putting weight on a skinny dog

[lauralite]

Has anyone used cocosoya oil for a dog?

I have an eight year old coonhound mix that has lived with me for 2 years. She came from a shelter, was an owner surrender for unknown reasons. She’s always been on the thin side. I obsessed about her weight for the first six months or so that I had her. In the beginning we had issues with her not eating well and intermittent bloody stools that resolved with a diet change. I had been feeding her Fromm Gold, which is what my other dogs eat. I started an elimination diet with her but my first attempt was successful (sweet potato and salmon) so I stopped there. Once we did that she put on a little bit of weight but was still skinny. My vet told me she was fine and to stop obsessing over her weight.

She’s due for her annual exam/vaccines, and the plan is to revisit her weight issue whenever vets are doing routine exams again. She’s definitely lost weight – her ribs and spine are more prominent than before. No other GI issues though that would be concerning and justify a vet visit right now.

Until I can get to the vet, I’ll do the obvious and increase the amount of food I offer. Currently she gets American Journey sweet potato and salmon recipe, 1.5 cups twice a day, which really should be plenty – and has maintained her for the past 18 months or so. She gets more food than my other dog that is as solid 25# heavier than her. But, it won’t hurt to give her more. Increasing her food intake didn’t work in the past (she wasn’t interested) but she eats this better than she did the Fromm Gold.

But I was thinking about the cocosoya oil and how well it puts weight on my TB. I thought I remembered that it was marketed towards dogs as well, but I’m not finding any information about it. Obviously dogs and horses have very different digestive systems. If I end up needing to go the supplement route, does anyone have experience with this?

Oh, and she’s a total couch potato. We go for walks on a regular basis, but she is totally happy to hang out on the bed or couch all day long. I don’t see a whole lot of nervous energy or anything like that.

Thoughts?

[jodyjumper]

You know, when she has reached her state of ‘happy’, she will gain. Took my pup a full year or more. No special food, she just finally became content with her life with us; rescued from a kill shelter at 6 months. I’m sure she had been thru the mill. Two and a half years to grow hair on her neck. Settled in now! Hang in, may just be her way!

[Polydor]

I hadn’t heard that cocosoya could be used with dogs but manager has had really good luck with herring oil. She has 2 rescues that have nicely put in weight the last couple months.

P.

[lauralite]

@jodyjumper

You know, when she has reached her state of ‘happy’, she will gain. Took my pup a full year or more. No special food, she just finally became content with her life with us; rescued from a kill shelter at 6 months. I’m sure she had been thru the mill. Two and a half years to grow hair on her neck. Settled in now! Hang in, may just be her way!

If there hadn’t been a noticeable drop in weight I wouldn’t be so concerned. She’s just so bony. Overall she seems to be happy though.

[lauralite]

@Polydor

I hadn’t heard that cocosoya could be used with dogs but manager has had really good luck with herring oil. She has 2 rescues that have nicely put in weight the last couple months.

P.

Do you know how much she is giving them? I found a website that sells it but it looks like the dosing there is for supplement/antiinflamatory purposes rather than weight gain.

I did dump some plain vegetable oil on her food tonight. Thankfully my dog food shipment finally showed up so I can go ahead and start feeding her extra.

[S1969]

Well, just like horses, adding fat isn’t likely to help much if there are underlying health issues. The recent weight loss is concerning.

There was never any diagnosis for the intermittent bloody stools? Was she tested for giardia?

How much do you feed, and how much does she weigh? Just like horses - does she clean up all her food, and if you give her more, does she eat it?

You have to be careful with adding fat to a dog’s diet for a variety of reasons; they may not digest it well and there could be side effects like diarrhea. But you also have to be careful to avoid pancreatitis. If I were going to add calories for a dog, I probably would not use fat…just feed more.

[Angela_Freda]

I’d also consider more frequent meals, with a small increase in daily total amount served.
Add water to food so they are well hydrated
maybe add a probiotic.

I agree oil would not be my first choice to add in, but rather protein.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹

[lauralite]

@S1969

Well, just like horses, adding fat isn’t likely to help much if there are underlying health issues. The recent weight loss is concerning.

There was never any diagnosis for the intermittent bloody stools? Was she tested for giardia?

How much do you feed, and how much does she weigh? Just like horses - does she clean up all her food, and if you give her more, does she eat it?

You have to be careful with adding fat to a dog’s diet for a variety of reasons; they may not digest it well and there could be side effects like diarrhea. But you also have to be careful to avoid pancreatitis. If I were going to add calories for a dog, I probably would not use fat…just feed more.

The blood in the stools was attributed to food intolerance. She was tested for a bunch of parasites and everything was negative. Once I changed her food it stopped completely.

