What Foods Help Dogs Gain Weight

Bully Max High Performance Dog Food Premium Choice

If you are looking for a premium option to help your pooch gain weight, the Bully Max High Performance Dog Food is the way to go. This is a dry meal that comes in either a 15 or 40-pound bag. Made in the USA, this is another 30/20 formula that provides your pet with healthy protein and good fat levels. Made for both puppies and adults, this food is meat-based with real chicken, beef, or fish as the first ingredient.

You will find 535 calories per cup of food. That, combined with the protein and fat levels, will have your pup gaining weight right away. Not only that, but this formula contains other healthy nutrients like omega-3 and 6, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, probiotics, and DHA to promote their overall health. Whats more, there is no corn, wheat, or soy in the recipe.

The Bully Max is more expensive than your average dog food. On the other hand, the recipe is designed for muscle growth, weight gain, and endurance. The brand has never been recalled, and the all-natural ingredients are human-grade. The only other drawback is this option is harder to digest.

The Merrick 37019 Backcountry Grain Free Dry Dog Food is a USA cooked meal that is made with chunks of real freeze-dried raw meat. Its available in a 4, 12, or 22-pound bag with real deboned beef as the first ingredient.

• Lower fat and fiber content
• Contains pea and potato protein

Purina Pro Plan Sport Dry Dog Food Best Overall

Our first pick is the Purina 17048 Pro Plan SPORT Formula Dry Dog Food. This is a chicken-flavored formula that is available in a 4 or 24-pound bag. Made without grains, this high protein food is part of the 30/20 formula, meaning it has 30% protein and 20% fat. This will help keep your pet fit while also stimulating their appetite. The brand also uses real chicken as the first ingredient along with eggs to boost lean and healthy protein levels.

Purina is made without any corn, wheat, or soy. It contains no artificial ingredients or poultry by-products, as well. You will find EPA, omega-3, and antioxidants to promote a healthy lifestyle. Whats more, the food contains glucosamine that can help relieve joint pain, which will let your dog be more active. Additionally, the formula is designed to promote strength and endurance.

Made in the USA, this dog food can be given to all breeds, ages, and sizes. Its easy to digest and will help your slim slobberer gain weight. Overall, this is our favorite option for dog food for weight gain.

For those pet owners on a budget, the Crave 10164796 Grain-Free Adult Dry Dog Food is a great option. This is a salmon and ocean fish recipe that is grain-free and comes in either a 4, 12, or 22-pound bag. With real salmon as the first ingredient, this food provides your pet with 34% healthy protein. Not only that, but the quality of carbohydrates in the ingredients will give their weight an extra boost.

Tips For Helping A Dog Gain Weight

Its strongly recommended to speak with your veterinarian regarding your dogs health or to ensure that your dog needs to gain weight. Most vets will help you develop a feeding program specific to your dog and ensure they gain weight in a healthy manner.

To ensure success with your dogs weight gain, here are some tips:

• Transition your dog to a new food gradually. Particularly when switching to high-fat foods, changing foods too fast can put your dog at risk for pancreatitis or other digestive issues.
• Wet foods are more palatable, but dry foods are usually more calorically dense. Weigh the pros and cons of each one carefully when choosing a food, or balance out the benefits of both by mixing wet food in with a calorically dense kibble.
• Feed multiple small meals throughout the day rather than one or two large meals. Dogs will typically eat more when you do this, ensuring they are taking in the calories they need. Since youre not concerned about your dog being overweight in this case, you can also leave dog food out for your dog to graze on throughout the day, although this makes it harder to determine how much food your dog is getting.

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Choosing The Correct Calorie Count For Dogs To Gain Weight And Muscle

With puppies, care must be taken to not encourage a growth rate that is accelerated as this can lead to permanent structural problems in the future. For puppies that are not maintaining a normal weight, it is best to work directly with a veterinarian to resolve this issue.

Precautions should be observed with underweight adult dogs as well. Dogs generally do not become underweight in an abbreviated amount of time. To ensure the health and well-being of the dog, a conservative approach to weight gain and muscle development is important.

To begin the process of gaining weight at a healthy rate, the portion size of the dogs daily meals can be marginally increased. This will allow the dog to eat more calories without noticing much difference to its regular daily intake.

Frequency of meals can also be adjusted by taking the total number of calories including the slight increase and dividing those calories into three or four meals fed throughout the day. A change of diet to something with higher calories and protein can also assist with a healthy rate of weight gain, particularly if the food is very calorie and nutrient-dense. However, these foods are also more filling, so it is possible the dog will need less of the food to feel satisfied, and thus, will not eat much.

High-protein diets are very beneficial when it comes to muscle development. However, to achieve strong, healthy muscles, regular daily exercise is a must.

