Need To Put Weight On!

[Guest Zizi]

Here's the deal Jerzis race weight was 60 pounds when she went to the vet she weighed 54 pounds.Vet said she was a little to thin and upped her food to 4 cups a day. I was giving 3 cups daily. Now sense this increase in food she poops 5 to 7 times a day. On 3 cups the most she went was 3 times daily. She is eating iams green bag and has done great on it. Also I will add that all of her 5 or more poops daily are all firm stools.

 

I just think she is pooping a lot, maybe this is normal more input more output. But is this truly going to put weight on her? Other ideas for getting her weight up? How much should her pet weight be approx.

Here's the deal Jerzis race weight was 60 pounds when she went to the vet she weighed 54 pounds.Vet said she was a little to thin and upped her food to 4 cups a day. I was giving 3 cups daily. Now sense this increase in food she poops 5 to 7 times a day. On 3 cups the most she went was 3 times daily. She is eating iams green bag and has done great on it. Also I will add that all of her 5 or more poops daily are all firm stools.

I just think she is pooping a lot, maybe this is normal more input more output. But is this truly going to put weight on her? Other ideas for getting her weight up? How much should her pet weight be approx.

Forgot to mention this pooping is just when she is let out in back yard. Not on walks she doesn't poop on walks!

[Guest RMarie]

More food did NOT result in more weight gain for James when we were trying to put back on the almost 10lbs he lost after retirement and post-adoption. All the increase in food did was cause more pooping, which is what you're seeing. GeorgeofNE gave the counter-intuitive advice to me to cut the food back. I did, and James gained weight and stopped pooping as much. Sounds weird but it worked for us.

[Guest Zizi]

More food did NOT result in more weight gain for James when we were trying to put back on the almost 10lbs he lost after retirement and post-adoption. All the increase in food did was cause more pooping, which is what you're seeing. GeorgeofNE gave the counter-intuitive advice to me to cut the food back. I did, and James gained weight and stopped pooping as much. Sounds weird but it worked for us.

I have had Jerzi sense June. Which is when I started her 3 cups daily. She did not gain durning that time. So 2 weeks ago the vet jacked it up. How long did take for James to put weight on after you cut him back?

[Guest RMarie]

I didn't notice weight gain immediately, though I did notice less pooping. More importantly, I didn't notice any weight loss either. For James, it took a while because he was on an off of antibiotics for staph infections. Each time he went on meds, his stomach got all wonky and he'd get diarrhea/loose poops. I think as long as Jerzi's not sick, she'll put weight on just fine.

 

Also, just because she's under race weight doesn't mean she's too skinny. James gained all his weight back and got up to his race weight (69-70lbs). I think he looks a bit heavy at that weight, so I am cutting his food back a little to get his last rib to pop out. The rule of thumb around here is to see the last 1-2 ribs. No more than that, though. So, Jerzi might be fine even if she doesn't make it back up to 60lbs.

[Guest jbbuzby]

While I know many users on here are fans of the Iams green bag (and I'm not trying to knock it), it does have more fillers than other foods (such as corn), which might cause more output than dogs on other diets. But, so long as she is healthy and doing well and you're happy with it, you don't need to feel obligated to change it...just be aware of this fact and that extra poo might happen.

 

For perspective, my male hound also eats 4 cups a day and only poos 2x a day on his diet, but every dog is also different.

 

You might want to try a high quality wet food, like Innova or Wellness 95% meat that they digest very efficiently; I had the same issues of trying to keep weight on my guy, and this worked wonders, and he didn't even need to eat much since it was high calorie. Another idea might be some canned pumpkin. Hope you find something that works for you!

[Batmom]

Zizi, you could try adding a cooked egg or smallish hamburger to each meal instead of the extra kibble. Less bulk but still a reasonable number of calories. More than an egg a day might produce noxious gas in some dogs but doesn't in others .

[a_daerr]

I agree about adding more mix-ins, less kibble.

 

If you're going to use a canned food, I like Nutro Chicken and Oatmeal for Sensitive Stomachs or Iams 'green can.' Other stuff to consider would be eggs, cottage cheese, poached chicken, hamburger, pasta, oatmeal, rice, tuna, etc.

 

Also, keep in mind that greys start losing muscle mass within a short time of coming off the track (and muscle is more dense than fat). So even though the scale says one thing, you really just have to go by looks. Unless she looks like she's lost a decent amount of weight, I wouldn't worry too much. I had a vet tell me once that Truman was severely underweight and wanted me to get him up to 8 cups of food a day! He was at a perfectly healthy adolescent weight at the time. So just be on the lookout, because many non- grey-savvy vets will tell you a grey is underweight, even if they're not.

[Guest Zizi]

I guess part of the issue the vet sees is her back to bones by her rump. Not sure what they are called, but they do stick out. Personally I don't think she looks to thin. But hey what do I know this is my first hound. Are these back ones suppose to show?

[Batmom]

Picture or two from the side and maybe one from the top would help. I suspect you and vet are seeing hip bones. On most dogs, you might see a hint of them when the dog is in good condition, but they shouldn't look like a hat rack. BUT, some dogs have a kind of bony build such that they're always visible .....

[Sambuca]

I would try switching food.

[Guest Zizi]

Picture or two from the side and maybe one from the top would help. I suspect you and vet are seeing hip bones. On most dogs, you might see a hint of them when the dog is in good condition, but they shouldn't look like a hat rack. BUT, some dogs have a kind of bony build such that they're always visible .....

I will try to take pics of her tomorrow and post!