# adding calories?



## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Has your vet said she is too thin? Lily is very thin. She is ribby and I would guess probably at 3% or less body fat. My vet has always said he thinks it is better to be too lean than the other direction and has never suggested adding calories to put any weight on her.

If I did so I am pretty sure she would just eat less regular food. She is a free feeder and I do sometimes give her things like turkey burgers mixed into her kibble if I think she isn't eating enough when we are at a show. I also give string cheese and/or my "turkey brownies" as training rewards. Despite all the extras, she has weighed 36.2 pounds for the last five years and she is 7 years old.

Coal may be metabolically like Lily. She eats plenty of food and then just burns it off. If only I could bottle her magic metabolism I would be a weight loss billionaire.


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## aasteapots (Oct 6, 2013)

yes the vet said too thin. She said ribs=good but spine=bad. She said she has little to zero "padding" on her spine and she needs a calorie increase. Of course we tried the regular course of increasing her food but she is not happy with the volume and leaves most of it in the bowl. The vet also said since this little lady has jet fuel in her blood stream that she is burning off everything she is eating right now with her nonstop motion and growing like a weed.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

Ok then I think I would try dark meat chicken with the skin on and eggs with the yolks (maybe scrambled). I would not put it in her regular food, but instead use the chicken for training and put the egg on one of your regular dishes. You don't want to turn her into a pilly eater who later in life thinks her food bowl should be a stream of chicken and eggs. I suspect as she gets a little older and her rate of growth slows hopefully she will balance this issue out better.

Lily is also a very busy dog burning up her food like rocket fuel.


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## N2Mischief (Dec 3, 2012)

search "satin balls", I believe they are supposed to add weight.

I know you probably know, but be careful when buying peanut butter that is sugar free, that they aren't adding artificial sweeteners which are poisonous to dogs.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

N2M satin balls are a good idea. I've never made or used them so I forgot about them.

Lily happens not to like PB and the boys aren't big on it either, but certainly I would stick to all natural or organic PB (like what I use for us humans) if my dogs did like it.


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## Shamrockmommy (Aug 16, 2013)

Canned food. Pate style usually has 400+ calories per can vs the chunk style at 100 or so less. 

I use Fromm Gold, Lamaderm, wegmans organic canned, etc. take a look out there and check for the calories. 

Jack eats 75% canned food for the last 6 weeks and I'll keep him on it because of his vomiting and colitis issues with kibble. For the first time in his life, he's no longer skeletal. 

Hope this helps.


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## aasteapots (Oct 6, 2013)

Yes I used satin balls on Silvie and she loved them so much she snubbed her nose at her kibble which I can not have. With service animals you need a food that travels well and satin balls are not it! LOL So I am trying to avoid it unless I absolutely have to use it.


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## aasteapots (Oct 6, 2013)

yes I knew she meant natural Peanut butter not the "sugar free" stuff but thank you for the reminder!


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## MollyMuiMa (Oct 13, 2012)

I found this about putting weight on dogs:

Higher protein and fat pet foods are best......Underweight pets should be eating foods that are around 30% protein and 20% fat if they are eating kibble..............
For canned food it is 7% protein and 5% fat.

If you go to Dogfood Advisor you can check out the protein and fat contents of any kibble/wet food!


P.S. I just got some Canine Caviar (on trial sale price) and the calorie content of the 'Free Spirit' (chicken based formula) is 599kcal per cup and the 'Open Meadow'(lamb formula) is 541!!!EEK! Looks like Molly will be getting less cuz we have the opposite problem of yours!!!LOL! All the Canine Caviar formulas are high in calories (I looked!)


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## Tiny Poodles (Jun 20, 2013)

Ziwipeak air dried food is extremely high calorie and most dogs love it because it has the consistency of a jerky treat. You can feed it as a treat to keep it special, but feel comforted to know that it is a well rounded, high quality food instead of adding more of a single ingredient like peanut butter.


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## peccan (Aug 26, 2014)

Sulo is also a skinny pup, and since it persisted past his first year, I switched his kibble altogether to a higher-fat formula (and Purenatural to Canagan, since Canagan Active Dog formula was the highest energy I could find) and it has worked nicely to keep a bit of meat on his spine without the hassle of managing supplemental foods.


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