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View Full Version : How can I help our senior Lab


myvlasaty
Feb 18, 2013, 05:16 PM
We took our dog to the Vet today. She has been loaing weight no matter how much we feed her. She had her blood work done and got a full check up. She is a happy dog almost 13 yrs old now. We would like to have her gain a bit more weight she is only at 58 lbs. She lost 10 lbs in the last few months. The vet told us to feed her something with more calories. I just wanted to know what would be a good product to use to help her gain a bit more weight an muscle.

Lucky098
Feb 19, 2013, 07:05 PM
You can try feeding her puppy food again. Puppy food is very high in calories. Introduce is slowly.. almost slower than if you were to introduce a new type of food.

Senior foods are low in fat and sometimes don't work well for older dogs that still need a high fat/calorie diet.

Alty
Feb 19, 2013, 07:25 PM
Oops! You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to Lucky098 again.

I agree with Lucky. Puppy food is very high in calories. Puppies grow very quickly in their first year of life and need the extra fat, the extra calories. The great thing about puppy food is that it's also very nummy. Most dogs would rather have puppy food than dog food.

Get a good quality puppy food, you don't have to be too finicky about it, nothing that will cost you tons of money. I like Iams for quality, but my dogs hate it. I also like beneful, recommended by my vet, and my dogs love it. Try the beneful puppy formula, or Iams, or something from your vet clinic (much more costly).

Good luck, and keep us posted. :)

Lucky098
Feb 19, 2013, 08:00 PM
Eep! Not Beneful.. Have you ever read the reviews on it? Its pretty much the same thing across the board that Beneful is the worse thing you could do to a dog...

Alty
Feb 19, 2013, 08:04 PM
Eep! Not Beneful.. Have you ever read the reviews on it? Its pretty much the same thing across the board that Beneful is the worse thing you could do to a dog...

That's the only thing our Rascal would eat. We even tried the $60 a bag vet crap, he wouldn't eat it.

Our vet actually said it wasn't that bad. I have no complaints. :)

Wondergirl
Feb 19, 2013, 08:17 PM
Our vet actually said it wasn't that bad. I have no complaints. :)
I munch on it in the evenings with sips of hibiscus tea to wash it down.

Alty
Feb 19, 2013, 08:18 PM
I munch on it in the evenings with sips of hibiscus tea to wash it down.

Now I'm more worried about your diet than that of my dogs, or others. ;)

Wondergirl
Feb 19, 2013, 08:20 PM
Now I'm more worried about your diet than that of my dogs, or others. ;)
But my doctor said the hibiscus tea would be okay for me!!

Lucky098
Feb 19, 2013, 09:24 PM
When it comes to good food I really don't trust the opinion of my vet. She feeds her own dog Beneful and surprisingly (not really) just dealt with pancreatitis. Her dog had no food changes or treat changes and she isn't the type of person who gives her dog table scraps. I could almost bet that Beneful was the reason her dog got pancreatitis.

Beneful has nothing but fillers in it. The meat product are the pieces and parts of the animals that is considered throw away from the slaughter houses. These parts are also considered "unfit" for human consumption. Beneful consists of low-grade and "cheap" ingredients that are rated very high on the list of things that can cause skin irritation, bowel irritation and so on. The colored kibbles in Beneful is carcinogenic and are the food color dyes that are deemed unfit for human consumption as well.

Beneful is ranked about the same as Ol Roy..

As far as the expensive vet prescribed foods.. I think the only good reason to have your pet on a prescription diet is if they absolutely need something super special in order to survive. Even then, I would start researching home cooked meals that cater to the needs of my pet, such as low fat or a diet that helps the kidney's maintain health.

The reason your dog won't eat anything besides Beneful is because Beneful is a sweet tasting (I'm assuming) dog food. It smells sweet... I compare it to McDonalds.. sure it tastes good, but it's not good for you... Anything made with the Purina logo is pretty much poor quality. Purina makes great horse food, cow grain and pig chow... But dog food.. not so much.

A food that I have discovered that is a highly rated food on every website I have found that does dog food ratings, is Taste of the Wild. Its relatively cheap with good ingredients.

joypulv
Feb 20, 2013, 02:02 AM
I didn't know that about Purina.
I used to buy Science Diet. Now I do one stop shopping at the grocery store, so pretty much stay with Iams. My dog gets a lot of people scraps, meat and vegetables, on top of kibble. Even the gristle ends of chicken bones. NO CANNED FOOD. And I don't buy big bags of kibble in the summer time when the fats will go rancid. I don't really like any kibble because of what's in it, including preservatives.