how to help puppy put on weight

mountaindew

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ok we think that Dakota had an upset tummy from food change (wasn't sure what she was on before and didn't think to ask to change slowly.... but was told it was comparable to what we use, which yes isn't the best type but for now I have a big bag of it).....

But from not really eating much with her upset tummy she looks like she lost a bit of weight (she was drinking fine) so I am looking for how to put it back on her as fast as I can.... She did eat this morning about 1/4C of food so not a ton but some and hope she continues today. I have been looking for wet puppy food and having a hard time finding it and there are NO petsmarts or petco's really close to me to pick any up..... I thought that may entice her to eat more if I mixed it with her wet and also help put the weight on. But was wondering if there are any other solutions/ideas......
 

bnwalker2

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You can try adding some water to the kibble, a lot of dogs seem to really like that. At her age she should be eating three meals a day, but if she's underweight you might want to give her a fourth meal.
 

sharky

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Sily ?? what are you feeding and what was she on??
 

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Be cautious about switching out foods too often right now. Some puppies have really sensitive digestive systems and a change in food can often cause loose stools. If you add more food, break it up into lesser portions more times a day, and be prepared to take Dakota out for lots of poop walks.

Have you called your vet on this? Digestive problems in puppies always get me nervous, as there are so many things they can catch at that age. My Sam has the weak digestive system and I would have to switch him over to boiled chicken and rice once in a while to firm him back up. But I only did this after consulting with my vet.
 
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mountaindew

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I have not taken her to the vets yet since I figured stress and change of food was the cause for the stomach issues. she had a 22 1/2 hr drive to get to us so that was ALOT on her poor little body. If she didnt' seem better today then I was going to take her but she was still drinking and running around like a maniac when awake.

Also they free fed her so not sure if that is why she doesn't eat much at once. we want to get her on a schedule but right now just trying to get her to eat a bit more and transition into meals and not free fed. At least she already whines when she has to go potty and isn't like a normal puppy that poops 15-30 min after eating.... hers is normally an hour or more so she seems to have pretty good control over it. same with drinking.


bn=---- we are adding water and she seems to prefer this which is good. that is why I figured she may like some wet mixed in too but afraid to add that and upset her belly since they hadn't given her wet at the shelter.


Momofmany--- yeah I would wait a bit before I gradually switched her food over again.

Right now she is eating pedigree puppy (my other dogs have always eaten pedigree so that is why) and when I asked they told me it was a food comparable to pedigree puppy so I could feed her that and she should be fine..... but they didn't say exactly what brand she was on before....
 

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If she is drinking again then that is a GOOD sign. Usually that is the major alarm signal. Little puppies get the runs a LOT - often it is harmless but sometimes it is a danger signal. Sometimes even feeding them too much will give them the runs.

That's so sweet of you not wanting to put her under the additional stress of going to the vet. But you know what? You dont have to!
As gross as it is, I'd collect some of her poo and have them do a fecal exam. It usually doesn't cost much (like about $20) and you can even leave her at home. You can get a quick answer if the little thing has an infection (or heaven forbid if she picked up something nasty at the campground). Their little immune systems are not fully developed at that age so you might want to mention that to the vet if you decide to call.

Pedigree is not the greatest food - I won't say that that is the cause of her troubles but once you get through this you may want to consider putting her on something higher quality. Corn is listed twice in the 1st four ingredients and the "by-products" are always a little suspicious to me.

And if you want to get her off free-feeding you need to give her the opportunity to eat 3x a day. You can decrease that to 2x as she gets older.

Good luck!
 
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mountaindew

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we were talking about switching foods. when we first got my 2 older dogs we didn't know any better. wasn't till I started comming here that I learned and by then those 2 had been eating the same food for 7 and 10 yrs... so just kept them on it. and we don't have a petco or petsmart or anything like that close to me and hard for me to drive the 1/2hr to 40 min one way to go there...


she has been drinking all along. the only day she didn't drink a ton was Tue but even then she did drink. I didn't even think about bringing in a sample to them to have them just check that out.... when I called they just said if she seemed sick I could bring her in.... nothing about just checking the sample. I may do that on Mon since my cat has to go in to get her staples out then.... unless she still has the runs when she finally goes poop today! LOL then I will do it sooner......



For now for food I am just giving her little bits when she wakes up to go potty and then play time. so far it has been 3 times today but the middle time she only ate a couple peices.... Figured that will start to get her on a schedule a bit and also help her put on a bit of the weight. plus normally by 8pm she is ready for bed and NOT interested in eating so will probably only eat one more time today.
 

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You might be surprised at where you can get the better dog food brands.
Wal-Mart carries Nutro (well, at least around here) and Target has Drs Foster & Smith. Sometimes the smaller hardware store chains (like Aubuchon, do they have that where you are?) carry Nutro too.
 

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Originally Posted by 2dogmom

You might be surprised at where you can get the better dog food brands.
Wal-Mart carries Nutro (well, at least around here) and Target has Drs Foster & Smith. Sometimes the smaller hardware store chains (like Aubuchon, do they have that where you are?) carry Nutro too.
Walmart carry Nutra Nuggets if they have Nutro someone is really going to be in trouble, there premium which is quite decent is Maxxium
in some areas which is a low decent


Yes good food can be had in unusual places ... I agree with all 2dog has said ... I run stool samples about twice a yr just in case ... ??? are you giving wet and dry or just dry ??
 
