I rescued a saluki 4 years ago,

When I had him he was nearly dead, but I didn't give up on him and gt him back to the dog he should be, however he suffers from depression and is treated for this but he loses weight...

At his top weight that I can get him to he is still underweight, his ribs stick out and the joints on top of his back legs stick out..

The vet has said he is underweight and has run a lot of test to find out why and drew a blank...

So I am wondering what is the best way or best food to help him put on weight,

I darnt take him for walks in public places because people stop and stare and comment and his ribs

Will show a pic of before and after

The 1st pic is 3 mnth after I had him, the pics frm when I had him first are to disturbing to post



This is one of the pics

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c3...k/DSCF0025.jpg

These are the afters



http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c3...uck/pip005.jpg

Firstly can I say that he is a gorgeous dog and you are so kind to have taken him in.

Have you not asked your vet to suggest foods, though with pets they are most likely to be too fat then too thin due to their owners, and this is where you get your answer - why are too many dogs fat, well because their owners over indulge them, from the sounds of it your dog isn't a big eater which is a good and bad thing so you need to give him something that is healthy to give to him that will also help him gain a few pounds.

Now to help him eat more you need to make the dinner really tasty, now you can get sauces and gravy specialy designed for dogs - make sure you don't use human ones - these are often too salty, then secondly give him caned mix - not dried. If I were a dog I wouldn't want to touch the dry - its doesn't look apertising.

Now as for fatty foods suitable chicken seems a good starting place. It will be a little pricy, but to get him up to a nice weight it should be worth it. I suggest to try it for 2 weeks and then take him to be weighed again. And see if there are any results.

Can I stress though that its important to remove all bones from the chicken as they can splinter if eaten!

Oh I forgot, also encouragement. If he doesn't eat all of his dinner then you need to encourage him to eat bigger quantities. The best way may be to put a little food down and once he has finished it praise him lots and lots so that he knows he is a good boy for eating his dinner and keep doing this building up the portions so that he is still capable of eating all of it and once again when he has finished it all praise him lots, hopefully this will help

Hope this helps

What a pretty dog!! I would try to feed it a high quality puppy chow because it contains a lot more protein than regular dog food which will help with weight gain. Canned puppy food is also a good choice because it is often more appealing to dogs. Just remember to always buy products that have a first ingrediant that is meat, not grain. This is a lot more healthy for any dog. You could also try feeding it real meat; if you do this, beef is the best choice because it has a higher fat content. Good luck and let us know how everything goes.

Hi thanks for the info, the vet didn't give me much info with regards to food fr gaining, he said if he had have been overweight he would have been easy to fix lol

Pip has a mix of canned and dry but the dry is always soaked in the dog gravy or chicken sauces, we also mix in pasta , any meats we have available including chicken, beef, and all the left over scraps of food , he is on a working dog mix of dry biscuits as it contains a lot of protein, he doesn't eat a great deal so we had to feed him little and often,even then he doesn't eat all of it , I take it away after so long then put it back down later.. if we put a full bowl down he will leave most of it and it is tipped away in the bin.. as he will point blank refuse to eat

I haven't fed him and nothing but chicken before s will try that mixed in with pasta and a couple of bits of veg and if my brother can get any (I know this sounds desgusting ) rabbit meat from the butchers..

I never feed my dog anything with small brittle bones in always make sure they are completely removed :)

He has made a lot of improvement since I had him as he was nearly dead but I know his weight is a problem :( when he gets depressed he loses even more and looks like a skeleton.. he was starved when we got him and severely beaten, tied up with barbed wire around the neck and cuts all over due to barb wire etc he was covered in fleas and allergy rash and had no hair at all :(
Just hoping I can sort his weight out !
Thanks for the help and I'm willing to give anything a try at any cost :) just hping I can get something to work as I have tried a million different types of dog food and non seem to help :(

The dark stripe down his spine is where he has a scar under it and s his hair grows the wrong way, they get him mistaken with a cross ridgeback sometimes :o then I have to explain lol

Excuse the spelling errors as my 0 key is only working when it wants to..

Again thanks

Well like I said with the depression, like a human needs to be treated by both medication and by psychological means, so you need to support your dog and praise him when he eats. After all dogs need love!

I agree with the attending Vet with his Diagnosis he is under weight, Just think that's years or schooling giving you that info, lol

I don't know why Mrs sittingduck that drew so much humor but it did, Since you have to go out and purchase the food anyway, might benefit from asking the suppler of the food you are going to purchase from. They have to hear what every thing is an what it does each an every time some little goofy salesman makes his routine delivery of stock. We can spit of brands an ingredients till cows swim but it might not even be available for you to purchase anyway.
His obvious nutritional needs according to the suplyed picture, are very simple, High Caloric, and Protein based foods commonly found in most any puppy food.

That's extream loss of muscle mass, wow good luck!

Looks like puppyfood for him then... will give him a try for a few months as well as chicken and beef etc thrown in for good taste hopefully helping him in the process,

I'm wondering and I know this sounds stupid, but when I cook my meats the fat that is left over , is this OK t mix in with his gravy ? Or will it poison him or something , or seriously desturb his digestive bits...
Well if you don't ask.. you don't know do you? Lol
The only stupid questions are the ones never asked !

Thanks for all your help will get some puppy food first thing in the morning :)

Katie

Humm I personally don't think its great to. Even though you do want to get him eating more fat you still have to remember that too much is still unhealthy for any animal.

I agree completely with this and this is what I have been doing with him,

Also with his depression it can be triggered by certain things which we have learnt to avoid as much as possible

However he still has unpredictable bouts of it and sometimes there is no hiding from trigger objects as loud bangs and chains rattling unsettle him and make him depressed

Katie

DONTTTTTTTTT do that,. cholesterol from that is so tasty it could actually cause fatal results!

