9 month old ALD needs to gain weight!

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

We just got back from vacation and the family we left our pup with didn't notice how matted our dog was.  I took her to the groomer today and they had to shave her completely :-(  Now it is very obvious that our dog is underweight.  Hips protruding and ribs out.  I feed Orijen Adult per weight recommendations (she is 30lbs and gets 1 cup 2x day)but feel I need to add a supplement to put some weight on her.  Do I just increase the kibble or should I add cottage cheese or yogurt or chicken and vegies or what?   Thanks for any recommendations.  I, on the other hand need to lose a bunch of weight but that is another discussion.....

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My doodle is on the slender side and I am sure if he were shaved I would be shocked, but unless the vet told me he was severely underweight, I wouldn't worry overmuch. Slender dogs are usually healthier.  How tall is she?  Ned is 17" tall and weighs 26.3 pounds and has since he was 8 months old.  Clancy, on the other hand, could never be accused of being svelte.  He is 19" tall and 63 pounds  and he is not fat but just a huge dog on short legs. 

My advice would be  to find out if she is really underweight and then to increase her kibble amount.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

Cooper (a standard ALD) always shocks me when see her wet! Shes so skinny under all that fur!

 

However, when she was younger she was toooo skinny (you want to be able to feel their ribs and backbone but not see it). I switched her to Orijen Large Breed Puppy from Raw and she gained weight. I did feed her quite a bit more than the recommended amounts though (almost 4 cups). Now she is full grown she gets 2 cups a day, 3 if we are going out hiking.

[Jeanne, Tura and Dolly]

Thanks Nancy.  Dolly should be around 35 lbs so is almost full grown.  I figured she was just going to fill out a little until I saw how thin she is and realized maybe I need to help her along a little.  I just switched her to adult food 3-4 weeks ago.  She eats all the food I give her but doesn't act hungry especially in the morning.  Usually won't eat til 10 or 11am.  I will add a little and see what happens.....  I've put a before and after picture.

[Kaytlin and Cooper]

aww they always look so sorry for themselves when they are shaved dont they!

 

She looks ok to me, maybe a little underweight, but I cant really see her ribs (which is good) but it may just be the camera angle. 

 

Coopers hips always seem bony to me, so i think thats normal. Ive been told it can be hard to get weight on poodle puppies so i think some of our dogs got that trait!

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

It's possible that your doodle also was not eating much while you were away. That's pretty common. I would not actively try  to put weight on her with extra food. Being a little bit underweight is healthier for everyone, dogs and people both. Your vet will tell you if your dog is too thin.

Adding a little yogurt to your dog's food for health reasons is not a bad idea. But I wouldn't increase the kibble or start giving extras for the prupose of putting more weight on her. A thin dog is a healthy dog. It's very easy to gain weight, and not so easy to take it off, as most of us know. If you're concerned, I'd ask the vet, but she looks fine to me.

[Karen Moore]

Hi Jeanne, I completely feel your pain. Our 2-year old ALD is also underweight (because she's a terribly fussy eater). I also feed Orijen but no matter what I do, she will never (ever) eat more than 1.5 cups of kibble per day. We had her on a 100% fresh food diet for awhile, but since she doesn't like to eat, she lost even more weight. The kibble helps to keep it on.

 

What I do is mix her 1.5 cups of Orijen with 3/4 cup of ground meat (usually chicken or beef). I weigh it ahead of time and add 1/2 tsp of ground eggshells per 1lb. of meat to keep the calcium in check. I then add extras like a small scoop of cottage cheese and a small scoop of pumpkin or canned sweet potato. I also buy organ meat (liver, kidney, heart) and boil it and give her a chunk of an organ to eat after dinner. Our vet believes that about 40-50% of a dog's diet should be fresh food, so it may be best to just supplement with some balanced people food (or even canned food for variety). 

 

It has worked for us -- though she'd still rather be running around, going for walks, seeing what we're doing, playing with her toys, or staring out the window, rather than eating. I'm having her groomed again next month so we'll see how she looks!

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

Peri just got cut down to about 1/2" and it is always shocking how skinny she looks.  I don't see her hips protuding like your girl, but she does look teeny tiny.  Vet is not concerned and says it is better for her to be slightly underweight, so I am not concerned. 

I might just add a little yogurt to her food.  And I agree that she probably lost a pound or two while you were away....

[Nina]

Hi,  I too have a fussy eater.  To get her to eat breakfast, I now give her a cut up piece of the Natural Balace Beef roll.  That is all she will eat in the morning and some mornings she won't eat it at all.  If she doesn't eat and then runs around and plays, she throws up yellow bile (ugh).  For dinner she gets Orijen with shredded chicken meat.  She is now 2.5 years old and from trial and error (did raw for a bit) this is what she is most likely to eat.  She weighs 25 pounds and is abut 17" high.  Vet says she is healthy.

[Debb, Lucy & Oscar]

Hey Jeanne... my first instinct is, if you're worried, ask your vet. If you remember, my vet told me Lucy was too thin when she was about 4-5 months old and although she had a thick coat at the time I didn't feel her bones all THAT well. Her weight was remedied with extra kibble. Lucy has been a reluctant breakfast eater for some time now (and too often dinner, as well), and our solution has been to add a large heaping TBL of canned food (and in our case we feed Fromms, so the canned is real shredded chicken...smells delicious!), AND (and this is important, for otherwise Lucy would not eat), a 1" slice of cooked sweet potato to her kibble, all mashed up together. Oh, and a squirt of salmon oil. She gets the same for dinner. She eats her meals every time now, no complaints or reluctancy. As far as adding weight, well, she's maintained 45lbs for the past 5-6 months, so the extras haven't added an ounce of weight on her. That wasn't my goal in the first place, anyway, but it has gotten her to eat.

[katherine willis]

I went through this with Sandy, now 2.5 years.  Ask your vet to help you analyze the kcal you are feeding her.  I was following the recommendations provided by the food manufacturers but it was not enough when we did the analysis.  I have a very active mini ADL so he needs 13oz of food daily plus the chicken and sweet potato treats I give him. He is now 27 lbs, a good weight for him.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

It would be about 1 1/2 cups, give or take.  I do measure my two big dogs food but not by the oz.