Thin GSD need advice nothing is working so far

[TanyaV28]

Okay I will post pics soon.........but My female GSD is very thin....She gets all the food she wants. She is 1 and I had the vet come out and do blood tests,check her for worms etc. She was 100% okay. My male is big and fat and she is skinny. He lets her eat so I know that isnt a problem. I have also put her on canned food as well. She is also on a daily multivitamin. I mean she looks like she is a rescue it is awful. I have her just in about a half acre fence now surrounding my home because she had free run of our farm and I thought she was running to much. Any suggestions on how I can fatten her up fast??

[gbarmranch]

My GSD was the same way - we added one can of a high calorie high quality food to her dry daily, with corn oil.. she finally gained weight and kept it on...

Some are just hard keepers - especially GSDs..

Those are two beautiful dogs you have..

[TanyaV28]

okay Im going to try the corn oil and some high quality can food........Oh yeah they are looking all sweet and innocent in those pics but they are trying to figure out how they can get in my barn and eat my goats!! LOL..Thanks

[alliebath]

Young GSD are notorious for being "hard keepers". I used to have a male that as a young dog when I would feed him - everything/everyone would have to be totally quite - NO distractions, or he wouldn't eat and I was so worried that he would waste away - he matured into a 28" tall (way over standard), 97 lb dog.

The breed can occassionally have digestive trouble and need medication, but overall if the vet says everything looks good, and she is offered food every day (which I know she is), she will eventually start gaining. They are like teenage boys often - all gangly and legs, feet and ears until they start to mature (could be 3 or 4 years old or more).

[beth55051]

What kind/brand of dog food are you feeding her?

[TanyaV28]

Im using Big Red Pro from the Farmers Coop. it has 21% protein. It might not be the best out there

[beth55051]

I'd suggest finding a food with meat as the first ingredient. I feed Diamond Lamb + Rice. Lamb is the first ingredient and it has no corn in it.

But yes, you might need to up his protein level. You can do it like GBar said by adding the protein/fat to his current dog food or by getting a dog food with a higher protein/fat level.

My dad has an English Pointer who he has a hard time keeping weight on during hunting season. He feeds her a lamb/rice or chicken/rice dog food with either corn oil or a raw egg added to it.

They also make Probiotics for dogs. I've seen them in the SmartPak dog catalog.

[APHANutmeg]

GSD also sometimes have a problem where their body won't absorb the calories like it should. There is a test for it, but it is rather expensive. What the last vet I worked for tried before doing the test was to switch the dog to a better food (usually a prescription diet) and adding a powder micronutrient (prozyme) to the feed. Usually if this was the problem the results were radical(noticeable weight gain within days of starting prozyme. Just a suggestion. But I would at least try a better food.

[alliebath]

She may need a better quality food - not necessairly more protien or fat, but a food that she can utilize more fully - you might try a 40 lb bag of premium food - Iams, Nutro, etc. Or if that is out of the price range - even Pedgiree brand or a Purinia Farms brand. Different dogs do differently on foods - I have had dogs that did fine on a co-op produced food, and others that did not. I currently feed Nutro Ultra - pricey though at about $1 a pound - I think I probably feed less with the premium brand and they utilize more of the nutrients. Have 4 on it - from my top show dog, to our old, arthritic pointer.

It is the ingredients that "make" a food - where are they getting the protien source? Chicken feet and feathers, cow hooves and ears? Which could be considered meat by products - obviously it is harder for the dogs to gain the right amount of nutirents from bizarre meat by products than it is from meat. The cheaper brands of dog foods are cost based - meaning that the protien sources come from whatever is cheapest when the produce the product - if they have oodles of chicken beaks - then that is what they buy. The next batch might be full of cow ears. Recipe based food is more consistent - and that is usually in the slightly higher priced food. My 2 cents

[Kat]

Our GSD looked like that when we got him, except that you could count every vertbrae on him. We did everything and tried feeding him all kinds of things. When I learned that most canned (especially the expensive kind!) and some dry dog food has a lot of added MSG, we took him off of everything and put him on good old dry dog food with no additives and he gained weight. We feed him beef fat occasionally on his food and he looks terrific. It was really counter-intuitive because his very austere diet looks as if he shouldn't gain weight, but the additives were giving him IBS and that's why he was skinny. You might try it. Just remember, nothing processed other than a non additive dog food. MSG lurks in almost everything and it is a neurotoxin. You can find it in the ingredients, but not always listed as such. There are many names for it and one of them is simply, "natural flavors". Ugh.

