I got my Mastiff today

[dragonflyreptiles]

refer to thread:
http://www.geckoforums.net/showthread.php?t=10422

I had gone to see him about a week and a half ago and he family was so distraught about losing him that I went and bought him dog food since their main thing was a cut in income and he was being neglected.

Well today, I get a call, we are on our way to the Humane Society and if you want him let me know, so I gave him an area near by where he was and drove over and picked Bailey up.

So here he is, I knew I loved him from his pics and even more when I met him and I was sad and glad when they just needed a little help and today aI was relieved that I wound up with him.

he needs to gain a good deal of weight but here is a head shot, any advice on getting weight on him is greatly appreciated!

 

[OSUgecko]

Try peanut butter and oatmeal. Combine them and make little balls out of the mix. They're fairly nutritious, dogs usually love them, and they are usually effective. This is a trick I learned when my dog was running all of her weight off and needed to gain a few pounds for the show ring. Good luck!

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

I will probably not try that as a lot of dogs have peanut allergies and Id hate to find out the hard way but I may mix some oatmeal in his food.

 

[StinaKSU]

You could try a high calorie food made for high energy dogs like sled dogs.

 

[Grinning Geckos]

You want protien and fats...which is why the peanut butter is good. I'm a recent convert to natural pet food for my cat. Look for MEAT (chicken, beef, etc.) to be the key (first in the list) ingredient in your dog food. Good portions and time, and he'll do great.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

Thanks Shanti, its been a while since Ive had a large breed dog and Ive never had one this underweight.

I fed him the puppies diamond puppy food to him today but it is a chicken by product as the 1st, that is what I had given his owner sicne it was about 20% fat and I think the proplan was only 13% wtih chicken as the 1st.

This dog is going to take a ton of work!

 

[techgirl]

Adding some canned dog food to his food will help too. Make sure of it's contents like Shanti said. Wellness is a great diet, not cheap though. It's human grade ingredients and my pets love it. I'd watch the puppy food if you don't know his medical history. If he has kidney problems, the extra protein will strain his kidneys. Don't put weight on him too fast either or it'll stress his joints. It's ok to have some of the older, larger breeds on the leaner side for the sake of their joints. I maintian my lab mix's because he's got arthritis in his back and elbows. Good luck with him. Can't wait to see more pics.

 

[OSUgecko]

What type of proplan were you comparing the diamond brand with? Just asking because there is a proplan "performance" formula meant for working dogs (like Stina suggested) that I also used to bring my dog up to weight. I really can't remember the fat ratio in it, although I know it was a lot higher than the maintenance formula. The good part about that diet is that you won't have to worry about potential problems associated with puppy food (like Jessica said). My dog loved it and it did help her gain weight (although the goof kept trying to run it off, lol!).

If you don't want to try to peanut butter, I've also heard of (never tried) a method of buying high fat, low quality hamburger and adding that to the diet. It'll increase the fat and protein content, and usually entice the dog to eat a lot more than normal. You can also try pouring corn oil over the food. Sloppy and nasty, and I'm not sure I'd want a massive mastiff with jowls full of that in my house, lol, but it's extra calories and it won't hurt him other than loosening his stools (which you're going to do anyway by upping the fat content of his diet).

 

[Airilith]

Vegetable oil or molassas is what we always used. I have a talent of attracting underfed animals and both always did wonders. Just pour some over the kibble and shake.

 

[Mel&Keith]

We've always fed our bulldog Nutro Natural Choice High Energy formula to help him keep weight on (he doesn't process food normally due to the megaesphogus), it has the highest protein and fat content of all of the dry foods that we could find and it's reasonably priced.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

I think the proplan I looked at was chicken and rice and I looked at teh Nutro High energy but its only 8% fat.

Today I mixed the puppy food with some Beneful my dad gave me, its 10% fat and I added some left over speghetti we had.

I don't know if I am seeing things but he seems to look better today but I did feed him 4 smaller meals last night and he ate all of it each time so Im thinking he has just not been fed really well.

 

[PrototypeGeckos]

Hey Wendy, I am not sure if you can find it around you, but Bil-Jac dog food has to be the best for getting weight on dogs rapidly. There frozen dog food is the best, you can probably order it if nothing else. Hope that helps. www.biljac.com

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

they do have a local suppleir close by, Ill go check it out tomorrow, thanks!