I’ve tried feeding more in the past but she hasn’t eaten more. I’m going to try that again since she likes this food better than her old food. As I said in my OP, that is the logical thing to do. However, since it didn’t work last time (she didn’t eat more when offered, she just gained weight once I changed her food), I’m trying to come up with a contingency plan.

She’s been getting 1.5 cups twice a day. She runs between 55-60#. I’d guess she’s a little less than 55# right now. That is a little bit less than the bag of food tells you to feed (3.25 c/day for 60#), but I was told years ago that those numbers are waaay more than an altered dog needs. I typically feed 1/2 the recommended amount, and that has worked well for most adult dogs I’ve had (and when it hasn’t, increasing their feed has always fixed the problem pretty quickly until now). At any rate, she’s done well on that amount until recently.

As for the cause of the weight loss … difficult to say. It could be that we’re not missing our walks as much as the weather is nicer. Looking at her this morning, she doesn’t look so horrible from all angles. Her spine has always been fairly prominent, but isn’t isn’t all that hard to count her ribs from afar. She certainly isn’t emaciated. She reminds me of a ribby TB coming out of winter. It’s quite possible that the weight loss has been more gradual and I didn’t really notice at first.

She ate her extra food this morning without issue, so I’ll be sticking with that for a while. Thanks for the thoughts! We’ll see how this goes.

[GoodTimes]

Has she been checked for worms recently? I just picked up flea, tick & heartworm meds for my dog this week. They said they’ve had an unusual uptick in dogs with tapeworms this spring. Even though my dog wasn’t showing any outward signs I opted to deworm since I also have chickens. Other years I would have done a fecal, but there’s a pandemic so I just went ahead an added it to my order for curbside pickup.

As far as increasing weight, I would just increase her food for now. If she isn’t that interested you could try splitting it into three meals instead of two. Or try mixing it with some water and a spoonful of wet food. Eggs (raw or cooked) can be a good addition as well. They are a good source of protein and fatty acids. With the chickens we usually have an overabundance of eggs, so if I notice my dog getting a little thin, or we’ve been more active than usual I’ll give her an egg/day.
Ideally though, treats shouldn’t comprise more than 10% of the diet or you run the risk of the diet becoming incomplete.

[TKR]

Dr. Marty Becker has a website and wealth of information on feeding dogs. Dry food may not be enough - even the good stuff is so overprocessed it loses alot of the nutrients. Dr. Becker has some of his own products that may or may not help you. I would try some of the refrigerated “fresh” dog foods that are not so processed or add some wet food or raw meat. Good luck - love Coonhounds! The Whole Dog Journal is an email and newsletter you can subscribe to that rates dog foods independently with really good research and information.

[lauralite]

@GoodTimes

Has she been checked for worms recently? I just picked up flea, tick & heartworm meds for my dog this week. They said they’ve had an unusual uptick in dogs with tapeworms this spring. Even though my dog wasn’t showing any outward signs I opted to deworm since I also have chickens. Other years I would have done a fecal, but there’s a pandemic so I just went ahead an added it to my order for curbside pickup.

As far as increasing weight, I would just increase her food for now. If she isn’t that interested you could try splitting it into three meals instead of two. Or try mixing it with some water and a spoonful of wet food. Eggs (raw or cooked) can be a good addition as well. They are a good source of protein and fatty acids. With the chickens we usually have an overabundance of eggs, so if I notice my dog getting a little thin, or we’ve been more active than usual I’ll give her an egg/day.
Ideally though, treats shouldn’t comprise more than 10% of the diet or you run the risk of the diet becoming incomplete.

No, no recent worm checks. She’s at relatively low risk though. We live in the city, walk on established trails, she doesn’t spend a whole lot of time outside, is on regular flea preventative (seresto collar). BUT, treating her is an easy thing to do so worth a try and we did have a really mild winter. I have to pick up HW meds by 5/1; I can ask for something then. They already get interceptor plus as their HW med but I’m pretty sure that doesn’t cover tapes.

I do like the egg idea if just increasing her food doesn’t work. I wish I had chickens. The CSA I was going to do this year had an optional egg share, and I was so excited. Unfortunately they cancelled for the year and the one I ended up with doesn’t have eggs (though they do have bread and cheese:)).

[lauralite]

@TKR

Dr. Marty Becker has a website and wealth of information on feeding dogs. Dry food may not be enough - even the good stuff is so overprocessed it loses alot of the nutrients. Dr. Becker has some of his own products that may or may not help you. I would try some of the refrigerated “fresh” dog foods that are not so processed or add some wet food or raw meat. Good luck - love Coonhounds! The Whole Dog Journal is an email and newsletter you can subscribe to that rates dog foods independently with really good research and information.

thanks – I subscribed to his blog

[hoopoe]

interceptor plus is very broad spectrum for the common parasites and absent a positive fecal exam I would not treat her further.

[Angela_Freda]

Bone broth, with no seasoning no garlic no onion, can be good to add to entice more eating too. It’s a great source of protein. Same with parmesan cheese.

