Although obesity is too common a problem in dogs today, there are also dogs with the opposite problem: your dog may be skinny because he doesn't eat enough, because he burns too much energy or because he comes from a place where it was not treated and fed correctly.
Helping your dog get to a he althy weight is an important task for dog owners, but a dog that is too thin is a delicate problem and making it gain weight can be a difficult task, don't worry there are solutions for your dog to gain weight.
In this article on our site, we are going to explain how to make your dog gain weight.
Consult your veterinarian
The first thing to do if your dog is skinny is to ask your veterinarian to do a complete physical exam on your dog. Many diseases can cause weight loss and loss of appetite: diabetes, cancer, hepatitis or a digestive problem can cause weight loss. If your dog has a disease, it is important to diagnose it as soon as possible to treat it and improve it.
Also think about asking your vet to do some fecal tests to check if your dog has intestinal parasites, if so you will have to administer a vermifuge to your dog. Once the vet has ruled out an illness, ask him to tell you what the ideal weight is for your dog. This weight will be your goal in your weight gain program.
Keep a diary of his weight
Now that you know that your dog does not have any disease, you will be able to start making some changes in his diet and lifestyle to help him gain weight. In the meantime it is highly advisable to keep a daily with his daily meals, treats and physical exercise and his weight each day. So if his weight goes down or up you can see and objectively look at the reasons for these changes to improve his weight gain program.
Quality food
Improving your dog's diet is not only based on increasing calories but also on a balanced diet and suitable for him.
Check the quality of your feed, and make sure that on the composition label the first thing on the list is proteins such as "lamb", "beef" or "chicken" instead of starting with cereals such as corn or wheat. Indeed, the best food for your dog is based on meat, eggs and vegetables.
Increase calories in your diet
One of the keys for your dog to gain weight is to increase the calories in his diet so that he eats more calories than he expends throughout the day but it is important to know that too many calories too quickly can lead to digestive problems causing vomiting or diarrhea. In the same way, adding too much fat can cause digestive problems such as pancreatitis.
To add calories you can start adding 50% of his daily food and see if your dog gains weight, then if you see that it does not increase of weight, add more quantity progressively.
Small but frequent meals
When adding quantity, it is important that you add a meal so that your dog eats during the day regularly: if your dog was used to eating once a day at night, add a meal in the morning, if your dog already had two meals, add a third meal at noon.
Even if you can, it's better to get 3 or 4 meals a day instead of 2 very large meals: digest food more easily and metabolizes nutrients better by eating small but more frequent amounts. Ideally, no more than 6 hours should pass between two meals. The leaner your dog is, the more important it is that he gets small but frequent meals.
Keep in mind that by increasing the amount of food your dog eats and his eating times, you also change his needs for eliminating feces, this may require a small adjustment in daily walks. This practice is very useful to prevent stomach torsion.
Make food more appetizing
If you usually give your dog dry food and you have noticed that he does not like it very much, you can try putting hot water on top of his food, then wait for it to cool down and then give it to many Dogs find dry food more appetizing by applying this little trick.
If you see that he still doesn't like it very much, change the feed to a wet food that he likes better to encourage him to eat to encourage your dog's weight gain.
If he still doesn't eat, don't hesitate to visit our article on why my dog doesn't want to eat and use some tricks shown there.
Physical exercise
At first glance it might seem contradictory to recommend physical exercise for a dog that needs to gain weight: indeed physical exercise burns calories but it is beneficial because it allows your dog to build muscleinstead of just gaining weight by storing fat.
In addition to physical activity increases your dog's appetite We advise you to increase physical exercise very gradually and without overdoing it as you increase the calories in your food. But remember that your dog has to eat more calories than he expends to gain weight.
Remember that making your dog gain weight is a process that can take time and requires patience and that you make small changes in your habits and those of your dog to help him reach a he althy weight.
Also…
You can complement all of the above and occasionally offer small treats to your dog. Practicing obedience will be a great way to give small rewards to your dog when he performscommands correctly.
IQ games that dispense food are also very useful and stimulate your mind.
