was reading this thread thinking how is he going to gain enough weight in just a few days.....

How good are those Satin ball things

really interesting thread, and something to keep a note of

[aatainc]

Just have to say that you guys are great. He put on enough weight to enter the show today. My goal was to beat a dog, any dog - we have never done that before - we have always either been alone in our classes or lost to the other dog. but not this time....

Puppy in Group!!! YAY!

VERY excited. Thanks to Ashanali for handling him in group line-up. How typical that the one I handed him over for was the won where the judge pointed to him!

Thank you all for your advice. I will now shelve the satin ball recipe till a week before our next show. His condition is good for a pet pointer I think so I don't want him to get too fat!

Thanks - from Solo and his very excited mum. (Actually solo's pretty excited too - having been cramped up in a crate for most of the day!)

[blacklabrador]

YAY Solo!!!! Well done Nicole and Alicia

[t-time]

I saw you - too shy to come over - I was so happy for you!! CONGRATULATIONS!!! It makes such a difference knowing about "that" dog in the the group...my heart was in my mouth for you!!

I thought he really deserved to win - he is lovely (and didn't look to skinny - just young!) You'll do a lot more winning with him.

I actually really enjoyed the Group yesterday as the Gordon Setter got it FYI folks. R/Up was an English Setter. Both rare choices in Group 3 and needless to say, quite an upset! All those Cocker people left out this time...no offence...made for something a bit different !!!

Congrats again.