Thanks :)
You have all given me some great advice, which is certainly more than the vet has been doing this last god knows how long,

All I seem to have done was frk out hundreds or even thousands in different tests to see if they can find out why he isn't adding weight,
I am definitely feeding him the right amunt by ding the little and often so they decided t d a million tests to come up with nothing :o

Will give the puppy food a go, again thank you all :)

Seriously all of that added goodies sounds great an thoughtful, it can very easily send his thyroid,pancreas, heart, into more work than its capable of producing at the moment.sick dogd survive basically on body mass, as you can see, he is not in the condition to spare any at the moment. His diet if involves people food at all should be boneless skinless white meat, white rice, cottage cheese, all bland. We don't need to love him to death literally.

Keep us updated on how things work out

Just plain ol puppy food it is then :)

The vet has been running tests for a period of round abut 3 years and can't test him for anything else,
They even kept him their for a month in order to make sure I was feeding him properly and not starving him, they fed him their way and he didn't gain anything just lost weight due to the depression he went in...

The tests haven't been a constant stream , they wanted to do a bit at a time to help stop the depression and to spread out the cost , in reality they would have been better doing them all in 1 or 2 goes as prolonging and running up and down sent him to depression each time, but then they did have t wait for the test results to rule out certain things before they could do the next test :(...

When he stands up he desnt look anywhere near like the pic of him lying down, but he is still underweight, I took that pic at the time as it showed what he was like from a different aspect, will take a pic of him tomorrow of him standing up..
For a 35kg dog he sure is a mess :(

Fingers crossed for the puppy food and I will keep you all updated :)

Katie

He will be fine as long as he continues to eat, its just going to be a long time an lotta work, but nuttin you can't handel!~

I agree with DocWill about the puppy chow. He is new here, but seems to be a great addition covering medical topics where my knowledge is weak. I have been trained to rely on dog chow. He is providing some of the whys not included in my instructions. The small breed is even more concentrated than the regular, and of course, a meat rather than grain based one. I don't know if you looked at the labels, if any one brand is more concentrated that the others or not. Have you tried free feeding? It can be a disaster for some dogs, but might be just what he needs. Have you tried both being present when he eats, and giving him privacy? If he eats unattended, leaving a large bowl of a dry puppy chow out might work. Dry won't spoil. In general adding this people food, and that people food, is not the route to a balanced diet. I think with his failure to eat enough, the complete and balanced diet dog chows provide is even more important. Whatever else you try, I don't see what leaving dry chow out all the time would hurt.

Can you say if it is not eating enough, or not processing what he eats very well? How does what he eats compare to the recommendations on the bags, not that they are that reliable? I once had a Lab I had to feed over 6 cups a day of Pro Plan, when similar ones did fine on 3-4. Being a typical Lab, I had no problem with him eating enough. Labs and Goldens are notorious gluttons. I don't think it was his metabolism or activity level, because he was producing larger, softer stools rather than the typical smaller, firmer ones common with the concentrated meat based chows. I accused them of cheapening the formula, but my friends reported normal result son the dogs they were feeding Pro Plan.

They are those that say a dog will never harm itself by not eating. In most cases, I try to use words like seldom.

One more thing. Here are some exercises designed to help establish your position as leader and help bond. It is possible with the right relationship with you, he could develop more interest in eating.

''Elevation for small puppies: Sit on the floor and gently put your hands around your pup's middle, below his front legs, and lift him up. He is facing you. Hold him for 15 seconds. Repeat until he no longer struggles. If he is past 10-12 weeks, lift his front feet off the ground, but don't pick him up.

Cradling for small puppies: Hold your puppy gently on his back, as you would cradle a small baby. If he struggles, hold him firmly until he quiets for 10-15 seconds. With larger pups, you can do this as your sit on the floor, with your pup between your legs.

Quiet lying down: Place your pup on the floor on his side, with all 4 legs pointing away from you. Use your hands on his neck/shoulder area and middle, to hold him in this position. When he is quiet, praise him. Lengthen the time that you keep him quietly in this position. When he accepts this position well, handle his paws and muzzle, while keeping him quiet.''

The quotes mean this isn't my original work. It is copied from my Puppy Raising Manual. I have long used these or minor variations of them, and they are very effective. You may want to give him a belly rub while he is on his back too. Helps bonding. There is a big difference between him rolling over and demanding a belly rub, and you choosing a time to roll him over and rub his belly. The latter cements your place as pack leader.

I have been to see a saluki breeder with my dog also to ask for help , she took one look at him and laughed.. the salukis are suppost to have the last 3 ribs showing when they are lying down and 2 showing when they stand up, she said if anything he is overweight as the pins on his hips do not stick up but are covered in fat :o

The average saluki weighs about 15 to 25 kilograms and pip weighs 35 the heaviest saluki that is known is around 30 kilogrammes :o

So after all this time it appears I have been worrying about nothing, took him to a different vets and they agreed with the saluki breeder,

I'm still feeding him on the puppy food though... the vet has written out a letter on computer that if I have any trouble with the rspca they will deal with them and give them the letter personally to say he is a sight hound and he is in fact over weight...

I have found a saluki forum who have also reassured me he is fine :)

I think it is just because I am used to seeing rottwhilers and other big dogs that he looks so thin as I'm used to seeing them of different builds...

:o

Katie

Ps thanks for all your help :)

Great news

Maybe I need to refer some of those concerned about their thin Shepherd to this thread.

labman what has a thin shepard got to do with this thread? Are you bieng sarcastic about something? As that is how your post has come across!