"Putting weight on" troubles...

[Althea]

Hi Gang! I apologize for my absence. New job has kept me nose to the grindstone. I'm finally home early on a Friday!

Here's the rub: My poor Suki girl. She will be one Nov. 27. She is one beautiful girl, but she's underweight. She's healthy, no issues with her stool, and she eats plenty healthy. So as far as can be determined, it's not a health issue.

Normally, I would just feed her more, but here's the scenario. I had a post on here a bit ago about feeding her less, as she pooped 8-10 times a day, big poops. We now feed her 2 cups of Natural Balance LTD ingredient Bison and Sweet Potato. She loves it. Her stool is nice and firm. She poops 4-5 times a day. Sometimes two poops in a row. She still occasionally poops in her crate AND in the house, which is a major frustration for us as a family. If I up her food intake to 2.5 to 3 cups, she returns to her massive numbers of poop, she poops in the house regularly and sometimes in her crate. When we limit it to two cups of food a day, her poops seem much more normal and we can control the potty training challenges much better.

What's weird is that outside of that, she rings the bell when she needs to go out, whether to pee or poo. She's good about it 90% of the time. But the 10% is starting to wear on my husband and me.

She is very thin. Her bones are prominent, and while I know they stay lanky as pups, I can see her ribs easily. What do I do? Is it possible that she just has smaller intestines than average and needs to eat more throughout the day? I'm going to try to feed her three times a day for a few weeks and see if that helps, but I'm curious if anyone has other suggestions -- additives for food (she currently gets both acidophilis and cranberry tablets) or other things I could give her that would increase her calorie intake but help manage her output!

Thanks!

 

[happycamper]

So many boxers seem to be very thin for the first few years. Tummy troubles aside, it took Zeus a good two years before he started to fill out a bit. If she is healthy and active and the vet is happy with her, I wouldn't worry too much. Is she super active?

 

[Sansal]

Hi, congrats to the new job and welcome back
Maybe you could add some raw meat to her diet? The amount of stool is usually much less with raw, compared to kibble, and it would add some extra protein to her diet. Besides raw meat and chicken I also give Sky canned sardines and cottage cheese once in a while which she really likes.
I feel your pain with the housetraining. Took a long time until Happy was completely housetrained. I guess the only thing you can do is watch her like a hawk so she doesn't get the chance to poop in the house again. It seems like it has become a habit for her.

 

[Althea]

Thanks, Sansal!

Suggestions on the types of raw meat? I know that sounds silly, but I'd have no idea what to feed her. How much? I'm nervous about chicken because of salmonella -- she eats that then licks the kids in the face?

 

[Sansal]

I was worried about feeding raw chicken at first, too. You could wipe her face after she's finished or you could of course also cook the chicken instead of feeding it raw. (If you decide to cook it don't give her the bones, cooked bones can splinter, raw bones are fine).
Pretty much any meat is fine. Red meat, pork, lamb, I just buy whatever is on sale in the supermarkt. If you decide to feed her raw meat don't mix it with the kibble, give it to her as an extra meal. If you cook the meat you can just add it to her kibble. Happy and Sky never had problems with tummy upset but many dogs do. So I would probably start really slow and only give her little portions of lean meat in the beginning and see how she does. Don't be surprised if she asks for more
The easiest thing to do is canned sardines, you could just give her a can once or twice a week.

 

[Althea]

Cool. Thanks, Sansal! We'll give it a shot (I'm pretty sure Suki's thanking you too.)

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

I'd also recommend ProZyme. It's a digestive enzyme and may help cut down on the amount of stools *by helping her digest and utilize more of her food* as wel as help her fill out for the same reason she'll be getting more nutrient value out of her food.

I get mine online at amazon and it runs around $22 for the container (shipping included) but you only use 1/4 tsp per 1 cup of food so it lasts a good long time.

 

[Althea]

Thanks, Badaxe and Eflil. Her hip bones just protrude so much! I'd swear I don't feed her! But I know they do get really lanky, and her energy is definitely very high and she's healthy. So I'll try to relax and just enjoy my smoosher.

 

[sasmeow]

My 2 were hard to get weight on, especially Gus. When Gus was a baby, I fed Izzy puppy food when he was on it. I think it's higher calorie. Izzy is perfect now at 5 yrs old Shes 59 pounds at 23.5 inches tall. Gus is still thin, 69 pounds at 27 inches tall, but I found out he has a rare liver disease (copper storage disease). When he was younger, I fed him ground beef or chicken, cooked in his food, but that didn't help much. Then I started to feed him 3 times a day and that helped. When I add the frozen raw patties to his food, it helps the most! They are supper expensive, but worth it. I think each patty is 4oz. You just let one thaw out for a few hours. I will add 1 patty on top of his 3 cups of EVO kibbles (only 2 cups is rec. for his weight). He has put on some weight with that. But, I have to change him to a liver diet soon, so we will have yet another challange! Anyway, I would add maybe 1 raw patty every day. I think the brand is Prairie? I forget. I am sure their are a few brands. I get it at Complete Petmart. Its in the little freezer with the frosty paws, LOL. Our holistic vet sells it too. Good luck with your pup!

 

[Kilby'sMum]

I am glad someone already mentioned raw. Kilby was such a skinny puppy, couldn't get her to eat and she was just skin and bone. About a year ago I switched to raw and she has put on muscle like a fiend (she's about 4.5yrs). Also they have very little 'waste' now. Instead of adding a third meal of kibble why not give her a raw treat (our girls adore lamb necks and chicken maryland) Our girls are big kissers too so I was wary of them slobbering all over me after they ate, we have taught them a 'no kisses' command which we always use if they come near us after a meal, problem solved