Effective Ways to Help Your Dog Put on Weight
Dec 07,2024 | puaintapets
An underweight dog can be a cause for concern among pet owners. Just as obesity poses health risks to dogs, being underweight can also lead to various problems, such as a weakened immune system, lack of energy, and poor muscle development. Understanding effective ways to help your dog gain weight is crucial for their overall well - being.
How to Know if My Dog Needs to Gain Weight?
I. Appearance
- Ribs are visible
If the outline of your dog's ribs is easily visible and not covered by a bit of fat, this is a clear sign that your dog may need to gain weight. Normally, your dog's ribs should be covered by a thin layer of fat and should not be clearly visible.
- Waist and Spine
When looking down on a dog from above, if the waist looks very slim and the spinal bones are clearly protruding, this is a sign that the dog lacks sufficient body fat and muscle and may need to gain weight.
- Muscle Mass
When touching your dog's limbs and hips, if the muscles feel flabby, lean and lack the firmness they should have, this could mean that your dog is underweight overall and needs to gain muscle and weight.
II. Health and Behavioral Aspects
- Vigor and Endurance
If the dog tires easily and seems panting and lethargic when performing daily activities such as short walks and playing, it may be caused by a lack of energy reserves at too low a weight. A normal weight dog should be able to perform these activities with relative ease.
- Low immunity
Frequent illnesses such as frequent skin infections and respiratory diseases in dogs may be due to underweight and lack of sufficient nutritional reserves in the body to maintain normal immune system function.
- Reproductive ability (for adult unspayed dogs)
For adult female dogs, if they are underweight, they may have reproductive problems such as irregular estrus and difficulty in conception. Male dogs that are underweight may also suffer from sperm quality and fertility.
Causes of Dogs Being Too Slim
There are many reasons why dogs are thin and weak, the following are some common reasons.
- Diseases of body organs
Diseases such as heart disease, malignant tumors, diabetes, liver failure, etc. can cause dogs to lose weight.
Related: Diabetes in Dogs
- Parasite infection in the body
Parasites will destroy the intestinal flora of the dog, making it difficult for the dog to absorb and digest even if it eats normally, thus wasting away day by day.
- Hair change period
For dogs with more and longer hair, the fluffy hair decreases during the hair change period, and they will visually look slim.
- Insufficient Nutrition
If always fed a single food, the dog may be undernourished, especially when there is a lot of physical exertion but not enough energy to replenish.
-
Poor Gastrointestinal Health
Dogs with bad intestines and stomachs have poor digestion and absorption ability, and the nutrition of the food they eat is not fully utilized, so they will lose weight.
-
Chronic diseases
Some chronic diseases, such as diabetes and kidney disease, will make the dog's body consume a lot of energy, resulting in wasting.
-
Stress and anxiety
Dogs may lose weight as a result of decreased appetite due to stress, anxiety or a change in life circumstances.
Also Read: Stress Colitis in Dogs: What Should I Do
-
Insufficient food
Too little food is available to the dog and the daily intake is not enough to support its growth and development, which can lead to thinness.
How to Know if a Dog is Too Skinny for a Parasite Infection?
A dog being too thin can be caused by a number of things, with a parasite infection being a common cause. Here are some signs that may indicate a parasite infection in your dog.
-
Normal food intake but weight loss
If your dog is eating normally or even more than usual, but is losing weight, it could be due to parasites sucking nutrients out of your dog's body, causing him to get thinner and thinner.
-
White gums and eyelids
In the absence of illness, if the dog's gums and eyelids are white, it may be infected with parasites leading to anemia.
-
Coughing and shortness of breath
If your dog develops a cough and shortness of breath after light exercise, it may be infected with heartworm or toxoplasmosis.
-
Abnormal poop
A dog's poop can reflect the dog's physical condition. If the dog's poop is abnormal with white particles, blood in the poop, or worms in the poop, this means that the dog may have parasites in its stomach.
-
White threads in vomit
If white threads are found in your dog's vomit, it is likely to be roundworms.
-
Grinding of the buttocks
A dog's behavior of rubbing his buttocks may be due to inflamed anus glands or an infection with parasites.
-
Small black pellets on the fur
If your dog has small black particles on his fur and he also sheds a lot of hair and scratches his body constantly, this may be a sign that your dog is suffering from parasites.
If you suspect that your dog is infected with parasites, it is recommended that you take your dog to a veterinarian for an examination and diagnosis. The veterinarian can determine if your dog is infected with parasites through a fecal exam or blood test and give you a treatment plan accordingly. Also, regular deworming is an important measure to prevent parasitic infections.
How to Make a Dog Gain Weight Safely?
