# What does your dog eat in a day/how to get my dog to gain weight.



## SaraP (Jun 4, 2012)

Right now, I've been feeding my two year old a cup of yogurt or cottage cheese with a cup of fruit in the morning and a chicken breast with a cup of rice and a cup of veggies (mostly carrots and peas) at night. With a watermelon peel (for tarter control) mid-day. I need other ideas or if I'm doing it right. 

Also, when I was researching the BARF diet I read that she would gain weight and have a shiner coat. I've never noticed a shiner coat and I don't think she's gained much weight. She's small for a shepherd-only 60-65 pounds. She is active but I'm concerned about her weight-I can see her ribs. 

Any meal ideas/more information? 
How to get her to gain weight? More food? 

Thanks.


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## Bear L (Feb 9, 2012)

What's the size of the chicken breast? Based on what you said, she's eating too little protein as a % of her daily diet even for a non-active dog. The diet should consist mainly of protein sources. You should up the protein to maybe at least 80% of her daily diet and even 100% if you want her to gain weight faster. Also, I think what you're now feeding may be too little in general but I'm not sure since I don't know what size is that chicken breast. But you probably are feeding too little protein or amount in general since she's not gaining weight. 

You may want to add some raw bones for her. You can feed her any part of the chicken with raw bones safely plus the organs, necks, feet, etc. Don't just do chicken breast. Variety of meat sources is best. Add some raw eggs too and you can even let her crack the eggs herself. The shells can be digested. 

My dogs eats 100% protein during their meals. For snacks or fun throughout the day I'll give them some fruits that I'm also eating. Sometimes they may get yogurt if I think of getting it. They also get fish from time to time. If I want my dogs to gain weight, I just feed more meat and you can usually see the weight gain within couple days.


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## Elaine (Sep 10, 2006)

Your diet doesn't sound balanced or complete and it doesn't sound like there's enough calories either. The best place for feeding a home prepared diet is at K9Kitchen : dog diets raw cooked allergies disease


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

Seems you're feeding a lot of fruit and vegetable matter; if I'm reading correctly she gets a cup of fruit and a cup of veggies, so that's two cups of... filler. Plus a chicken breast, cottage cheese, and rice (more filler). No bones at all?

I think she needs more fat and protein. I'd give her raw chicken legs and thighs, with the bones and the skin. Cut out most of the vegetables, fruit, and rice, and add some fish oil to the cottage cheese. Whole eggs would be even better than cottage cheese, IMO. And raw meaty beef bones for her teeth, as opposed to watermelon rind.


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## SaraP (Jun 4, 2012)

Thank you! I'm getting my Master's in Nutrition and I guess I was thinking more on a human level than a dog's. The chicken breast is as big as my hand-so maybe like eight ounces. 

So she can eat uncooked chicken bones? Like I can go to the store, buy a whole chick, cut it up for her, and that be ok? 

Also, do you mean like vitamin fish oil? That i'd get from the Walmart vitamin isle that's like for humans?

And lastly, how much should I give her a day. As in cups. Right now it's at four between morning and evening. So if I give her 80-100% of protein, then how much should she eat at each meal?


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## SaraP (Jun 4, 2012)

Oh, and how many calories? Is it the same 2,000 base as humans?


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## SaraP (Jun 4, 2012)

Can someone please give me an example of what their dog eats in a couple days.


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## Madjukes (Jul 1, 2012)

There's a lot of good links I followed to learn about this. Uncooked is best (and less dangerous) for her. YOu want to feed approx 2% of her adult body weight in a day. Adjust more/less depending on how she's filling out (if she looks too skinny/fat). You want ~50% Raw Meaty Bones (like chicken quarters) ~45% Muscle Meat (like ground beef) ~5% organs (like livers). You can add a tiny bit of fruit/vegetables if you'd like, although this isnt necessary. Be careful of the fruits you add though-- things like grapes and avacados are poisonous.


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## SaraP (Jun 4, 2012)

Madjukes-can I get those links? 

So, if it's 2% of her body weight and she weighs sixty pounds, that's 1.2 pounds or 18 ounces, or two cups and two ounces. That seems a little low. I'm feeding her four cups a day now.


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## NancyJ (Jun 15, 2003)

Go back and re-read Madjukes post. A chicken breast does not weigh 1.2 lbs and you are counting the other foods as part of that. When I did feed raw, the veggies (ground up) were about 1 - 2tbsp daily and mainly I feed frozen green tripe for my veggie portion. 

What you are feeding is very unbalanced for a dog and I would consider feeding a commercially prepared dog food until you do your research - THEN - switch over to raw. Do you have any books on raw feeding?

Calorie wise - my old guy who is 75lbs eats about 800 calories a day and maintains fine on that.
My puppy who is still adding muscle and is one year old eats between 1800 -2000 calories a day., is about 85lbs and you can't see his individiual ribs unless he is panting but he has a good tuck. 60-65lbs would be a normal weight for a female unless she was large. Do you have a picture?