Ziwi Peak New Zealand Beef Recipe Canned Food

Top 5 Ingredients: 1. Beef, 2. Water, 3. Beef Lung, 4. Beef Kidney, 5. Beef Tripe

Canned food is an excellent option for picky eaters, and may I add, picky drinkers. Canned food smells and tastes closest to the real thing. It is why it can tempt the most selective of pooches.

This recipe is loaded with beef proteins. Added nutrition comes from delicious organ meat from beef lung, kidney, and tripe. Not to mention, it is a grain-free recipe, which is good for dogs who have food aversion due to digestive issues.

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Crave Real Chicken Protein Grain

Top 5 Ingredients: 1. Chicken, 2. Chicken Meal, 3. Chickpeas, 4. Split Peas, 5. Pork Meal

Crave with Proteins Chicken recipe brings plenty of animal-based proteins for your underweight pooch. You get proteins from real chicken, chicken meal, and pork meal. Not to mention, there are protein-rich vegetables such as peas and beet to add an extra boost of healthy proteins for your baby.

With nearly 34 percent protein and 17 percent fat, crave is quite close to the ancestral diet of your buddy. It smells great and tastes even better, which makes it a perfect choice for picky eaters. Also, it is a grain-free option, preferable for dogs with sensitive digestion. What I like the most about this particular dog food is that it works best for all breeds, big or small.

Nomnomnow Fresh Food Delivery

Overall Best Dog Food for Weight Gain: Simply increasing the amount you feed your dog is not necessarily the best approach to weight gain. You want to make sure your dog gains muscle instead of just fat, and his diet needs to still be nutritionally balanced while being higher in calories. Pet experts agree that fresh food is best for dogs and NomNomNow is our top choice for dogs who need to gain weight. This service delivers freshly prepared dog food right to your door in convenient monthly deliveries. Simply put in your dogs information and choose from the available recipes then work with a company representative to adjust your dogs caloric intake to help him gain weight. The shipments you receive will be perfectly portioned according to your dogs needs, so all you need to do is serve it.

• Pros: Fresh food delivered to your door, several recipe options, customizable calorie content per portion, fresh natural ingredients, cooked in small batches
• Cons: Expensive to feed as a staple diet

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Supplement Meals With Snacks

Consider adding some supplemental food made with meat sources like bison that are high in fat and protein. These foods, usually canned will be labeled for supplemental feeding only. They should not replace a balanced formula for your dog. You may also want to talk with your vet about adding vitamins or other supplements to help keep your pup healthy.

Feed Them Small Meals Often

Set up a feeding schedule so your dog eats three or four small meals each day rather than one or two large meals. This is a great weight-gaining tactic because small portions help your dog better digest their food and metabolize the nutrition throughout the day. To make this strategy work, try not to go more than six hours between meals.

As you transition from larger meals to smaller ones, prepare one large, normal meal and then divide it into smaller meals to serve. This will help you understand how much youre feeding until you get used to the new routine.

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How You Can Help Your Underweight Dog Gain Weight

There are some measures that you can do as a dog parent to help your underweight dog gain weight, especially if her weight loss is not caused by a serious illness.

Favorites

Most dogs cant resist their favorite diet and treats. But it can be a challenge finding out their preferences, especially if you have picky dogs.

You can dry buying small packages of different options just to see which ones they prefer. They may prefer a particular dog food, animal protein, or recipe.

The same goes for fresh foods and treats. You can also try to add some toppers, or fresh foods like eggs, tuna, or some olive oil to make the diet more appetizing.

Sweet Potato & Pumpkin

Pumpkin and sweet potato are known to help add a few pounds to your dogs weight. You can serve as treats or toppers to regular dog foods. You can have this home-cooked , or select canned or dehydrated products that are meant for pets.

Peanut Butter

Most dogs love peanut butter on their treats or fresh fruits or veggies like carrots. Peanut butter adds extra calories to the treats. But make sure to use all-natural peanut butter or one made for pets. Artificial additives in some peanut butter products are unhealthy for dogs.

Playtime and Exercise

Your dogs need lots of exercise even when theyre skinny. Its part of keeping strong muscles and joints. So make sure you provide them with at least half an hour of exercise daily.

Hand-Feeding

Ad Libitum Feeding Strategy

How Much Should I Feed My Dog To Promote Weight Loss

In order to answer this question, your veterinarian will need to calculate your dog’s ideal weight based on its breed and size. Based on your dog’s degree of excess weight, your veterinarian may recommend a target weight higher than the ideal weight to start. After the dog loses this weight, a re-evaluation will be made to determine whether further weight loss is needed. A safe weight loss for most dogs is 3-5% body weight loss per month.

