# How to help my dog gain weight?



## devildog31 (Oct 21, 2011)

Hello Everyone,

My dog Capone is just over a year old and lost 9 lbs do to whip worm. I took him to the vet to be dewormed. I feed him 100 percent raw and would like to know What can I give him to help him gain his weight back?

Thank you,
Justin


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

Fat and more food


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## Scarlett_O' (May 19, 2011)

How long has he been on raw? Is he fully transitioned?
What do you normally feed him, and how much? (So that we can help you change it up to include proteins to help him gain!:wink

Could we see pictures of him, from the top and the side?


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## lab mom (May 6, 2012)

Hi and Welcome fellow Wisconsinite!
What kind of dog is Capone? I am also interested in what you are feeding!?


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## Dude and Bucks Mamma (May 14, 2011)

I have found that the best weight adder for my dogs is heart. We feed our high metabolism guy lots of beef heart. You also want to make sure he is getting enough fat in his diet. 

Just a disclaimer: If your dog is not fully transitioned, a diet of mostly heart and fat can cause cannon butt. Heart is a "richer" meat than the actual muscle meat.


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## DaneMama (Jun 27, 2008)

I'd honestly just give him a regular amount of food and let that catch up to him as he continues to recover. 

Giving him more food, or more rich food might actually set you back further due to more digestive upset.


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## Suzy (Aug 17, 2012)

I beleive Tripe is good for weight gain.


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## nupe (Apr 26, 2011)

Suzy said:


> I beleive Tripe is good for weight gain.




Co signs the Tripe!!


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## CorgiPaws (Mar 31, 2009)

I have a Boxer that took a lot of fine tuning on her diet to find what works for her insane metabolism. 

I would start by feeding a typical amount of your dogs typical diet to put the weight back on. In most cases where weight loss occurs with illness, feeding the usual amount to maintain their body weight is enough to healthfully and slowly climb back to ideal weight. 
If that doesn't work, I had success with the following:

Red meat, particularly heart. With Annie, when I was feeding primarily chicken and turkey she never did get to a healthy weight no matter how much I fed. I started adding beef hear in daily, in slowly increasing amounts, and gradually saw improvement. To date, she gets about a fist sized piece of beef or lamb heart every day. 

Increase amounts. Keep in mind that overfeeding can cause diarrhea which can be completely counter productive to your cause, so be aware of that. My Boxer takes a ridiculous amount of food per day, and I kept thinking I was over feeding, and needed to cut back Really, I just have a 53lb dog that requires 5-6lbs of food per day. It DOES happen. So, IF STOOLS ARE NORMAL, and feeding the pre-illness amounts isn't putting the weight on, SLOWLY increase the daily intake by adding one SMALL meal per day. In my experience, adding an additional small meal gave better results than increasing the amount of existing meals. I have NO science to back that up.

No dog is identical, so raw can take some tweaking and fine tuning to figure out exactly what works best. I have 7 dogs, all raw fed, none fed identical to each other, but one thing remains consistent across the board: they do better with a diet consisting of primarily red meat. In our house, it is worth the expense.


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## devildog31 (Oct 21, 2011)

Hello,

I have not had the best luck in uploading pics, I'm sorry I will keep trying  I feed Capone Northwest naturals every month it changes, It could be beef chicken and salmon turkey etc right now he is on lamb. I feed him 1 1/2 cups 3 times a day. I buy all kinds of chicken from the food store and give him sometimes 2 lbs of chicken breast at a time. I do randomly give him a pound or so of chicken hearts and gizzards. I feel like I am feeding him plenty but he sure doesn't seem like he is gaining any weight  ??

Thank you for replying hope to hear back from you,
Justin


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## Elisabeth (Jul 18, 2011)

CorgiPaws said:


> SLOWLY increase the daily intake by adding one SMALL meal per day. In my experience, adding an additional small meal gave better results than increasing the amount of existing meals. I have NO science to back that up.QUOTE]
> 
> makes lots of sense to me. that's exactly how i would do it :thumb:


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