[soccer mom]

My female GSD did not gain much weight until after she was fixed.

[TanyaV28]

Thanks everyone. The funny thing soccermom was that she was fixed at 6 months. I went out and bought some new dog food. I bought Purina Puppy healthy essentials. It has 27% protein and seems better than that other stuff. I also bought a bunch of bacon and im going to fry it up and save the grease and put some into the food daily and also Corn oil. I will let you know how it goes. Thanks

[WalliBoy]

I have been recommended to feed either Science Diet [expensive, but you get every penny worth] OR Purina Proplan [ditto] They are high in Fiber,protein, calories etc. Keeps your doggy with a shiney soft coat [the Science diet mostly] and it's good for digestion [if she isnt getting what she needs from her "regular" diet] I highly recommended both. I switched my dog foods soo many times until I found the "BETTER'' brand, and Proplan seems the way to go. Sometimes you have to go for the more expensive stuff to get the better quality...

Hope she fills out soon....

[gbarmranch]

Originally Posted by beth55051

I'd suggest finding a food with meat as the first ingredient. I feed Diamond Lamb + Rice. Lamb is the first ingredient and it has no corn in it.

But yes, you might need to up his protein level. You can do it like GBar said by adding the protein/fat to his current dog food or by getting a dog food with a higher protein/fat level.

My dad has an English Pointer who he has a hard time keeping weight on during hunting season. He feeds her a lamb/rice or chicken/rice dog food with either corn oil or a raw egg added to it.

They also make Probiotics for dogs. I've seen them in the SmartPak dog catalog.

We used that too - it is better on their stomachs as they are notorious for issues... Bullet also liked yogart added to hers once a week, and my girlfriend with the mals will sometimes add a raw egg every other day.. Just some more ideas..

Bullet was spayed at 7 months as well, and never really started to gain a lot of weight until she was two - so she just may stay thinner until she is an adult between two and three..

[roberts617]

Ditto Beth and Gbar..

I highly reccomend Diamond as well. It is really a good food. She needs that meat instead of those fillers.

[A J]

We have been feeding our rescue GSD (and other rescues) Nutro Natural Choice. Not the cheapest out there, but when you actually do the research (as to feeding amounts, etc) it really is not much more expensive. My dogs are very high energy and get plenty of exercise, and both have great weight and great coats. Also, once we switched to this (we were feeding Purina ONE), our doggie poop volume was cut in half.

I would start reading labels on your dog food. Find a food that does NOT have any corn in it, and the main ingredients are meat (not by-products). There are higher quality foods than the Nutro Natural Choice, but that seems to be the best balance between price and quality.

[HorseMomToSage]

Another good food with no corn or sugar is Solid Gold-we had our Danes on it until they changed the formula from deep water fish to a shallower fish and my male stopped eating it (and he loves his groceries) Now they eat Nutro Large Breed. We also put oil and oatmeal on their food, the oil makes their hair shiny and manageable and the oatmeal helps their "digestion" BTW-your dogs are beautiful

[Nicole Ziemer]

It is hard to tell how the dogs weight is in the PIC, but as long as the vet has given her a clean bill of health I would not be very worried. We raise GSD, and they are very slow to mature and fill out in general. Usually lean and lanky for the most part til 2 yrs of age when they start to fill out. GS are also notorious for IBS, and other digestive problems. Try to find a food with no grains, expecially corn. They just cant digest it well. We have had good success with German Shepherd 24 by Royal Canine, and have now been using Extreme Athlete by Diamond.GS24 is pretty pricey, but the Diamond product is only 23.00 for 40#. You have to be carful with protiene levels thou as they are also prone to Pano as well as HD, and high protiene amounts can contribute to both when you have a young dog. I have a great recipe for an all natural supplement that helps to put weight on as well as really helps to produce a wonderful coat. They are called Satin Balls, and if you google them you may find the recipe. If not I can post it. Very easy to make and healthy to boot. Good luck!

[ToveroMom]

You will want to watch how much oil she gets-it will put weight on but her digestion will not take much of it.
I would really suggest a thorough Vet exam and a dogfood that has been suggested here-more meat and less filler.
I no longer feed my dogs anything with corn or wheat they do better and with large dogs like GSDs bloat can be an issue. They do better on a higher quality food.
Hope you get it figured-she does look lean.