How to get some meat on my pups bones???

[Stina]

I've said it before in many other places: never mind the analysis sites and people's personal preferences!

I'm sorry but its not a matter of personal preferences.....its a matter of canine physiology. Dogs are just not designed to properly process large amounts of grain. They may be "omnivores"....but they are primarily carnivorous and the vegetation wild canids voluntarily eat consists of small amounts of grasses and berries....NOT grains. Grains are not good for dogs no matter how you look at it. They may not be outwardly harmful to all dogs (though they are to many...large amounts of carbs can cause frequent ear infections, skin problems, and digestive upset)....but that doesn't make them good for them. ALL dogs that are fed large amounts of grains are going to produce more and smellier feces than dogs fed no grain. My parents' dog eats Natural Balance...by no means a terrible food...but his poop STINKS and lasts for months without decaying in any substantial way. My dog eats a raw diet with a small amount of herbs and honey....and his feces barely smells and decays from the yard within a couple weeks because he is able to utilize nearly everything in his food.

Now, I'm not going to tell anyone they are killing thier dog by using a low quality food, and I'm not going to try to convince the world to feed raw......but I also won't encourage anyone to feed a food with large amounts of carbohydrates. It is your right and your choice to feed whatever you choose.....but you WILL see a difference if you use high quality food with little to no grains. Also don't discount the higher quality foods immediately because of the price.....work out how much you would have to feed b/c the bag cost does NOT equate to feeding costs.


At any rate...Teressaann24...if the vet thinks she's in good shape I wouldn't be worried about her weight. You are lucky to have a dog that controls its own food intake!...its rare! A tucked tummy isn't a sign of being underweight...some dogs are just built that way. If the hip bones and ribs aren't prominent, then she should be fine

I would still put her on a better food...but that is your choice!​

 

[chickgirl17]

we have a dog with a very picky apatite but we use cottage cheese or chicken broth to make her want to eat it
good luck with the pup

 

[rinnith]

ah just the thread i was looking for, i'll post a pic if needed! anyway i have a husky he's been with us for a good couple of months, way too thin. we can see his but bone! he's very active, clean bill of health, he eats only a few mouth fulls. our puppy eats pleantly, she finally looks great! (huskies are known to be a little thin) he'll only eat half a bowl of boiled chicken and rice, (thats what our vet told us to do.) he will eat strawberries like crazy...(very weird accident)? any suggestions? im going back to read other posts now!

 

[rinnith]

wait... i can understand why grains are bad, (stopped rice after illness stopped) but why would my vet tell us to give them some, it was for his diarrhea... some help please?

 

[Stina]

A lot of vets will reccommend that b/c it can bind things up and help with diarrhea.... a lot of vets also don't know a great deal about nutrtion. Vets do get some nutritional education........but not a whole lot....and science diet and purina get shoved down their throats.

If he likes strawberries so much you could try mixing a small amount in with his food...

 

[rinnith]

the vet info is nice info, and since we only found out yesterday that he likes them. we did try that today. he is our least dominate. although they get along real well, i was still shocked when he finsihed first and then went over to his sisters and lightly bumped her out of the way. she looked stunned as well but took it back just as fast....lol

 

[LoupGarou]

People don't need to eat filet mignon every day to stay in shape and neither do dogs. Every dog has different nutritional requirements. Let's face it: a pet's chief responsibility is to look good and to provide companionship. It is probably going to need less protein to deal with the relatively little stress/energy requirement that its life requires than a conformation dog who's off to the shows several times/month. That conformation dog is going to require less protein than the obedience dog, the obedience dog is going to require less than the agility dog, the agility dog is going to require less than the herding/working dog. Once a dog's nutritional needs are met, everything else is simply personal preference or vanity. A person should never be told that they aren't doing the best by their dog because they don't feed Solid Gold or something even more expensive, as long as the dog is in good health.

Americans are almost totally neurotic over what we put into our mouths and into the mouths of our children (and yet we let children decide to become vegetarians before the age of majority, when they need calcium and proteins to meet their growth needs--but I digress). There is no need to transplant that neuroticism to what we feed our dogs as well.

 

[RabbitMage]

So corn is easily digested by dogs and is fine as the main part of their diet?

 

[Dar]

I did not read all the way through but I love

Natural Balance .

Both my dogs thrived on it from my 120LB malamuteX to my 20LB toy fox terrier

My Mal had all kinds of food allergies and they cleared up with this food

http://www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

 

[LoupGarou]

Quote:
Even human beings don't digest corn easily, but nothing stops us from eating it. Dogs are not obligate carnivores nor are they ruminants; they need a certain amount of carbohydrates for energy and they need a certain amount of roughage to help move their food through their digestive systems. However, it is almost as bad to give dogs too much protein. If you feed too much for the dog's needs it will spill over into the urine and may even cause kidney and liver issues. Too much of *anything* is not a good thing.

I've owned dogs for about 40 odd years and I've been active in the dog fancy for about 10 of those years. I've never had an overweight dog and I've never had one die of starvation. I've never had a vet say that any of my dogs were any less than in "very good" or "excellent" condition. I feed primarily Purina O.N.E. or Purina ProPlan and I do provide them with raw carrots and raw chicken necks on occasion to keep their teeth clean. I'm not a vet and don't call myself an expert--but I must be doing something right to have these results.