Advice On How To Put Weight On Finley (not Me)

[wendy]

Hi everyone,

Finley is now nearly 14 weeks old   we have been told by our breeder that we need to get some more weight on him.  He currently weights 10 1/2 llbs (not sure what thats is in Kilograms).  He is fed on Burns 4 times with about 1.2 oz each meal, he absolutely loves it .  Any ideas on how to build up his weight?  can you buy certain things to help? should he be on more each meal.  He is very very active so burns his food of quickly.  Any advice would be welcome.

Wendy

[PennyB]

Speak to the nice people at Burns. I have trouble with Wilfs weight as he's still a little on the thin side at 15 months so spoke to them—they gave me a free 2kg bag of their canine xtra to try with him (but then he's on adult food now). Wilf's weight was fine until he hit his teens and became more active and increasing the amounts of food he was having didn't work (too much can give them the squits)

Tel. 0800 018 18 90

They may suggest adding something extra to the food you're giving him at present.

[Kim]

the only thing that I can really recommend for putting on weight is adding raw tripe to the complete food
I know alot of pet owners don't like it, but most show people use it    

[Gilly]

I use it, but not all the time    you can buy it from Pets At Home and it comes in frozen blocks, if thats the one you mean Kim ? It's made by AMP.

[Kim]

Yep any raw tripe will do    

[bluegirl]

Fenugreek seeds from the health shop. Soak a teaspoon over night in water and put on his food. Smells a bit like curry, feed the fenugreek everyday with food and he should put on weight.

[Toohey]

Raw chicken wings. Nice and fatty, and the dogs love them.

[wendy]

The Fenugreek Seeds sound very interesting - do you know why/how they make the dog put on weight, would you feed them with every meal (currently on 4 meals a day).  I think the seeds sound the best option I could not stomach tripe (very weak stomach me that is)

Wendy

[Jane S]

I don't think Fenugreek seeds are necessarily the answer with a young puppy - it sounds more like Finlay's diet just needs adjusting (remember the amounts given by Burns are just guidelines & aren't meant to be followed rigidly ). If Finlay is very active & burning off his food quickly, then he may just need more food rather than supplements. Do ask Burns for advice, as Penny suggested, if you intend to stick with his food. I am feeding some of our dogs Burns Canine Extra at the moment but am feeding what I feel they need to maintain their bodyweight rather than what it says on the bag - all get different amounts as no dog (and no puppy) needs exactly the same amount of food as another.

Jane

[Lindaphills]

I have read that the best way to increase the calorific  content of your pup or dogs food without feeding a greater amount of the food is to add a little oil to the food.  I use the three oils supplement from the canine chemist.  It contains cod liver oil, wheatgerm oil and evening primrose oil.  Great for the coat and skin too  

This is JMHO though as i'm no expert.  Burns I think is renowned for being a low fat food so perhaps the addition of a little oil will put the weight on withoutgiving pup the squits  

[wendy]

Hi - just spoken to the Burns nutritionist who has recommended that I feed him Canine extra as its higher in protein (24%) than the mini bites (21%).  They are sending me a sample so I let you all know how it goes.

Wendy  

[Dessie]

He might just stay on the lean side until he is fully mature.

Some of you will remember how I was trying to find the miracle weight putting on thing for Douglas       Nothing I tried really put the weight on him as he is a very active Boy.  He is now approaching 3 and is only now just starting to fill out.  

He has raw chicken wings, tripe and raw breast of lamb but no matter how much I tried to get him to eat it didn't work until now and as I said I think this is due to maturity.

HTH

Dessie  

[bluegirl]

Hi Wendy,
The Fenugreek seeds need only go on one meal a day. I'm not sure how they work but it is a very old remedy orginally used by the Arabs to fatten up their racehorses, but can be used for anything. I have just loaned out my herbal book at the moment so until I get it back I won't be able to tell you how it works.
From Karen

[cbabe]

Fern was a picky sod but we started her on beef hearts and liver - and she podged out very quicky!

Clare