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

I also thinking of trying this recipe that I found online at

http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/health/diet4.htm

FATTEN 'EM UP QUICK MEATLOAF​

Note: This requires a huge pot for mixing! Makes a two week supply for one dog.

1 dozen hard boiled eggs, chopped
10 lbs of inexpensive hamburger meat
20 oz Jar of Wheat Germ
1 canister of Knox Gelatin, joint complex, (Knox Unflavoured NutraJoint Powder 5.5oz)
1 large box of Total breakfast cereal [Australians use 340 grams of Sanitarium Weetbix]
2 x 1 lb boxes of Quaker oatmeal, (the kind you cook)
1½ cups Canola Oil
12 oz jar of unsulfered Molasses
¼ tsp salt
1 heaping teaspoon minced Garlic, (jarred variety or fresh, NOT dried)
Box of 1qt Freezer bags

Just dump all into huge pot and dig in. It takes some effort, and you will be up to your elbows, but you want to mix thoroughly.
Separate into 14 freezer bags, gently squeezing out the air before sealing. Flatten out the bags, (this will allow for a quicker thaw period), and lay flat on a freezer shelf.
Feed one packet each day, half in morning, half in evening. Breaking up into chunks, or rolling into meatballs.

Joan Fremo
Pyrangel Rescue Network
[email protected]
Web Site

 

[OSUgecko]

Oooh, I forgot about Bil-jac. That's good stuff!

 

[paulnj]

Melody is a very savvy consumer I started my first neo on $48 bags of the eukanuba large breed and got tired of spending that kind of $$ every 2 weeks! I went to petsmart and asked if they had anything less costly that was just as good for him. The salesman chuckled and said "how about cheaper and better for him?" ... NUTRO MAX!!!!

I rescued a tosa inu that weighed 117 when I got him, he was 178 within 9 month of eating nutro max and getting general exercise. I swear by NUTRO for all my dogs I have ever owned due to the ingredient list having meat in the first 2 lines(unlike science diet and eukanuba)

 

[goReptiles]

I'm with ya Paul. Nutro all the way. I prefer Nutro Natural Choice, but Max is good too. I'd even try Natural Balance.

I've also heard proplan puppy can food is good at gaining weight.

Try high preformance foods.

I'd stay away from Beneful as the first ingredient is corn, if I remember correctly. Corn is a filler, also hard to digest.

The frozen BilJac is also one of the better brands. It comes in dry food, but I'm not sure how good the dry food is compared to the frozen.

Good luck with him.

 

[paulnj]

Some dogs will get ahhhh the runs if fed alot of high protein / canned food all at once. As a person who has cleaned such messes a few too many times.... beware of alot of canned foods at once Putting weight on gradually is best, you don't want a fat lazy sack of lard over night.

 

[StinaKSU]

I would be wary of that "fatten 'em up meatloaf" stuff.....garlic can be toxic to dogs and it would be bad for the teeth without lots of extra chewing opportunities. You have to be VERY careful with homemade diets...if they aren't done right they can do more harm than good....and personally i would avoid any dieet that recommends using garlic...while it takes quit a bit to cause problems...it still contains a toxic substance...its not much different from chocolate... a small amount isn't really going to be harmful...but that doesn't make it good for them.

 

[dragonflyreptiles]

lots of good info guys!

I only had the beneful since my dad gave me his extra bag so I mixed it with the proplan puppy food I have for the 2 pitt puppies.

This dog probably just guessing needs to gain about 80 pounds but he is also 10 years old and with a not higher average life span he is very lazy.

Ive got an appointment to take in a stool sample monday to see if he has any parasites. the owner said he all of a sudden lost this weight. He was a show dog, on calanders etc.

I never use can foods, too much stinky poop fron my experience with Rotties for 15 years.

Ive used home made diets before and even fed raw back when that was the rave.

I just want to make this dogs last couple fo years as good as I can.

The pet store here that has the Biljac also has butro and its a family run place, Ill see what else they have and see what the vet says monday.

Ive only had healthy show dogs before and most of the rotties I rescued were of good heath just bad homes. The few I rescued that were thin were not this thin and just needed to be fed a better diet than they previouls had.