# My dog is a little underweight



## Pluto26 (Mar 30, 2016)

Hello everyone, 

I have a 10-1/2 month old male german shepherd and he is a pretty picky eater. He loves human food but i know i cant be feeding him only that. He has been a little sick for the past week so he has been eating less than usual. Yesterday i made him some rice and chicken to help his stomach feel a little better (as recommended by vet) and no surprise, he loved it. However, when it comes to his dog food he is not a fan at all. I've even tried mixing his dry food with wet food or anything tasty but he ends up licking the good stuff and leaving the dry food. He will eat it only if its last resort and usually in the evening when he is sure he's not getting anything else. He only weighs 62 pounds and for his age I believe he should be weighing about 10-15 more than that. You can see he is not as full as he should be. Not unhealthy because he has tons of energy and is always happy. But i would like for him to gain a little more just to be on the safe side. Any advice on what to feed him? Something nutritional and tasty at the same time. He wont eat his dog food in the morning at all, wont even look at it. But if i give him a piece of chicken or bread he doesn't hesitate. We dont usually spoil him with human food so i dont know why he is like that. From time to time on weekends we feed him raw fish that we personally catch but thats about it. I would like to see him eating 2-3 times a day not just once a day.


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## Deb (Nov 20, 2010)

If he's just been to your vet (as you said your vet recommended the rice and chicken) did your vet say he was underweight? To be honest, he sounds like he's a little spoiled. *G* Who wants healthy food if you can have dessert instead? Any pictures of him you can share?


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## Pluto26 (Mar 30, 2016)

He might be a little spoiled. Who wouldn't choose human food over dog food. But I have friends who feed their dog both and they continue to eat their dog food like nothing.Ever since we started feeding him raw occasionally on the weekends, it almost seems as if he's starving himself throughout the week because he thinks he will eventually get raw food. and yes the vet said he was on the thinner side. About 4 months ago he was weighing 54 pounds. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures at the moment, I am at work.


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## Deb (Nov 20, 2010)

Personally, I think you need to pick one way to feed and stick to it. If you plan to feed raw, then it needs to be everyday, not just on weekends. There are a lot on the forum that feed raw that can help you.


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## Pluto26 (Mar 30, 2016)

I honestly did not know it was ok to feed only raw. I've had people tell me that dog food is super essential for their nutrition, especially as a puppy. But if I can feed them raw food every day that would be so much easier. Thank you!


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## Dainerra (Nov 14, 2003)

62 lbs at 10 months old isn't a bad weight. Numbers don't tell you much, however. One pup could be underweight at 60 lbs while another could be over. How is his body condition? You want to be able to easily feel his ribs and backbone with minimal flesh covering them. You don't want his ribs/spine sticking out like a washboard but they should be easy to find.


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Pluto26 said:


> I honestly did not know it was ok to feed only raw. I've had people tell me that dog food is super essential for their nutrition, especially as a puppy. But if I can feed them raw food every day that would be so much easier. Thank you!


You can feed raw BUT.....the diet MUST be balanced nutrition wise. You can't just throw him a few pieces of chicken each day.  Organs are another part of a raw diet.

You can purchase a commercially made BALANCED raw food diet until you have time to research how to put it together yourself.

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## Suzy25 (Mar 3, 2016)

what food is he on right now? 

you brought him to the vet so they probably checked the teeth to make sure they were healthy and not causing him any pain. 

Choose one thing and feed only that too him, i would cut out all human food, no "once and a while" raw, just a set amount of food twice a day, if he's hungry, he will eat. dogs won't let themselves starve when there is perfectly good food around. 

You could try changing his food, to a different brand or just new flavour of the same, if it isn't a good quality food switch to better quality, i find many dogs are more keen to eat higher quality food.