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mountaindew

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I have checked walmart and my grocery store and can't find ANY wet puppy food! oh and K-mart. no such luck so was just doing dry..... and putting some water on it. yesterday when she seemed hungry but wouldnt' really eat it we took a can of my other dogs wet food and used a bit of the gravy from it and cut up a couple peices of the meat to see if she would eat it. she did. then tonight she was acting starving and barking at me as I was making up her dry mixed with water. I put it down and she sniffed it and she wouldn't eat it (she had eaten some earlier today). so in another bowl I took a couple peices of my other dogs food and mashed them up and mixed it with about 1/6 C of dry and she sniffed and left it but then went out to go potty and when she came back in she at ALL of that so I put the other one in that bowl and she ate about 1/2 of that one! so seems she just nibbles a bit during the day and eats more at night.

But in the shelter she was ONLY fed dry..... so now worried the wet is going to give her the runs again but wanted to get a decent amt of food into her.


I feed my cats the maxxium from walmart but didn't realize they had it in dog food too....... I will have to check and maybe in a week or so start a very very slow transition over to that.... sure I will have about 3/4 of a bag of the other puppy food since they only had a HUGE bag when I bought it but that is ok.

do I have to give canned puppy food or is adult in canned ok to mix in with the dry puppy food? I will either have to go to petco or check target to see if they have any canned puppy food.....


She FINALLY pooped tonight! LOL This puppy only goes like once or twice a day.... When she first started it was a bit runny but then the rest seemed to be a bit firmer but still a tad wet but not runny at all. so hopefully we are done with that part of it and her body is adjusting. but I will take a sample in on Mon when I take my cat in for her staple removal......
 
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mountaindew

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well I am guessing she is felling better now! LOL she woke up at 3am to go potty and to play (that part wasn't happening) but did take her to go potty. well then at 4am she was looking for food. but since we are trying to get on a schedule we made her wait till 7a.m. well she ate just under 1/3C dry food and just over 1/3C of dry mixed with water!!!!!! so already had 2/3C of food today!!!!!!! So she must be feeling much better as she reallly gobbled up the dry mixed with water!
 
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mountaindew

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She is all better now and eating like a pig!!!!!! LOL and putting the weight back on. I am feeding her 3-4 times a day and measuring it out but she will eat what I give her in about 2 min flat and still be looking for more!!!!!!! LOL but don't want to overfeed her and have her get round! LOL


Now to get her to wake up a bit later than 7am. hehee! But so far that isn't happening. was hoping it would last night since we were camping and let her out to go potty (and she did both) at about 11:30pm. but then I forgot my other dogs water was still down so she had a bit. so yup 7:10 (about the same time as always) she was up barking to go out.... LOL YAWN......

But she HAS slept through the night the past 2 nights so that is at least good!
 

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Originally Posted by mountaindew

ok we think that Dakota had an upset tummy from food change (wasn't sure what she was on before and didn't think to ask to change slowly.... but was told it was comparable to what we use, which yes isn't the best type but for now I have a big bag of it).....

But from not really eating much with her upset tummy she looks like she lost a bit of weight (she was drinking fine) so I am looking for how to put it back on her as fast as I can.... She did eat this morning about 1/4C of food so not a ton but some and hope she continues today. I have been looking for wet puppy food and having a hard time finding it and there are NO petsmarts or petco's really close to me to pick any up..... I thought that may entice her to eat more if I mixed it with her wet and also help put the weight on. But was wondering if there are any other solutions/ideas......
First off go to the vet and make sure she doesn't have worms and is free from parasites. Then get a better quality food, if you are saying it isn't the best, then switch. You can take it back to the store and get a refund. When you feed the higher quality foods you have to feed less and get a better results, esp. for growing puppies.

Puppies don't need weight put on them "as fast as you can" unless they have been very sickly and you are following the advice of your vet. Loading puppies up with weight can cause joint stress and other growth problems, esp. when you say the food you are feeding isn't the best, please be careful trying to add the weight on quickly. Pace puppy and know some puppies look lanky, and that is okay while they are growing.

Also, go to www.petfooddirect.com and have the food shipped to your door. It doesn't get easier than that. It is easier than finding a place that carries the food you want. Or, you can make your dogs food, there are several ways to go about this, raw or homemade. Each needs to be researched and well balanced for the pup so you will want to get your vet involved and do a lot of research and reading yourself. You can make the canned food yourself for your dog to add to their meal. Adding healthy extras, like a TBS of yogurt or an egg, things like this are good for dogs. You can add some warm water to the meal, I think it is best if you are feeding hard dry processed kibble pellets to wet them before serving, it always reminded me of eating dry crackers or dry cereal if not a bit moist. Plus, the extra water content could be good for puppy.

Another thing, I would do scheduled meal times, if you just leave the food down all the time chances are the puppy will continue to be picky and pick at the food. Then you don't know who ate what if you have a cat or multiple animals.

Here is a site you might find interesting:
http://www.naturapet.com/tools/comparison.asp
 
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mountaindew

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we do have scheduled meal times so that wasn't an issue and she was sick for about 4 days and had lost a bit of weight which is why I was trying to put it back on her since she wasn't really eating in that time. She is eating GREAT now and is putting on the weight but not too fast and is growing soooo fast! Thanks for the advice.
 
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