Supplement to Wellness Core for Boney Boxer?

[Tessa]

We've been on Wellness Core for months now and Tessa and Tucker love it. Tessa has lost a few pounds (good thing), but so has Tucker (bad thing). Tessa is the perfect size, but Tucker is all bone with some muschle showing, and you can see all of his ribs. At his last vet appointment, he had lost 2 pounds and we've been feeding him extra trying to get him to gain weight. He is 2 and is only around 53 pounds. The vet said he is definitely on the skinny side, and if he didn't have such defines leg muscles she might think we were neglecting him.

He gets 2 cups of Wellness Core in the morning, 2 cups in the evening, about another 1/3 cup in his toy, a plate of cooked chicken or ground beef when we eat dinner, and a homemade icecream at night made of banana/yogurt/peanut butter and honey. Not to mention 8-10 cookies/treats a day for being good. His poop is fine. Tessa only gets 1 cup in the morning and afternoon and she only has 2 ribs visible. They go to doggie day care 5 days a week and I know he far more active than the average dog. He runs around in their 3 acre facility and they play a lot of ball with him. Today we are starting to add another cup of food at lunch at day care.

Any suggestions of what we can add to his diet to fatten him up a bit? We tried adding puppy food, but that just loosened his stool. Someone recommended we switch him to Orijen for a higher fat content. It doesn't seem to be that much higher than Wellness (14% vs. 16%?) Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Personally I'd change his food. You're feeding A LOT of food he shouldn't be that thin with all of that food a day so at this point I don't really think the answer is so much what you can add but possibly just another kibble all together that works better for him.

If you're really stuck on keeping with the Wellness you might want to try ProZyme to see if the digestive enzyme helps him to digest and utilize his food/calories more efficiently. It's for dogs and runs around $22 online with shipping included on amazon.

 

[Sansal]

I do agree with BxrmommieNaz. It sounds like you are feeding a lot, even for a highly active boxer and he should definitely not be loosing weight. If all the ribs are showing and the vet thinks he looks "neglected" it really sounds like he should gain a few pounds. I think it might be worth it to add the Prozym and see if that helps. Instead of adding more kibble I would add more protein (chicken, meat, canned sardines and mackarels, cottage cheese, eggs,...). What were you feeding before the wellness core and how was he doing back then? If you switch to a different kibble I would go for a high protein content, don't know how wellness core and orijen compare, protein wise?

 

[dalefuller]

It wouldn't hurt to try Orijen for Tucker. I've fed it for several years and ours do very well on it. Orijen will be about 40% protein compared to Core's 34% and 16% fat to 14%. Another consideration is the calories per cup. Orijen comes in at 450 cals/cup compared to Core's 430 cals/cup.

Have you had Tucker checked out by your vet to make sure nothing is going on with him? If he's healthy, then tyry switching him. It's always good to rotate occasionally and find something else that they will eat successfully.

BadAxe does make a good point, though, about Boxers being a little slow to develop physically. We got Riley at 18 months and he was about 4 YO before he grew into his consistent adult shape.weight.

 

[cityinthesky]

In fear of the dog having issues with digesting a new food, I wouldn't change the food, but add in high calorie treats, and something with some fat content in it. Adding more protein isn't going to change the weight of your dog necessarily it helps build more muscle mass, and it could mean more gas, or soft stools.

My boxer is fairly thin, but my vet says he's normal and what a boxer should look like.
If you're worried, consult your vet to see if a switch in food is necessary, or adding more fat content or higher calorie treats would help.

 

[BoxrSmooch]

Maybe you could try adding some Wellness canned food, like the 95% to your dog's diet. I have the same problem with my female who is on Core Ocean. When I spoke to the great folks at Wellness, they suggested adding 95% canned to her diet to put some weight on her. I'll be starting that after the holiday and hope to see some results. I'll also be adding it to my male's Simple Solutions food from Wellness. He needs to change from the SuperMix5 to that and they suggested I might supplement his diet with canned if I choose to.

Good luck with your skinny Boxer

 

[Tessa]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I posted in another thread that we switched over to Instinct and Tucker is doing great! The proof was at the vet a few days ago... He was 60.6 lbs!! For the first time ever he weighes more than Tessa. The vet was very happy. About 5 more pounds and he will be perfect. Tessa is still on Wellness Core, and while keeping two foods around isn't ideal, it's what is working so we'll do it!

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

Thanks everyone for the advice. I posted in another thread that we switched over to Instinct and Tucker is doing great! The proof was at the vet a few days ago... He was 60.6 lbs!! For the first time ever he weighes more than Tessa. The vet was very happy. About 5 more pounds and he will be perfect. Tessa is still on Wellness Core, and while keeping two foods around isn't ideal, it's what is working so we'll do it!

Yep, I have to feed 2 different foods due to my boy's allergies. I could feed my GSD the same food, but it's more expensive than what I feed him so I do 2 separate ones. It was a PITA for awhile but you get used to it and it just becomes second nature after awhile.

Glad to hear the food switch worked and your boy is doing well!