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ncrpara · Aug 24, 2007, 05:34 PM

Hi friends,

I have a 7 month old great pyrnees/australian shepherd mixes. He isn't very big for that mix.. both mommy and daddy dogs were mixed breeds. He weighs about 42 pounds now. He is very lean though. His siblings are lean too, but I am concerned for my Lester.

I just would like to bulk him up a little bit. Does anybody have any ideas on what to feed him and how much? Currently, I feed him Breeders Choice Pinnacle Chicken and Oats kibble, and wet food of the same. He gets about 1.5 cups of kibble a day and 3/4 - 1 can of wet food. I fear feeding him too much, too often will cause bloat, so I feed him 2 meals a day. One in morning and one in evening. I work during the day so I am unable to feed him lunch.

Is there any "human" foods I can add? I do give him boiled chicken, boiled yam and cottage cheese in his food also. He also gets a squirt or two of wild salmon oil in his dinner meal. Please feel free to email me privately at [email protected]

Any ideas would be greatly appreciated by me and my husband.

Thank you so much,
Nan and pups :)

labman · Aug 25, 2007, 09:30 AM

Lean is healthy. The first step is to evaluate him using LongLiveYourDog.com - Life Span Study - Rate Your Dog Most healthy dogs will eat enough of a dry kibble to at least maintain themselves at the lower end. If yours has more than a little rib showing, you should see a vet. Otherwise, leave well enough alone. Over feeding dogs is one of the most common forms of abuse.

It could be with all the different things you are feeding, he is eating too much else, and too little of the complete and balanced dog chow. Although many dogs do fine on other diets, you are taking a chance if much of its diet is anything except a dog chow. If he is under weight, the problem could be something lacking in his diet.

I would see a vet to check for worms, and then start phasing out everything except the dry kibble. Anybody that suggest dogs won't thrive on a regular kibble likely is selling something else. To believe kibble isn't good, you have to ignore thousands of healthy dogs.