kaymeeks007 asked:
Our dog is around 2 1/2 years old. He is a smaller German Shepherd. I realize that, but he is too small. We always have food out for him, but he just doesn’t eat enough. Is there anything (fairly cheap) that I can give him to put some meat on his bones?
Our dog is around 2 1/2 years old. He is a smaller German Shepherd. I realize that, but he is too small. We always have food out for him, but he just doesn’t eat enough. Is there anything (fairly cheap) that I can give him to put some meat on his bones?
Tags: Bones, German Shepherd Dog, Shepherd Dog
December 31st, 2009 at 2:49 am
Sit Stay Fetch, Good Dog!
I think you should have your vet give him a check-up first. There may be a medical reason why he is not gaining weight. Then you can talk to your vet and see what would be the best diet for him.
January 2nd, 2010 at 2:49 pm
Sit Stay Fetch, Good Dog!
Are you sure that your dog is too small? What does the vet say? Sometimes we have a perception of our animal that is actually not correct. Be sure that your dog is indeed out of its natural weight parameters first. Your vet will be able to advise safe and healthy choices for you and your pup.
January 5th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Sit Stay Fetch, Good Dog!
Free feeding can actually cause picky light eaters…switch to a twice a day feeding…also would have been nice to know WHAT you are feeding but if its a low quality food switch to a high quality, higher calorie performance type food.
January 8th, 2010 at 5:38 pm
Sit Stay Fetch, Good Dog!
Leaving food out all day for an adult dog is not a good idea. Dogs should be fed once or twice a day at the same time. But more important is that you should be feeding your dog a good quality dog food. No, they’re not cheap, but buying inexpensive dog foods which contain a lot of grains and little meat, is like throwing your money away because your dog won’t eat it and gets little nutrition from the little bit he does eat. So, buy a good quality food with good meat protein as its number one ingredient. Your dog will enjoy eating it and his physical condition will improve.
January 9th, 2010 at 2:06 am
Sit Stay Fetch, Good Dog!
feeding him treats, and hman snacks like chicken, beef, organic peanut butter, cheese, etc (just be sure you check to make sure you dont feed him anything that is toxic to dogs!!!). these thing are “special” and he will gobble them up! they will helo put some meat on his bones. but do not slack on making him eat the dog food (try wet food if he refuses dry food) because dog food contains all needed nutrients the dog needs to be healthy.
January 11th, 2010 at 5:44 pm
Dog Lovers Mega Pack
try using wet food instead of dry food.
January 13th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Sit Stay Fetch, Good Dog!
Nutri-Cal! It is a high-calorie syrup kind of thing.
January 16th, 2010 at 11:58 pm
Start a Doggie Daycare
its not really a good idea to free feed
this is what i do when ever it starts getting cold
i add one can of wet dog food with the dry food and i mix in 2 pieces
of crumbled up bread in with it with their last meal of the day
but you really need to make sure that your dog doesn’t have any stomach parasites or anything first
if he has worms ,then you are just beating a dead horse
but all together for a medium rated dog food and a 6 pack of wet dog food it will prob cost you about 18 $a week per dog
January 19th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
Dog Food Secrets!
Forget the idea of fattening him up. Being fat is as unhealthy for dogs as it is for humans. The GSD should be in the same condition as a champion marathon runner – if he has a correct coat you should see the muscles working over each rib when he is gaiting or panting, you should see no more than one edge of the very last rib when he is rested.
You give us no data as evidence of your claim that he is “too small”.
Because the GSD is a boundary patrolling dog that herds sheep, there are set limits to its size, so that it will be big enough to pull sheep out of crops but small enough to be agile and to need little fuel. Many dogs registered as GSDs are much too big – that applies particularly to the deviations referred to as AlsatiOns and NAmerican Ski-Slope Dogs, and you might be comparing a genuine GSD with one of them.
A first class male GSD must end up in the height range 60-to-65cm. A second class male GSD gets a 1cm tolerance, so can be in the 59-to-66cm height range – that’s 23¼-to-26 inches minimum and maximum. In either case the weight is to be in the range 30-to-40 kg, which is 66-to-88 lbs.
On-demand feeding aka free feeding has been researched and proven to dramatically increase the incidence of hip dysplasia. So don’t even consider it.
Next is diet.
I do not consider kibbles to be dog FOOD, although most dogs can exist on them. Nor do I consider it mere coincidence that the 30-35 year period in which kibbles rose from virtually unheard of to virtually universal happens to be the same years in which bloat escalated some 18,000%. – check it in the bloat research section of, which also links you to many ideas on how to feed, plus to plants that cause problems to dogs.
Dogs being carnivores, with a digestive system evolved to thrive on animal proteins – birds, eggs, fish, insects, mammals, reptiles – small bones and all (except those fish-needles), I am convinced that the basis of a dog’s diet should be raw meat on the bone. You can add almost anything to it, but ideal are cooked table scraps (except baked/roasted bones. My dogs get pan-fried and pressure-cooked bones and have never had a problem, but some poorly-bred dogs have degenerate digestive systems that can’t cope). My current 4 are aged 8, 12, 12 and 14 years, and lambs briskets are the main element in their diet. You’ll probably find that dogs fatten better on smelly mutton from old sheep than they do on beef or venison or horse or poultry.
Routine is important to dogs – mine tend to quietly moan if I don’t feed them within 5 minutes of the designated clock time (yeah, the start and finish of Daylight Saving Time mucks them up for a while). The little actions & sounds as you slowly prepare a meal and carry it to the designated eating place will act like the triggers used in Pavlovian conditioning to arouse appetites and start the digestive juices flowing. A small morning snack and a main meal late at night is the best feeding routine for pet dogs. Guard dogs should have the timing reversed – dogs sleep when their tummy is full.
If you dog is a couch potato, he probably needs no more than a lb of meat a day. If he does a lot of exercise he might need 3 lbs a day – more, if he works 16 hour days on a farm.
If your dog IS underweight for his actual size, with his ribs showing constantly, you need to have him tested for such as a pancreas deficiency or a heavy worm burden.
Les P, owner of GSD_Friendly:
“In GSDs” as of 1967