My 6 month old pup, weighs 45 pounds. Most os his weight comes from his height, he is so tall. He looks to thin to me. He eats 3 times a day, 2 cup amounts. He is on Purina puppy chow, but I just started mixing in Iams smart puppy today to start him on that. I think the Iams smart puppy has better ingrediants. Does anyone know of any food, or even something I can mix with his food to beef him up a little. He goes on 1 hour walks everyday, and is going to start going on light jogs with my husband soon, so I really think he needs something more, to keep his weight on, and also get some good muscle tone. Thanks!
Skinny pup....
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auntthelm
Boxer Insane
If you to check out http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/ you will find that both Purina and Iams are both one star foods out of a possibility of 6 stars. The higher quality foods may cost a little more but will be well worth the price in the health of your puppy
Cali Koa
Boxer Buddy
Skinny pup
That website she gave you is really helpful.
It seems more expensive, those foods are about double the price on the surface but that's very deceiving. It actually doesn't end up being much more expensive. With the higher nutritional content you would be feeding your pup around 3 1/2 - 4 cups a day on those foods as opposed to 6 cups. We're now feeding Koa Orijen, we fed Wellness which is a good food but didn't happen to agree with him. The other's I've heard good things about are Acana, Solid Gold, Innova, Merrick but anything on that site 5 stars and up would be a good nutritional food. You can get Wellness and Solid Gold at Petco and probably some others.
That website she gave you is really helpful.
It seems more expensive, those foods are about double the price on the surface but that's very deceiving. It actually doesn't end up being much more expensive. With the higher nutritional content you would be feeding your pup around 3 1/2 - 4 cups a day on those foods as opposed to 6 cups. We're now feeding Koa Orijen, we fed Wellness which is a good food but didn't happen to agree with him. The other's I've heard good things about are Acana, Solid Gold, Innova, Merrick but anything on that site 5 stars and up would be a good nutritional food. You can get Wellness and Solid Gold at Petco and probably some others.
Careful
I know you said "light" jogs, but you really need to be cautious with a puppy any anything that constitutes forced exercise (as jogging, even off-leash, does). Boxers aren't a large breed, but they're a slow gorwing breed for their size; They aren't typically finished growing skeletally until 12-18 months of age.The problem with that and any sort of forced exercise that involves high stress or continuous pounding (as long leash walks or jogging with you do) is that, until the growth plates harden and close, the dog is very vulnerable to joint damage. Growth plates are those soft areas at the ends of all the long bones that allow for growth to occur. The vulnerability comes from the fact that they're soft - and can be deformed or otherwise damaged if too much is asked - either in highly stressful activity (like jumping or weaving) or else in continuous pounding (long walks or running) prior to these maturing.
Typically with a boxer, the growth plates disappear from obvious view somewhere around 12-14 months. But they're still not fully hardened and closed for another 2-4 months. Taking the dog running prior to that is risking damage.
To be clear: there is no problem jogging with an adult boxer. Within the sensible boundaries of temperature, and working up to long distances, this breed should be perfectly capable of jogging a good 10 miles with you daily. But a six month old pupy should not be doing this. A general rule of thumb for how long he can sensibly walk on leash is about 5 minutes for every month of age over 2. That would max out at about 35 minutes for a pup of this age - in continuous on leash walking. Jogging with you should be treated with the same caution (unless it is a very slow jog, and the pup is off leash and able to run ahead and then pause/rest to wait for you - avoiding the continuous stress to joints that on-leash jogging would require).
Thanks! I will check out that web site.
Careful
The problem with that and any sort of forced exercise that involves high stress or continuous pounding (as long leash walks or jogging with you do) is that, until the growth plates harden and close, the dog is very vulnerable to joint damage. Growth plates are those soft areas at the ends of all the long bones that allow for growth to occur. The vulnerability comes from the fact that they're soft - and can be deformed or otherwise damaged if too much is asked - either in highly stressful activity (like jumping or weaving) or else in continuous pounding (long walks or running) prior to these maturing.
Typically with a boxer, the growth plates disappear from obvious view somewhere around 12-14 months. But they're still not fully hardened and closed for another 2-4 months. Taking the dog running prior to that is risking damage.
To be clear: there is no problem jogging with an adult boxer. Within the sensible boundaries of temperature, and working up to long distances, this breed should be perfectly capable of jogging a good 10 miles with you daily. But a six month old pupy should not be doing this. A general rule of thumb for how long he can sensibly walk on leash is about 5 minutes for every month of age over 2. That would max out at about 35 minutes for a pup of this age - in continuous on leash walking. Jogging with you should be treated with the same caution (unless it is a very slow jog, and the pup is off leash and able to run ahead and then pause/rest to wait for you - avoiding the continuous stress to joints that on-leash jogging would require).
Thank you so much for the helpful info, I appreciate the time you took for that. I will take his age into consideration for the jogs. The light jogs are going to be his pase, and not a constant jog, just like around the block thing. He has so much energy and loves to run, so thats what that was going to be for.
Good
Its not that 6 month old boxers can't run at all - but just very much a case of making sure that they don't pound constantly. LOL - not always easy, as many of them will do their utmost to keep up with or (even more likely) outpace you.As a rough rule, they can run to their heart's content when its offleash and playing - as they'll naturally give themselves the sorts of mini-pauses and breaks necessary to give their joints some relief. So if you keep the running short and slow - or even better, choose a park where the dog can run offleash (and likely will bound off ahead, pause to wait, then bound off ahead again, etc) - then it should not be a problem.
On the food thing - besides a high quality kibble, you might consider adding some good quality lean protein to his diet. This won't "fatten" him up, but its what is needed for helping to build good healthy lean muscle mass. Things like lean meat, occassional eggs and oily fish (e.g. canned oily fish like sardines and mackeral) are perfect for this.
Stellar
Boxer Pal
I got my boxer, and she was a bit thin as well, but with some exercise and switching her food from Iams to Orijen, she put on a decent amount of weight and is now healthier.
we feed Mya puppy Orijen. It has great ingredients, she loves it and she doesn't eat 3 times a day, just once in the am and in the pm. i think because it's high in protein, she does not have the desire to eat lunch, but she's putting on weight well. only negative is that it makes her poo smell really bad
good luck!
we feed Mya puppy Orijen. It has great ingredients, she loves it and she doesn't eat 3 times a day, just once in the am and in the pm. i think because it's high in protein, she does not have the desire to eat lunch, but she's putting on weight well. only negative is that it makes her poo smell really bad
good luck!
kathysboxer
Boxer Insane
If you need to tire your sweet baby out, and you have a yard, get a laser light from walmart. They are around $3 or $4 and alot of the boxers on here (Tyson included) go nuts over them. Tyson will chase that little light for hours if I let him. It is what got us through the winter when he couldn't get out as long due to the cold. He would just run through the house chasing it.
Good
As a rough rule, they can run to their heart's content when its offleash and playing - as they'll naturally give themselves the sorts of mini-pauses and breaks necessary to give their joints some relief. So if you keep the running short and slow - or even better, choose a park where the dog can run offleash (and likely will bound off ahead, pause to wait, then bound off ahead again, etc) - then it should not be a problem.
On the food thing - besides a high quality kibble, you might consider adding some good quality lean protein to his diet. This won't "fatten" him up, but its what is needed for helping to build good healthy lean muscle mass. Things like lean meat, occassional eggs and oily fish (e.g. canned oily fish like sardines and mackeral) are perfect for this.
Wow, I will try that! He would love sardines. He also loves apple! Thanks for all the advice....
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