Gaining Weight
 

Hey just picked up my Greyhound (Tony) today and he is needing to gain about 1 kilogram as you can see his spine and his ribs are quite visible.
Im wanting to try and get the weight on him before winter as it will help with the cold weather etc.

Whats the best way of gaining weight?

Thanks

Firstly has he been wormed out recently Morgan ?
The best I have found are sausages they work a treat. Mixed in the nightly feed, really stick to the ribs stuff. Get the cheap ones from Coles or your local supermarket.

Hey Morgan, Buy meat with high content of fat.

How's Tony settling in Morgan ?

Yep he has been wormed about 15 days ago have to worm him again on the 11th.

He is settling very well a lay with him on his bed for a while now he knows its his :)
Very beautiful and gentle dog like all greyhounds.

I thought it was nice that the old owner/trainer requested that she be kept updated about how he is doing etc. She said she was very sad when he left.


Back to the question, so sausages are the best?

Im feeding him advance active at the moment.
Should i mix in some sausages for him?

Yep that's what I'd be doing. (start off @ 2 a day).

Won't hurt to feed him breakfast, afternoon snack (when you get home from work), and a night time feed. (In the short term) to get the food into him. Most love left over pasta, mixed into their tea. (from the human's dinner leftovers).

So 3 meals plus 2 sausages?

How long should this amount of food be fed for?

sent you a pm Morgan

I use fatty off cuts from the pet food store I get my meat from.. about 100-150grams on top of his normal food for a week will see him gain weight even if you are working him as per normal. Even an extra half a cup of kibble as well. When he is up a bit in weight gradually cut the extra food out until his weight levels out again... Gaining weight is easier than getting them to loose it, I hate cutting down the dogs food. Anyway good luck :)

Tony isnt training i have just adopted him so he isnt training etc.

He is under weight and i dont want him to be too uncomfortable in the cold weather.

Im going to grab some cheap sausages today for him see how he likes them.

Buy straight lard mate (they love it aswell), mix it in with his dinner if you really want to stack it on, if you can ask your pet food store if they have a higher fat content chicken mince as this depends on the amount of fat/skin put in with the mince. Depends on the store, and you will be able to tell by the pink/ white in the chicken, if its red it is as lean as you get chicken. I also agree with the pasta comment that will help him fill out.
Other than that I suggest that you spoil yourself and get yourself some nice steaks with fat left on and when you cook it cut off the fat and give it to him ;) he will love you for it. Another option is to get him a winter weatherbeeta rug, it will cost you around the 50 dollar mark and being a racer he will have no problem adorning the clothing and it will keep him much warmer.

Hey he is currently wearing a coat which is keeping him quite warm although as he is still quite skinny im still wanting him to put on about a kilo before the very cold winter days get here.

Would rice be suitable to be fed to him?
Or is pasta better?

rice is just as suitable, although I believe taht if you are feeding larger amounts and not mixed through thier dinner as much they will have more trouble eating it due to the size.

another thing to remember is wholemeal is another important factor.

Here's a quick outline of a feeding program -

Breakfast -

3 x Lucky dog biscuit bones (about 4 inchs long)
or you could feed a couple bits of toast with vegie on. Or a couple of weetbix with a splash on milk the rest water in a cup. (be careful not too much milk gives the dog the runs)

Afternoon snack - A couple of Lucky dog biscuits or a handfull of the dried food your feeding.

Tea - Feed your nightly feed of kibble. (At present I'm using meaty bites). Add your snags and any left overs from your tea. ie pasta, rice, fat from the chops etc.

To add weight fairly quickly - You need to feed a fatty content of meat. ie lard from the supermarket, puppy mince from the pet shop. But as I said firstly go the snags cheap, and they do the job.

As for how long I would feed for, would be up to you. When he starts to look filled out, you can cut back on his feed abit.



There's a lot of great posts on this subject Morgan, you won't (or can't) go wrong.

Your not wrong there. Never Promise (Sally) after the Home and Away star :)
Just has to look at food to put on weight....LOL

Get him some Chicken Necks too mate - you'll be a friend for life then!

This is what i made for him tonight.

Breakfast: 3 cups of advance active dry food.


Dinner: 3 cups of advance active dry food mixed with cooked rice and sardines.


Is this suitable? Will this increase his weight or should i be feeding him more?

I would think that you should add some more meat into his diet, sardines are obviously fish which is used alot for its low fat content. Also got some cash to burn hey morgan ;) not too many I know are keen to feed a dog 6 cups of advance a day :P.
I cant remember the exact specs on the advance food but I imagine to be moderate fat content not that high, the weight gain you see in this instance will be pretty much proportional to the fat in his diet. Does it say on the advance bag how much is rated to give a dog his size?

Another thing is if you have the contact number of the person you got the dog on, get an idea of what they were feeding him as they were obviously able to keep his weight where it is, if you use this as a benchmark you can add from there.

Thanks myanimall.

Yeah advance is quite expensive but id rather feed him the good stuff, got a mate that works at uncle benz so he can get me cheap dog food which is good.

Ill be adding meat to his diet from today just have to cook up the sausages as i didnt get a chance to yesterday. Also going to get him some chicken necks.

Hi, be sure to check he hasn't had acidosis, as this will cause the muscle to wither away.
A quick way to check this is his urine, if it is very dark and has a strong odour this may be your problem. If so you need to detox.

Sardines are also good for a shiny Coat ;)

It doesn't matter if the snags arn't cooked. Suzy has raw snags most night of the week. I just mash them up in her bowl with the kibble.

or buy the sausage meat that they sell seperate yummy yummy lol

Too late sausages are already cooked

Looks like his having sausages with sardines and rice with advance active for dinner.

Better enjoy it :)

i reckon he might ;)

I could have eaten it, looked better than a meal at mc donalds :)

so does a dog turd.... so not much to go on there morgan lololol

Haha agreed

Got him some chicken necks today and cooked him up some pasta, seems to enjoy eating. lol

Sheez I'm moving to one of Morgan's kennels........YUM!!

Haha yeah i think he enjoys it :)

How's the greyhound settling in Morgan ?

He has settled in great, gets very very spoilt. lol

If you can get some beef suet from the butchers it would help heaps. If you add some in his dinner each night it should help increase his fat content and put a nice shine on his coat. He could be lacking some basic nutrition too. With my greyhounds I don't feed any dried food, especially kibble .. I hate the stuff ... but give a variety of meats e.g. beef, chicken, turkey and sometimes mackeral. I also put vegs in blender such as parsley, carrots, apple, spinach, cabbage and give a tablespoon over their din dins. (Also beef suet reguarly)..they have the most beautiful healthy coats. I cook sometimes oats for their breky and put A2 milk over top... pretty yummy.