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## LeoRose (Jan 10, 2013)

You might have to resort to some "tough love" when it comes to eating. Put his food down and walk away. No coaxing or trying to tempt him to eat, no hovering to see if he's eating, just put it down in front of him and walk away. Give him 15 minutes to eat. If he hasn't eaten it, pick it up. Don't give him anything to eat until his next meal. Next mealtime, same thing. Put it down and walk away, and if he doesn't eat in those 15 minutes, pick it up. It is the rare healthy dog who will hold out more than a couple of days.


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## Pluto26 (Mar 30, 2016)

Suzy25 said:


> what food is he on right now?
> 
> you brought him to the vet so they probably checked the teeth to make sure they were healthy and not causing him any pain.
> 
> ...



He is on blue wilderness puppy right now, however he hasn't eaten it for the last 2 days, i've been feeding him chicken and rice. I've heard from a couple of people including my vet that blue wilderness has too much protein and may not digest well. I've always liked it because it seems like the closest thing to wild food, but i'm not expert -.- Royal Canin is always recommended to me but I have a feeling it's to expensive for what it really is. I agree that he does eventually eat it if he has no other options, but he doesn't eat as much as he should. Sorta like he's eating it just to satisfy the hunger but not really filling himself up. He wont eat dog food in the morning so every evening I was feeding him about 3 scoops of blue wilderness and he would eat only half of it which I think is too little for a dog his size..


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## Pluto26 (Mar 30, 2016)

LeoRose said:


> You might have to resort to some "tough love" when it comes to eating. Put his food down and walk away. No coaxing or trying to tempt him to eat, no hovering to see if he's eating, just put it down in front of him and walk away. Give him 15 minutes to eat. If he hasn't eaten it, pick it up. Don't give him anything to eat until his next meal. Next mealtime, same thing. Put it down and walk away, and if he doesn't eat in those 15 minutes, pick it up. It is the rare healthy dog who will hold out more than a couple of days.



Wow, thank you that was very good advice. That's something I tend to do a lot because I feel like a mother who wants her child to eat and be healthy -.- I thought coaxing him would get him to eat because he knows its ok. But now I see that might be spoiling him too much. I will start doing this! Thanks again!


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## Pluto26 (Mar 30, 2016)

Momto2GSDs said:


> You can feed raw BUT.....the diet MUST be balanced nutrition wise. You can't just throw him a few pieces of chicken each day.  Organs are another part of a raw diet.
> 
> You can purchase a commercially made BALANCED raw food diet until you have time to research how to put it together yourself.
> 
> ...



Thanks so much!! I was looking for places like this yesterday like a mad woman and never found it.


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## LeoRose (Jan 10, 2013)

Whatever commercial food you decide to feed, use the recommended amount as a starting place, and adjust up or down as needed. If you feed kibble, use a standard 8 ounce measuring cup. If they use weight instead of volume, go get a kitchen scale and weigh each portion. 

Also, of you decide to try something like prey model raw, get a scale and weigh everything. It's a lot harder to "eyeball" than you think when you're just starting out. 

And on the note of "use a standard 8 ounce measuring cup", I'll repeat this little story... I had one of my animals at the vet, and while waiting in our exam room, I heard my vet talking to the people in the next exam room. The exchange went something like this:

Vet- "Doggy is overweight. What kind of food are you feeding him?"
Client- "National grocery store Brand X."
Vet- "How much to you give him?"
Client- "just a couple of cups a day/"
Vet- "Hmmm.... Excuse me a moment. I'll be right back."
I watch as the vet walks past the room I'm in to the back of the hospital. A few seconds later, he comes back, carrying a measuring cup, and goes back into the room next door.
Vet- "This is one cup."
Client- "Oh, wow, that's a LOT smaller than the cup we've been using."
After a bit more discussion, it was figured out that the "cup" the client was using was a Tupperware type container, holding more like 20 to 24 ounces.... I saw Doggy as they were leaving. He was a cute little mix breed that probably should have weighed about 15 pounds. He looked like he weighed three times that.


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