Skeletor No More

[Scooby172]

Jack is a very petite male, he has barely tipped the scales at 50 pounds his adult life. He is now four years old, he has a sensitive stomach, and has always been painfully thin. I got him as a puppy, neutered at nine months old. He has always been in my home with more than one dog. Since my grey/whippet mix Keeva passed in the spring, Jack has no competition for food, and, at times, has been less than enthusiastic about eating. Well, I decided to start free feeding Jack, since he is the only dog now, there are no opportunities for food aggression. I am happy to say that this has been working out very well, I put his food out in the morning, sometimes he eats it right away and sometimes not, by the time I come home for lunch it is always gone. I put his food out for dinner and again, sometimes he eats it right away, sometimes not, 99 percent of the time it is gone by the time he goes to bed. When I returned from Italy this summer he was barely 50 pounds, today I weighed him and he is 54 pounds. He looks so much better. He is getting older so his body may just be maturing but I am very pleased with the way he looks. For those of you that have ultra thin thin dogs, you know how it feels to see your dog gain some weight. I was getting tired of people stopping me on the street telling me how thin and sick my dog looked. Jack is healthy and a happy, happy boy, more like a lab in a greyhound body. Anyone else free feed? I have never done it for many reasons but think it will work for Jack.

 

 

[CharlieRhea]

i did years ago but i have two dogs, one on raw and the other on a different diet now because she is old and finicky and also painfully thin. She has a condition though in which she has to have pancreatic enzymes to help her digest her food. She is a German Shepherd but almost 14yrs old, thinner than Charlie my Greyhound. She has been eating better and i think she may have put on a little weight yay!

So happy that Jack is doing well!!! Do what works for him and it sounds as if it is :-)

[smurfette]

Greyt news that your boy gains some weight. I have a skeletor here at home, too and he gained some weight over the last weeks, thanks to suggestion from nice greytalkers. I know exactly how you feel.

 

I also free feed my dogs during the day. I have three boys and three bowels of kibble standing in my living room and hall. In the evening they get raw and they eat it at the moment I put down their bowels. The free feeding just happened. Colin had always access to his food and when Andy came to live with us I just put a bowel down for him, too. And the same with Paddy. My idea was that when there are exactly or more ressources than dogs to guard them, there should be no problem. And it works like that even with dogbeds, stuffies, treats.

 

We never had a problem with ressource guarding.

[Meandmy]

Our first grey was a bit of a finicky eater and free feeding worked great for him as well. Occasionally one of our cats would take a kibble or 2 but he never minded and they never took very much.

 

We added a second grey who was a chow hound so the free feeding had to stop - she'd eat both of their meals before you could turn around! Poor Shadow had to learn to eat all at once or wait until the next meal. Luckily, he adjusted fine.

[lukasmom]

I free both my hounds and have free fed for 8 1/2 years. My boy is really skinny too. Free feeding didn't really add any weight but I like that my boy who nibbles can have food whenever he is hungry.

Luka says it is cookies that will add the weight. He says he is under-cookied.

[PatricksMom]

I free both my hounds and have free fed for 8 1/2 years. My boy is really skinny too. Free feeding didn't really add any weight but I like that my boy who nibbles can have food whenever he is hungry.

Luka says it is cookies that will add the weight. He says he is under-cookied.

Luka, you must be right...I've always heard that from my boys--cookies are the magic cure for everything that ails us.

 

I'm glad you found the right solution for Jack, it is hard to see them thinner than they should be.

[winnie]

Due to aggression issues within our pack, we now have to separate them using baby gates in different areas of the house when we're at work. So, they are now all free-fed. It has been working out great for us. It usually takes old lady Darcy 1/2 day to eat her breakfast and she needs the calories. Fat galgo Beatrix can no longer steal food from her sisters and has lost weight.