[lauralite]

Small update …

Went to the vet today – poor thing has a raging ear infection in her right ear. Woke me up last night thumping her leg on the bed all night trying to scratch her ear.

After about a week on the increased food intake she is down a few pounds overall ( 59# down to 56#) but vet wasn’t super concerned, said overall she looks good. While he does agree that her spine is prominent and she she is a little ribby he said she isn’t THAT bad and overall has good muscle tone.

He does think there is some underlying condition going on that she is requiring so many calories, but doesn’t think it is worth the workup unless I have money to burn. He said that 4 cups a day for a dog her size is pretty crazy but thinks she just isn’t extracting all of the nutrition out of the food.

She does like this food well enough to eat whatever I put in front of her, so at least supplements aren’t needed at this point.

He does want to do another fecal (send out) at some point to make sure we didn’t miss anything with the first one.

We updated her vaccines while we were there but forgot the kennel cough (she goes to doggy daycare every once in a while) so I’ll take her back next month and get that and a weight check.

[BigBlackDog]

Supplementing with cultured fermented raw goat milk is perfect for situations like this. It is nutritionally complete, lots of good bacteria(this promotes good gut health and mineral absorption), moisture to promote healthy hydration and the fats are easily absorbed by smaller animals (as opposed to cow milk). I recommend Answers and Primal brands, but any fermented brand that is not pasteurized and safe will do. We would raise orphaned puppies on it and when they graduated to kibble, we would still add a small amount of the goat milk to the kibble to keep their tummies calm during the transition. You can also add some scrambled eggs and peas to up the protein. If you are going to go with the cheese or even yogurt option, it is best to go with unpasteurized. Primal brand can be found in pet stores. Pasteurization breaks down lactase produced by the good bacteria, which is absolutely essential to the digestion of lactose, and can cause those products to give upset tummies or diarrhea.

[GoodTimes]

@BigBlackDog

Raw goat milk is perfect for situations like this. It is nutritionally complete, lots of good bacteria(this promotes good gut health and mineral absorption), moisture to promote healthy hydration and the fats are easily absorbed by smaller animals (as opposed to cow milk). I recommend Answers brand, but any brand that is not pasteurized and safe will do. We would raise orphaned puppies on it and when they graduated to kibble, we would still add a small amount of the goat milk to the kibble to keep their tummies calm during the transition. You can also add some scrambled eggs and peas to up the protein. If you are going to go with the cheese or even yogurt option, it is best to go with unpasteurized. Check out farmers markets to see what you find if possible in these crazy times, but Answers brand can be found in pet stores. Pasteurization breaks down lactase, which is absolutely essential to the digestion of lactose, and can cause those products to give upset tummies or diarrhea.

This is false.

There is no indigenous lactase in milk, raw or pasteurized.
Lactose is the disaccharide that is found in milk.
Lactase is the enzyme that animals produce (or don’t produce in the lactose-intolerant) to break down lactose.

Lactose levels in goat’s milk is slightly lower than the levels in cow’s milk. This is why some individuals with mild lactose intolerance can tolerate goat products. It has nothing to do with raw or pasteurized.

Most adult dogs will not tolerate milk/cheese/yoghurt in a quantity that would be required to encourage weight gain.

Please do not spread misinformation.

https://www.fda.gov/food/buy-store-serve-safe-food/raw-milk-misconceptions-and-danger-raw-milk-consumption

[BUSY]

Two words … Satin Balls !!!

• Google the recipe to make sure you have the ingredients … work like Magic !

Serious rescue groups use them for dogs in the worst condition…

[Sandysmom]

Have you tried adding a probiotic like Fortiflora to her diet? Also, it might be worth it to check for pancreatic issues or diabetes. When I was rehabbing my rescue bluetick, I used a product called Dogsure to add calories without bulk. It is also very palatable. My girl is a fussy eater and is on the thin side. But she has arthritic hips so I feel extra weight might not be good for her.

[Gesaffelstein]

@lauralite

Small update …

Went to the vet today – poor thing has a raging ear infection in her right ear. Woke me up last night thumping her leg on the bed all night trying to scratch her ear.

After about a week on the increased food intake she is down a few pounds overall ( 59# down to 56#) but vet wasn’t super concerned, said overall she looks good. While he does agree that her spine is prominent and she she is a little ribby he said she isn’t THAT bad and overall has good muscle tone.

He does think there is some underlying condition going on that she is requiring so many calories, but doesn’t think it is worth the workup unless I have money to burn. He said that 4 cups a day for a dog her size is pretty crazy but thinks she just isn’t extracting all of the nutrition out of the food.

Your vet didn’t think weight loss was worth the “work up”? Like doing bloodwork? By all means you should be doing bloodwork. It can be a little costly but definitely worth it.