Help us put weight on Walt!

[ailsa]

When we first brought Walt home, he dropped some weight pretty quickly - presumably because he was suddenly having lots of walks, which he wouldn't have been getting in kennels.

He's a pretty active greyhound and we've struggled to get the weight back on him. He's 30in to the shoulder and weighs 34kg, which sounds ok but you can see all his ribs and his pin bones are quite prominent, so I think he could do with being a couple of kilos heavier.

The problem is, finding things that will gradually put weight on him (we're happy for this to take a couple of months if necessary - don't want it all to pile on in one go!) but that won't result in slurry-bottom. We've struggled to find a food that agrees with him and having tried Arden Grange, Barking Heads and Burns, we have settled on James Wellbeloved fish and vegetables in the morning, and turkey and vegetables in the evening. He has a sardine with the fish and some turkey mince with the turkey, plus a handful of kibble at lunch and bedtime. His poos still aren't brilliant, but they're better than they were on any of the other foods. We've been feeding him this combination for about 3-4 months now.

So my question is, what can we add to his diet to help him fatten up a little?

I would like to try raw at some point, but when we gave him a block of tripe, it didn't really agree with him. But that was last year, so it might be worth attempting again.

Any suggestions, oh wise ones?

Thank you!

[andywillow]

Have you tried naurediet? Roy's stomach was dodgy, we had him on Wainwrights salmon and potato which improved it but not he has problems opening his mouth as wide he is on a soft diet, his poo's are amazing!

I'd like him to put some weight on but its difficult when they have dodgy tums, although I think Roy's weight is the least of his worries!

[vickyb]

Another vote for Naturediet. Gracie put weight on on it (without kibble) but her poos got so hard and like rabbit droppings I had to change it. I can't stomach the smell of the white fish one, its awful, I threw it away, didn't give them it. Do you think he's wheat intolerant? If he's ok with it potato/sweet potato/ butternut squash all go down well here and will add calories.

[deborahburt]

When we first got Sammy he was only 34kgs and he too is 30 inches. As well as bucket loads of tripe, I gave him porridge,which he really loved. He's now a healthy 36.5 kgs.

[julies]

Yumega do really good Probiotics for digestive problems and well worth trying I think it's called Biopro, once you get him settled they also do Oils which would really help put weight on him (loads of calories in oil) but you ned to add it slowly or it'll upset him tum.

Its a good suggestion that he might be wheat intolerant -my Lucy is very itchy on beef and wheat, Laughing Dog do a grain etc-free baked biscuit that could suit him too? Start adding your raw meat slowly and let him tum get used to it ... turkey is quite a rich meat so if he's OK with that it does seem that he's not OK with wheat and rice maybe?

We find it normal for the greys to lose weight when they first go into a home - probably because they stress quietly about it, can you add an extra feed in too? That should help put weight on him ... work out his normal weight of food, add a third and split it into 3 feeds to give him exra.

Hope this helps.

Julie

[Ted]

I feed all four of my Hounds on Naturediet Chicken and Lamb, they are now having 1/2 a packet each in the morning and a packet each in the evening, I do add either two pieces of chicken roll or thin ham to both meals and two sausages to their evening meal. I also leave a large bucket of kibble down for them to snack on when they are feeling like something extra. I get my Naturediet from Berrifords as you can get 4 boxes of 18 packets for £50.73p delivered free by DPD who tell you the day and what hour they will be delivering. But they will leave it in a safe place if you let Berriwoods know. They take payment via PayPal online or you can phone them to order.

[duke]

Duke is intolerant to all sorts and its been a slog finding a good one that put some weight on him. Curiously one of my sisters greyhounds is a blue like Duke and he has similar problems, although we did find out they are related somewhere down the line so maybe its genetic. Duke was on burgess sensitive but after a period became unable to eat it without the dreaded liquid poops ! Hes been on vets kitchen salmon and potato for around 3 months and touch wood hes grand. He has put weight on and his fur is lovely. He cant handle sardines etc so he has white fish a couple of times a week and a treat on sundays of carrot, potato and white fish.

[duke]

Ps although the vets kitchen is not cheap I have found amazon to be miles cheaper than other sites at the moment x

[sharonhigh45]

No advice but hope you get him sorted as there is lots of good advice from other Gappers.xx

[Ted]

Another food I use is Gelert Country Mix that comes in packs of 12 tins (3 beef, 3 Chicken, 3 Lamb and 3 Rabbit all in a Jelly), I am lucky as my local pet store sells it at £4.85 a pack of 12 tins. You can get it in Tesco but they charge 54p a tin i.e. £6.48 a pack of 12 tins, but you can choose which variety you want as they sell the tins seperately. My three Greyhounds weigh in at Kelly 37.1 kilos, Mickey-Finn 36.7 kilos and Merlin (my eldest 10 & 1/2 years) 35 kilos, Menta my Spanish Hound now weighs 28 kilos. At the moment they all are on two meals a day, where they have 1/2 a carton of Naturediet (Chicken or Chicken and Lamb or Lamb variety) each for breakfast and a carton for their evening meal, added to which is a couple of pieces of chicken or ham slices and two sausages each. I do leave a bucket of Gluten free Chicken and Rice Kibble down for them to snack on. Another food that I found good for getting dogs to their correct weight is Chappie, which you can get in tins of 400 grams, 800 grams or 1.2 kilos.

[lurcherlot]

I find James Wellbeloved the best food for putting on weight, whereas with Burns I could only maintain existing weight. It is unfortunate Walt has a sensitive tummy, because there are all sorts of things that could be added, like Tesco's cheapest fatty mince, oily fish etc