The following chart provides general calorie requirements based on weight ranges:

Note: This is a general guideline only and is not meant as a substitute from your veterinarian’s specific recommendations.

For most dogs, feeding the RER calories should result in weight loss. In cases that fail to respond, the total number of calories will need to be reduced further.

For many dogs, the best way to feed will be by feeding a specific diet food in several meals per day. It is vital that you know how many calories are in the food that your dog is eating, and that you count the calories or measure the food when entering into a weight reduction program. Feeding too much will result in no weight loss and feeding too little can potentially result in serious health consequences associated with malnutrition.

“If you are using a weight loss diet obtained from your veterinarian, the calorie content of the food will be on the label.”

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Why Is My Dog Gaining Weight

If your dog is gaining weight, its important to figure out why. Whether its due to overfeeding or underlying health issues, having a visit with your vet to determine the cause of dog weight gain and developing a plan to combat it before it gets out of hand is crucial. Weight gain can significantly impact your dogs quality of life, so figuring out why your dog is gaining weight isnt something to take lightly. Weve rounded up several potential causes of dog weight gain so you can be prepared.

How Can I Increase My Dogs Appetite

First of all, you need to find out why your dog doesnt have a good appetite. Some dogs are picky by nature, but a sudden loss of appetite can be an indicator of an underlying disease. Indigestion, allergies, and stomach related issues are a common cause of appetite loss. Visit a vet to rule out medical reasons. Switch to a better-tasting premium dog food.

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Tips For Helping Your Dog Lose Weight

Losing weight isnt easy. Changing habits is the key. Here are some ways you canhelp keep your dog on track:

• Determine who feeds the dog what and when.
• Substitute affection for treats. Scratch them behind the ears, offer praise orthrow a ball when your dog noses your hand.
• Take your dog for a walk more often. Even 10 minutes a day can help.
• If your dog is more than 15% overweight, your veterinarian might recommend aspecial food. Diet foods should be low in fat .

A total weight-management program can lead to successful weight loss inoverweight or obese dogs. Remember: Your support is essential to your dogsweight-control success.

How Quickly Should I Introduce The New Reducing Diet To My Dog

When you are introducing a new diet to your dog, you should allow about a week to make the transition. To minimize digestive upsets, mix the new diet in with the old diet in gradually increasing proportions. Start by feeding ¼ of the new diet mixed with ¾ of the old diet for one to two days, then increase to half-and-half for another two days, then ¾ new food and ¼ old food for a final two to three days before completely switching to the new diet.

“To minimize digestive upsets, mix the old and new diets together in gradually increasing proportions.”

To enhance the palatability of the diet food, try warming the food, adding a flavoring such as a small amount of salmon juice, low-fat chicken or beef broth, or an omega-3 fatty acid supplement.

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Shell Eat When You Help Her

Some nervous dogs need extra encouragement at mealtime! When I eventually noticed that the only food Naomi ate was the food I handed to her, I decided to try hand-feeding her dinner.

After four days of not eating and a lot of desperate phone calls with the rescue and vet, we got Naomi to eat a meal.

I took a handful of kibble and offered it to her. I praised her just for showing interest. She took a tentative mouthful, and I praised her more. She spat most of it out, but I was onto something!

We kept trying this throughout the night. Eventually I coaxed her into eating a full cup of food simply by giving her lots of verbal praise for showing interest in food. I literally just told her she was a good dog when she ate. This may sound bogus, but it ended up being the game changer for Naomi!

Go ahead and give this a try with your picky pooch. You might find that just being supportive of your dog is more helpful than drizzling bacon grease all over the kibble!

It might sound crazy, but playing games with your pups food is another way to get her interested in eating! Treat-based training and puzzle toys can sometimes help pique a picky pups interest in food. This phenomenon is known as contrafreeloading, where animals actually prefer to work for their food. Give it a shot, it cant hurt!

Bulk Up Dog Bonus Tip: Try High

Some dogs wont eat meals, you may be able to entice them to eat with special, high-value treats. This is a good way to get calories in while youre working on figuring out how to get your dog to eat a full meal.

We gave Naomi lots of hot dog, cheese, and stuffed Kongs to get her some calories and put some fat on her. I highly recommend trying to get some food into an underweight dog while you address the long-term problem.

We did not end up spoiling Naomi into a picky eater who would only eat bratwurst and gruyere, since her problem was anxiety based and not due to pickiness.

There are also specific high-caloric dog foods designed to help skinny dogs gain weight experimenting with those specialty dog foods can help your pooch bulk up fast.

It only takes about five days without food for a dog to become cachexic . At this point, it will usually become necessary for your vet to insert a feeding tube to help her return to good health.

So, take food refusal seriously and seek veterinary attention if your dog goes more than a day or two without eating.

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