An underweight dog can be a cause for concern, whether due to illness, stress, or an inadequate diet. This guide provides actionable steps to help your dog gain weight safely and healthily.
I. Dietary adjustments
1. Increase the amount and frequency of feeding
You can appropriately increase the number of meals for your dog, for example, from 2 meals a day to 3 meals, or increase the amount of food fed on top of your dog's two meals a day, increasing the amount of each meal by 10%.
Adopting the way of eating less and more meals, you can change to four or five meals a day for your dog, but each time you have to give your dog less food to avoid overfeeding at one time resulting in gastrointestinal burden.
2. Choose the right food
- Dog food: choose a comprehensive nutrition, high meat content dog food, such as desire dog food, its crude protein content of more than 38%, the first five are meat, 3 complete animal ingredients, raw materials in the fruits and vegetables rich in natural fiber material, can enhance the dog's digestive rate, to provide the dog with enough nutrition to help the body grow meat.
- Meat: You can feed your dog beef, chicken breast and other high-protein, low-fat meat. Beef contains mostly lean meat and less fat, while beef contains amino acids that are beneficial to dogs suffering from high blood pressure and coronary heart disease, but it is not recommended to feed beef to dogs under 6 months because it is not too easy to digest; chicken breasts can be cooked together with broccoli for your dog to eat, and be careful not to put any seasoning.
- Supplementary pet probiotics: dog indigestion or long-term loss of appetite will also make it malnutrition, pet owners usually keep the dog, you can mix some probiotics in the dog food, dog drink water, probiotics can effectively regulate the dog's intestinal tract, help the dog intestinal absorption.
- Other foods: you can also feed your dog soup made from beef or pork bones (2 to 3 times a week, remember not to put any seasoning in the soup), shrimp, tofu and other calcium-rich foods, as well as some foods rich in vitamins and trace elements, such as animal liver (beef liver, chicken liver, etc.), Vitamin B is an important ingredient of the enzyme system, which can enhance the dog's appetite, and promote fat, protein and carbohydrates. Energy metabolism, animal liver is one of the foods with the most vitamin B, which can be supplemented appropriately.
3.Supplement
If the nutrition through the dog food and food is not enough, you can feed your dog some extra nutrients that are helpful to the bones, as well as vitamins, calcium and other trace elements of nutritional supplements.
You can use goat's milk powder to soak dog food, the main components of goat's milk are casein and whey protein, which helps the dog's nutrient absorption, the total amount of vitamins in goat's milk is higher than that of cow's milk by about 12%, in which the epithelial growth activity factor, the growth and repair of the dog's coat is quite good, but pay attention not to use cow's milk, which is prone to cause diarrhea in dogs.
II. life management
1. Increase exercise
Moderate exercise can help dogs enhance their appetite, although the exercise process will consume calories, but it will also allow the dog to eat more, which is conducive to weight gain, and exercise is beneficial to the dog's physical health. If your dog is skinny and doesn't like to eat, you can take it out for more exercise.
2. Do a good job of deworming
Parasites are a big killer that prevents dogs from gaining weight. When a dog is infected with internal parasites, the parasites will get nutrients from the dog, so it is important to deworm your dog regularly. In vivo deworming is usually 1 deworming in 3 months, while in vitro deworming is 1 deworming in 1 month.
3. Regulate the stomach and intestines
Dogs can not grow fat may be gastrointestinal absorption problems, usually pay attention to the dog's gastrointestinal conditioning, when the dog appears soft stool, indigestion, etc., shoveling officer can feed the dog probiotics, a week to feed the pet probiotics 2 - 3 times to help promote the dog's intestinal peristalsis, improve gastrointestinal digestion and absorption rate.
When to See a Veterinarian
If your dog fails to gain weight despite following these steps, or if they exhibit symptoms like vomiting, diarrhea, or loss of appetite, consult a veterinarian. They can perform tests to identify any underlying medical conditions and recommend treatment.
FAQs
Conclusion
In conclusion, making a dog gain weight is a process that requires careful consideration and a multi - faceted approach. Firstly, consulting a veterinarian is the essential first step to rule out any health problems and receive personalized advice. Increasing the caloric intake through high - quality, calorie - dense dog food, adding healthy toppings, and providing more frequent meals plays a significant role. Nutritional supplements such as omega - 3 fatty acids and multivitamins can also contribute to overall health improvement and weight gain. Moderate exercise is important to stimulate appetite, although it should be carefully monitored to avoid excessive calorie burning. Regular monitoring of the dog's weight and body condition is necessary to ensure that the weight gain is proceeding at a healthy and sustainable rate.
Overall, with patience, consistency, and proper care, it is possible to help an underweight dog reach a healthy weight, which will ultimately lead to a happier and more energetic furry friend.
Comment