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## rshkr (Feb 9, 2012)

monday:
24 ounces of food consisting of:
18 ounces rabbit
6 ounces sardines

tuesday:
14 ounces beef heart
10 ounces chicken necks

wednesday:
4 ounces green tripe
16 ounces chicken wings
1 egg

thursday:
12 ounces leg quarter
6 ounces sardines
6 ounces ground pork

that's an example of my dogs day to day menu:
i have 6''x5'' repackaged portions of rmb's, organ meats. muscle meats. each package is between 14-16ounces, i dont follow the 50-40-10, i adjust my dogs intake of rmb/mm or om base on his stools. somedays i give him all necks or backs and a squirt of salmon oil, somedays i give him ground beef mixed with egg and a few ounces of tripe.

i feed eggs 2-3x a week, green tripe 3x a week, sardines 3x a week.


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## JakodaCD OA (May 14, 2000)

I agree with the posters and especially Nancy when she suggests you feed a commercial diet NOW until you thoroughly research a balanced nutritious raw diet.

My dogs would 'croak' if they got that for breakfast and be a bag of bones.

When I was preparing meals for my senior dog, I used Sojourner (which was like an oatmeal looking base) cooking it up in chicken broth/adding veggies/and a MEAT source..Either salmon, beef or chicken (all ground up), PLUS, I'd add pumkin, brown rice. Even this was probably not as balanced as I'd have liked, but he was getting to be a picky eater and I was feeding what he'd take in.

There are tons of good books on "raw" feeding as well as this section to ask on how to get started/portions/amounts etc.


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## Ken Clean-Air System (Feb 27, 2012)

Madjukes said:


> Be careful of the fruits you add though-- things like grapes and avacados are poisonous.


I'd just like to clarify, avocados are NOT poisonous to dogs. The pit of an avocado is dangerous as it could cause a blockage and contains persin which is mildly toxic, but the flesh and even skin of the fruit is perfectly fine (assuming the dog doesn't have a food allergy to it of course).

If avocados were poisonous companies like Avoderm, who use avocados as an ingredient in their kibble, would be out of business, and probably the subject of any number of lawsuits for poisoning animals.


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## GatorBytes (Jul 16, 2012)

Here is another good source...Barf World (learning centre page)

Learn More - Educational tools for Pet Health & Success

Here is a blurb from the no grains section

The biochemical/physiological basis for problems directly related to the ingestion of grains relates to blood insulin levels in response to blood sugar levels. The ultimate effects of high carbohydrate diets include swings in blood sugar and insulin, insulin resistance and high blood sugar. This in turn results in pathological alterations in eicosanoid production which in turn leads to obesity, hypertension, fluid retention, musculoskeltal, vascular, renal, hepatic, CNS and cardiac disease, and finally in many instances cancer. That is, the ingestion of grain and other starchy foods (including simple sugars of course) produces or helps in a major way to produce most if not all of the degenerative diseases. There are other factors which are involved, particularly when it comes to feeding commercial pet food, including a lack of protective factors, abysmally poor protein quality, the presence of toxins in abundance, and the almost complete absence of healthy fats.


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## Therese Marie (Jul 28, 2012)

This is so fascinating but I am a little confused..
We just got a 11 month GSD from rescue 3 weeks ago so I am trying to soak this all in.. I was always under the impression to never give dogs chicken bones since they splinter.. I was also reading about giving bones in general and was surprised that so many were against it, stating is is harmful to the dog..
So to to highjack the OP, but are bones safe to give?? even chicken bones??
( my boy is on the skinny side right now, at 54lbs.. looking to add some weight too)


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## Freestep (May 1, 2011)

SaraP said:


> I'm getting my Master's in Nutrition and I guess I was thinking more on a human level than a dog's.


:headbang:

I'm guessing you're new to dog ownership. Dogs are NOT humans. Their teeth, their digestive system, their bodies are different from a humans. Dogs are geared to eat MEAT. Do you remember, in biology class, learning about the different types of animals? How some are meat eaters (carnivores like dogs and cats), some are plant eaters (herbivores like rabbits and cows), and some eat both meat and plants (omnivores like pigs and humans)?

People say that dogs are omnivores, which is sort of true--they are not obligate carnivores like cats, meaning dogs can survive for some time without meat. But they do not *thrive* on vegetable matter or grains. Dogs evolved from wolves, who are not out there grazing on grass and leaves--they sniff out, chase down, grip, kill, tear up, and eat other animals. Bones and all. Modern dogs have not changed much from their wild ancestors in this regard.

Your dog is not a 23-year-old girl on a diet. She is a growing carnivore who requires a good deal of protein and fat. Raw meat with the bone, such as chicken, turkey necks, rabbit, fish, pork neck bones, tails, etc. and beef knuckle and marrow bones, organs such as heart and liver, and other protein sources like eggs and yogurt are good. If you want to feed vegetables or fruit, put it in a juice extractor first, then mix a little pulp back in before feeding. Otherwise your pup cannot digest or gain nutrients from plant matter. Grains are not necessarily bad, and some dogs do fine with grains as long as they are well cooked, but it's really not the best nutrition available and some dogs have allergies to grain.



