I recently rescued a boxer and and he will not eat. he needs to gain weight. how do I get him to eat ?

Question

I bought him IAMS dry dog food. He eats very very little of it and it sits there all day. He is about 15 pounds under his target weight and I don't want him lose any more weight because he won't eat.

Answer 1

I would first recommend having your vet check him out to make sure there aren't any hidden reasons on why he has stopped eating. Is he still drinking lots of water? Not eating and drinking can be a sign that something is wrong.

Also, have you only tried IAMS? Sometimes you have to try different brands before a dog will eat .... just means they don't like the taste of that one.

hope that helps!

Answer 2

My Greyhound is exactly the same - fit as a fiddle but skinny, so I understand your problem. Try this recipe, I got it off the Greyhound Adoption Program website, and dogs just love it. Here is a great recipe to help get weight onto skinny dogs! Satin Balls These are very high in fat so need to be fed with care, but most greyhounds do cope with a lot of fat with no problems, and I would imagine a hyper Boxer would too. 2kg mince 8oz packet cream cheese 400g jar peanut butter 1 small jar wheatjerm 1 doz egg yolks (not whites) 1 cup flaked oats soaked in cream Mix all the above and form into burger sized patties. Freeze. Add half a burger to each meal to start with, working up to a full patty (in addition to your normal food) twice daily. Make smaller sized patties for smaller dogs. EDIT: Obviously once he is at the weight you are happy with you ease up on the high fat food, and work out the amount to feed him to keep him at "correct weight".

Answer 3

have you taken him to a vet to have him examined? do that to rule out any physical health issue that might be contributing to this. discuss with your vet options on getting him to eat, but one thing you might do is experiment with some other food, find something he likes and gradually introduce the iams by mixing it with the other food. considering how underweight he is, it is important for him to gain weight, so just try to find something he will eat, even if it is people food right now. he also is in a strange place and dogs are creatures of habit-they don't like change, so be very patient with him. he will adapt to you, the food and your home in time.

Answer 4

I have an older dog who was losing weight and not eating well. My vet recommended that I try a couple of good quality foods to see which one she liked the best. Many pet stores and vets will have sample sizes that you can try until you find one that he seems to like the best.

After finding your dog's favorite, try adding a little puppy food of the same brand to the adult version. The puppy food is formulated to help with weight gain and many dogs prefer it. I now mix a cup of adult food (my dog likes Science Diet) with a cup of the same flavor puppy food. Due to my dog's size, I split the two cups into two daily feedings.

Once your dog has reached the proper weight, you'll want to wean him off the puppy food to prevent the opposite condition.

Best of luck with your new pet!!

Answer 5

I had rescued a beautiful female lab from a BAD breeder.
She was neglected and mentally abused solely because she was a black lab and they wanted only choco and yellow.

I spent many many days sitting on the floor with her, essentially hand feeding her and teaching her how to bite her food. It took about 4 months for her to absolutely trust me and finally eat on her own.

After 10 years.....I would do it all over again.

Answer 6

Poor dog. He may be afraid to eat, due to some abuse in his past. My puppy wouldn't eat very much either, so what my mom did is she bent down and pretended to eat the food too, so the puppy would fight for the food and eat.

Aparently, the puppy was used to fighting for it's food, and when no one else was eating she wasn't sure if she should be so she didn't.

Also, the hard food may be too much for his teeth to handle. If he's been abused, and undernurished it may hurt his mouth to chew such hard food. Have you tried soft food?

Answer 7

i would bring him to the vet but if your trying to save money this is what i did,
*first i tryed to find out what kind of food he likes(he may also like some humin food but it will spoil him!)
*then i tryed to teach him the basic tricks (sit roll over ect.)and i gave him a treat afterwords to reward him but also to make him gaine wait.
*then i started calling him by his name that i made him (mine was foxy)because then he learns to trust you because you dont no the past of the dog it mite have bean abused!
*then when foxy grew to trust me he started being able to sleep with me and well where like best pals now

Answer 8

try different dog foods. Buy ten small bags of all kinds and it will take time. Show him plenty of love and encouragement. When he is happy he will eat...or it could be something else. how long have you had him? My APBT does this on accasion when we go on vacation.

Answer 9

He is probably not comfortable yet in his surroundings. I would suggest bringing him to a vet. He would be able to guide you in the right direction for feeding him or giving him suppliments. Or you could bribe him with some healthy snacks.

Answer 10

There are bottles of gravy mixes. Pour a tiny bit on the food and mix it in. They are available almost everywhere, groceries, wal-mart, etc.