I got a dog from shelter that's severely skinny weight gain help but must be safe?

Answer 1

Step One: Have the dog dewormed. Parasites will make it impossible for him to gain weight no matter what he eats.

Step Two: Choose a high quality dog food, appropriate for age and size. Eukanuba, Blue Buffalo, Nature's Recipe, etc. are good choices (try Petsmart for more advice, vets will help but generally sell you food from their office just to make money), steer clear of Iams, Pedigree, Purina, and anything else you can buy at a supermarket, those are lower-quality foods. Mix his food half and half dry kibble and wet canned foods. Read the back of a dog food bag to see how much he should be eating for his body weight, and split that into 3-4 meals per day- it's much healthier than one large meal. You can supplement his diet with boiled eggs, cooked plain chicken or steak, fresh veggies, plain pasta, etc. Look up a list of toxic foods online, such as chocolate and garlic, and make sure you don't let him have any of that. Don't feed him junk food or anything insanely high in fat, you want him to gain healthy body mass, not just 'weight'.

And remember, this will take time, it can take weeks or months for a sick dog to regain his former condition. Just make sure he's well cared for and he'll be up and running in no time.

PS Most dogs cannot digest dairy products like Ensure, it will give him the runs and dehydrate him. Steer clear of processed human foods altogether; stick with plain chicken and whatnot.
Also, rice has little or no nutritive value to dogs- better to skip it altogether and stick with proteins.

Answer 2

First get it treated for worms, which could be responsible for keeping it too thin. Then to fatten up a dog safely, I can't say enough good things about Bil-Jac dog food. They are a small outfit, have excellent standards, and a great product. The bags are shipped in small lots, and so are very fresh, and available at better pet stores.

Every third dog food company out there is now claiming to be "holistic" or vegetarian, but this dog is a carnivore and needs meat. Bil-Jac has a LOT of chicken in it. We use it at our shelter for our debilitated rescues, and they get healthy quickly. Yes, it seems expensive, but winds up being a better bargain than the cheap grocery brands. Why? The dog doesn't need nearly as much, because he's getting more nutrition from it. You will also have less poop to deal with, as a result. That's always a bonus.

We use BilJac for any nursing mama dogs, and also the extremely active ones.

You didn't say how old your dog is. We specialize in rescuing older dogs from pounds because they are usually unadoptable due to medical problems and therefore euthanized right away. We give them a quiet place to live out their remaining time.

With these seniors, we have to be very careful with weight gain. Bil Jac also makes a Senior product, but it can make a less active dog a little too heavy. So in the case of an older dog, start it on the BilJac, but mix it with something else, like Science Diet, once it starts looking healthy again, to maintain a good weight.

Hope this helps, and thank you thank you thank you for rescuing that dog!!! We love to see our younger guys go to good, caring homes where they get lots of attention. Good luck to you.

Answer 3

Feed frequent, small meals of good quality dog food. Fresh water always must be available. Plenty of fresh air, gradually increasing exercise, and sunshine. As the dog eats it will put on some weight but as the dog begins to be more active that will cause its appetite to increase and help it begin building muscle mass. More muscle will increase its metabolism and help it to make better use of the food it eats. Sunshine helps the dog to create vitamin d and most dogs just really enjoy being outside a bit every day. It is a great morale booster.

Answer 4

The simplest thing I can think of is liquid or powdered puppy formula from the vet or pet store. It has alot of nutrients that your new dog probably needs since it is probably malnourished as well as skinny., it is safe and healthy. Not all to expensive either.
Best of luck, remember, this might take a few weeks to get doggy back to a normal weight. Bless your heart for taking it into your life!!

Answer 5

you NEVER want to give the dog tons of food at once. Feed him/her 3 times a day, normal food. Usually what I do w/ the skinny dogs at the shelter is in the afternoon, i mix some wet food with dry to make it more appealing.

Answer 6

dont feed any human foods like what we eat cus that will killed the dog and cus tables and junke foods willl make dogs sick so bad that the foods will make the inside of the dog ring worms and heart dieases so dont listen what the girl just told you about giving any eggs and hot dogs and hamburgers arent healthy for any pets . but its alright that you can gave your dog some healthy dogs foods like mix with half dog can food with one cup of dry food mixed them together and always gave the dogs fresh water too. if your dog is so thin looking i think you shouldnt worrying much about it cus maybe the first owner who had the dog didnt even takening care of him or her at all by feeding much. plus after the dog ated you should take the dog for a walk so the dog can get osme exerises to keep the weight normal. dont over feed the dog so much will make the dog sick might have stomach pain later .

Answer 7

Consult your vet, they have dog food that will help your dog to gain weight, also take in a stool sample and have it tested for worms as they can have worms that aren't visable to the human eye such as hook worms, whip worms which are very hard on dogs.

Answer 8

Believe it or not...Baby Food...Like beef, chicken, lamb, etc.. Mix it with white rice. If the poor thing needs to get used to eating again, or get his/her tummy back in order, this is the safest and healthiest way to go.
Back when my kids fed our dog Pizza. Poor thing has to go to the vet, after the pizza, her stomach went wonkers (she's a yellow lab) anyway that's the diet she went on and before you know it, she had some meat on her bones and was able to go back to reg. dog food.

Answer 9

Just feed him like normal. He will gain all the weight he needs without making him sick.

Answer 10

When they are that bad you need to be careful of their tummies. A god thing is boil rice and hamburger and put it over the hard food. Feed more often and small portions