> So she can eat uncooked chicken bones? Like I can go to the store, buy a whole chick, cut it up for her, and that be ok?


Yes. Dogs, and especially growing puppies, NEED calcium and that comes from bones. Hopefully your pup has been getting enough calcium from the yogurt/cottage cheese you've been giving her up to this point.

If you're freaked out about feeding bones, remove the leg and thigh bones from the chicken before you feed it, and let her have the rest of the smaller, softer raw bones.



> Also, do you mean like vitamin fish oil? That i'd get from the Walmart vitamin isle that's like for humans?


Not cod liver oil (although small amounts of that are good), but fish body oil capsules. The kind humans take for omega-3's. 



> And lastly, how much should I give her a day. As in cups. Right now it's at four between morning and evening. So if I give her 80-100% of protein, then how much should she eat at each meal?


You're counting 2 cups of plant matter in your total cups of food, which your pup cannot digest, so essentially you are only feeding a cup of rice and one chicken breast per day. Your pup is starving--she should be getting meat at least twice a day, meaning a chicken quarter (leg and thigh) or equivalent in the morning, and another one at night. If you want to feed rice and juiced vegetables, that should be fed in addition to the meat, not replacing it.


But honestly, knowing so little about canine nutrition, I would feed her a high-quality kibble if I were you. Raw or home-cooked feeding requires a bit of knowledge and understanding of CANINE nutrition, and human nutrition has nothing to do with that. Read up and learn about raw feeding or BARF (Bones And Raw Food) before you start making your dog's meals at home again.


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## billsharp (May 3, 2011)

I agree with Jocoyn--go to a high quality kibble for now and research raw, then decide if you want to feed raw.

The resources here on this site are great and adequate to get you started--use the search function and browse the threads in the raw feeding section. Several good threads are stickied there.

My understanding is that yogurt and rice are good supplements for digestion and such, but not a mainstay of a diet. Veggies are unnecessary filler. Your dog needs meat protein and raw bones (except beef leg bones which are too hard).

Don't try to apply here what you are learning in human nutrition courses; we are omnivores, dogs are carnivores.


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## Castlemaid (Jun 29, 2006)

Therese Marie said:


> T I was always under the impression to never give dogs chicken bones since they splinter.. I was also reading about giving bones in general and was surprised that so many were against it, stating is is harmful to the dog..
> So to to highjack the OP, but are bones safe to give?? even chicken bones??


RAW bones, from small animals like chickens, turkeys (small turkeys), rabbits are safe. They are quite soft and get crushed, and a dog's stomach acids will dissolve them. Cooked bones dry out and splinter and should never be fed. 

Bones are much much more than just a source of calcium, but a wonderful source of many different minerals, all in the right quantities and ratios required for the dog to make optimum nutritive use, and an important part of a balanced raw diet.


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## Gretchen (Jan 20, 2011)

You said you were getting your master's in nutrition - you sound well educated so why not seek the advice of another well educated person, that specializes in canine nutrition? Sounds like you should search for a veterinarian that will respect your holistic approach. If you are feeding you dog fruit for vitamin C, dogs make their own, unlike humans.

Here's what my 85lb female typically eats.

Breakfast;
1 cup dehydrated of The Honest Kitchen topped with 1/2 -3/4 cup of a boiled meat (chicken, beef, lamb).

Dinner;
1 cup of dry food, Innova Large breed, topped with about1/2 - 3/4 cup of a boiled meat.

She also gets snacks, they vary a lot, I'm listing some, but she does not get these all in one day of course.

1 oz of cheese
1/2 cup cottage cheese
for training or on walks I might keep small dog cookies, kibble, or Solid Gold treats with me
doggie ice cream
a graham cracker
an oatmeal cookie
Happy Hip brand duck/chicken or beef treats
If I have some canned tuna I share some with my dog
sometimes I give a cooked egg instead of a boiled meat
once a week a raw beef or lamb bone

There are prepared raw foods like Nature's Variety until you can get a handle on what to feed, also the Honest Kitchen is dehydrated raw.


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## capella008 (Aug 8, 2012)

Actually, Madjukes, the fruit part of the avocado is not poisonous to dogs. The pit of the avocado is, but the fruit of avocados are sometimes used in commercial dog food - like Avoderm. Avoderm is a highly rated commercial dog food and has been around for years would not still be in business if avocados were poisonous to dogs.


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## 23kaiya (Feb 12, 2013)

Is it safe to feed my german shepherd/ husky mix canned salmon? He's been with my family 7 months and dropping weight, too much weight. He's about 5, how much dry dog food should he be eating a day?


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## Mog (Aug 10, 2012)

Please read Welcome to the Raw Dog Ranch It's a website created by one of our moderators. It will give you most, if not all of the information you need on feeding your dog raw.


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