Reverse Diet

[Taz_Zoee]

Any suggestions on how to get a dog to GAIN weight?

My friend has a boxer, she's about 2 years old. She is pretty small, at least I think so. But she is so skinny her ribs are showing. Her vet says she is healthy and doesn't seem concerned, but my friend always gets comments from people about how skinny she is. Me being one of those people. Honestly, I think she is too skinny.
Here is a pic of her from about a year ago.

What do you think?

[Catlady711]

Personally I like my pets a bit chunkier, not fat, but a bit more ....err....well....'fluffy' in the middle. lol

If the vet has examined the dog and found her to be healthy and isn't concerned then it's probably just a matter of your preference in appearence. Vets see WAY too many outright fat and obese animals that have so many health problems from diabetes to heart problems that seeing a normal weight or even slightly thin animal is almost a sigh of relief.

If you want to put a small amount of weight on just increase the dog food by a very small percent and let the dog get some good excercize to build muscles. Don't over-do the weight gain though. It's not easy to get weight back off, the animal isn't happy about it and there are a LOT of health risks with overweight animals.

[binka_nugget]

I prefer to have my dogs on a leaner side. It's much easier on their joints for agility (well, in general really). However, easier said than done I've got two Shelties who need to lose weight. We always get comments about how thin Keeva is, but I think she's at the perfect weight. I would probably put 5 pounds on the Boxer and leave it at that. She doesn't look too terribly thin.

We had to put weight on Kaedyn when we adopted him. I did so by feeding him the puppy formula of a high quality kibble. It did a nice job of slowly putting on weight. Some others have tried "satin balls" (recipes on google), which seems to be a popular method for putting weight on dogs. I've never tried it on my dogs though.

[Twisterdog]

To put weight on my thin rescue dogs, I fed them a premium puppy food, and sometimes added lean chicken or turkey.

IMO the boxer is a little thin, but nothing dramatic. A few pounds wouldn't hurt, and probably could be acheived easily simply by switching to puppy food.

[Taz_Zoee]

Thank you all for your replies!
I will have to ask her what and how much she is feeding her. She might be feeding her a crappy food and that could be part of it too.
This dog is a spaz. She is sooo hyper she can't sit still. I think that's what the vet told them. She is just burning off all she eats.
So I will suggest puppy food first and maybe increase amount if just the puppy food doesn't work.

[Giselle]

I'm with Ashley. I like to see my pups leaner rather than 'chunky'. I've been trying to keep a faint outline of Ivy's ribs. In fact, a lot of people ask me if she's a Dobe/Greyhound mix =P

I don't think Miss Boxer is too skinny. 2 or 3 pounds wouldn't hurt, but remember that Pittie we saw at the Berkeley Marina park? He was *so* buff yet you could see the faint outline of his ribs. I pretty much wish my dogs (and I) could be like that I think that's the type of body your friend's boxer has and I actually really like it haha

[crow_noir]

I agree... for the most part she looks pretty healthy... but she could stand to put on about/up to five lbs. (not really a huge issue. It is said that a dog will be healthier being underweight than overweight.)

I'd just suggest a better quality food if she's on a cheapo one, or if it's decent just adding aprox. 1/8 cup more per feeding. (I of course would just add a few more chunks of raw chicken )

[Shelteez2]

To me she looks pretty perfect. With a tight coated dog like a boxer I think you should be able to see her ribs.... just not her spine and hip bones and from that pic you can see the outline of her ribs (but not indents in between) and not her spine or hip bones...so.... perfect....

[jackie]

I think she looks good. One of mine pups has always been on the thin side and I feed as much as they want to eat for one hour a day. Just good metabolism I guess.

I am much more concerned about getting my ribs to show, then my dogs.

[Seravieve]

I think she looks rather thin. On Boxers, you're supposed to be able to see ribs, but they shouldn't stand out as much as hers. Eli was VERY underweight when we got him, and he was on PUPPY food. We bought a better brand of puppy food, and then switched to a high protein food. We also supplemented the kibble with cottage cheese at every meal. 1/2 a cup or so with 1-1 1/2 cup dry kibble. It took a month or so and now he looks ideal.

Sam's Club has 5 lb containers of cottage cheese which aren't too expensive, much cheaper than buying the smaller containers from the grocery store anyways.

The breeder that he came from originally (we didnt get him from them, tho) suggested the cottage cheese.

I feel like I should mention that there are different body types with boxers, some really bulk up with muscles and are real beefy. And then there's others (like our Eli) who tend to be leaner.

[Glacier]

I have great difficulty keeping weight on Ozzy--to the point we have considered thyroid cancer as a diagnosis. He has a super high metabolism, a nervous temperment and loves to work. All three combine to make him a hard keeper. He eats a completely different diet than all the other dogs. He gets a satin ball for breakfast most days. I can't get him to physically eat more kibble, so I found him a higher calorie one. He eats Acana Extreme. It's designed for working dog who are working under extreme conditions, such as -40 temps and long distances for days on end. Ozzy eats it even in the summer when he's doing nothing! He also eats raw meat, always has a bone to chew on and when it's cold or he's working alot, he gets small chunks of pork fat, salmon or beaver(when I can get it).


Satin Balls.
http://www.njboxers.com/satin-balls-recipe.htm
This recipe is for a huge batch, but you can adjust it for smaller amounts.

[IRescue452]

She looks well-muscled. I bet she is burning off all she eats. They should definately feed her a better quality kibble of course, and maybe 3 meals a day instead of one or two.

[pitc9]

When I adopted Sierra she was underweight and stayed that way for a few years. I free fed her for almost 2 years, but never gained weight.
It wasn't until she was 4 or 5 years old that she started putting weight on.
My vet said she was healthy and there wasn't anything to worry about, but I was SO tired of hearing "Is your dog sick? Why is she so skinny?"
Grrrr.. that peeved me off to no end.

Your friend could try free feeding for a while and/or add high quality puppy food to her diet.

[K9karen]

All the boxers (and some others) I meet at the dog park at thin, like in the picture. They run around the most and are so high energy.

*Sigh* I should be so lucky.