Pup needs more fat!!! - Page 1

Heya! So, I'm looking for some advice on switching up my Mal's food (Valkyrie-- she's almost 2 now!). I need something that fits a budget but will still put some meat on her sides... I've tried protein supplements, but those just made her stool runny and she didn't really seem to like them. She currently consumes about 6 cups of a cheaper brand of dog food (part of my motivation was that she actually loves to eat it, she's kind of picky, plus it fit my budget). The food is pretty high in protein and fat and has meat as a #1 ingredient, plus she gets biscuits and other treats besides, but she still cleans her bowl entirely and looks like she'd happily eat more! She's just so hyper and won't stop moving, so the food just vanishes! We've been to the Vet, so no, its not worms or anything like that. The Vet just suggested the protein supplement and said she'd eventually slow down, but I would like to put some more weight on her sooner rather than keep waiting. Her coat looks fine, I just hate that she's so skinny... She's gotten tall and long, but now its time to get a little thick too! She's never acted lethargic or tired in the least, and loves running and playing at the park just as much as she enjoys napping with us while we watch TV at night (she gets plenty of sleep, I know because she sleeps inside)...

I've seen a lot of posts about raw food diets-- what kind of raw foods do you usually use, and does that help with weight gain? Also, anyone want to recommend a budget-friendly dog food that might plump her up a bit?

Thanks in advance for the ideas!

Generally , you get what you pay for. Cheap dog food, IMO, is cheap because the ingredients are not quality or digestible. The protein content may not be from any thing a dog can utilize. Probably corn in it, not good. Also, I have found that poor quality dog food can cause a dog to be hyper. You would be better off buy more expensive dog food which a dog can digest, won't need to use supplements or "biscuits" and won't need to feed so much that your dog can be in danger of bloating.

so do you have a specific brand that you use? That's what I'm looking for here... I was wondering if anyone here has had the weight gain issue and found a food that their dog loves to eat and helped with weight gain. I've purchased expensive bags before from a quality pet store, but she didn't eat them with the same vigor and often left food in the bowl, making her weight drop even more, and that's with the supplements... And the biscuits are just because she loves them :)

Add raw beef fat or animal fat trimming if you need to add weight and energy to your dog.  I feed my dogs chicken quarters, whole chickens, turkey (on sale) and beef fat trimmings.  All are human grade meat from local groceries and I pay full price except when on sale.  The beef fat trimmings are very useful for adding energy to the diet as fresh animal fat and protein is far superior to vegetable proteins and fats found in commercial dog foods.  All dry kibble is pretty much crap in a bag compared to fresh meat as all dry kibble with the exception of dehydrated has been cooked at high temperature and/or high pressure which kills much of the value of the protein and fat found in dry kibble.  Dogs who eat fresh raw meat have very dense and much drier stools which do not look like the exact same food as they consumed.  Dogs eating dry kibble generally have much looser stools with greater volume and the stool often looks like the same consistency and texture as the food they ate.  This is how it works for me with my Czech and European bloodline GSD.  I generally pay 50 cents a pound for fresh beef fat trimmings usually coming from steaks and meat in the butcher section when the butchers trim it for sale .. some butchers give it away but most charge even though what they don't sell goes into the dumpster in back.

Malinois are not a "plump" breed. Even with correct body condition, they still look skinny.  If her ribs and hip bones aren't visible I wouldn't worry about it.

Down the years I have found that many young active examples of the herding
breeds have this in common, that quite a lot go through a burn-em-up, skinny
stage as 'teenagers' and new adults;  and whatever you feed them on, it fails
to make any difference to the way they look until they get a little more mature.
Whatever you choose to feed her, please don't mess about excessively with
different diets, as you could upset her intestines and still not get a 'fatter' dog.

As others are saying, if she is healthy & energetic & happy, without her ribs
and pin bones being too evident, I'd just wait it out and not fret about it.
 

Can you post a picture of her standing sideways and let us assess her condition.  My recommendation for weight gain would be to add raw hamburger to whatever kibble she is eating or if you want to make a change to her current kibble do it slowly and still add a 70/30 hamburger to the kibble.  That way you know she is getting more meat and usable fat in her diet.  I would drop supplements of any type.  Obviously they are not giving you the results you are looking for anyway.   Good luck

PS:  A rule of thumb for german shepherds is that I like to see those last two ribs.  I would bet the Mali's are the same or close to it...  That should be a good working condition for your dog and you want to easily run your hands down her sides and feel those ribs right at the surface.  That would also be a good working weight for a dog...  Nan

Not sure high protein kibble is the way to go, its seems to make dogs even more active then usual.
Try a quality medium protein kibble and add some high fat hamburger to it.
Perhaps kibble with protein around 30 - 35% range would help..

Kneville, I was in the same position you are in. I had a Czech female GSD that I was very concerned about her weight. I wanted a more "buff" dog, not one so lean that her ribs were showing. Fact was, she was 100% healthy and a non-stop worker, fast and agile. I even had her tested for EPI, parasites, pancreatic issues- all negative!  I switched from kibble to raw (prey model), to a combination of both, put her trhough a lot of diarrhea!  Poor girl!  Still no weight gain. Finally asked myself why I wanted her to gain weight?  She was a great dog, lean, agile, fast, and tireless. I decided that as long as she was healthy, active, her coat looks great, then she looked great to me. 
However, to answer you question, my new male GSD puppy got very "porky" on Victor kibble. Had to cut back on his food when he developed Pano.
 

Satin Balls work wonders on dogs that need a bit of plumping up. Here are a few recipes.


Satin Balls appear to have developed in the show community, as an uncooked, homemade dog food to improve coats and put weight on a skinny dog, quickly. Many recipe variations have proliferated on the internet, but a few are mentioned frequently. The dog rescue community also uses Satin Balls to put weight on underweight dogs. The following recipe combines the best elements of two of the most common recipes circulating on the internet.

Satin Balls:
10 pounds raw ground beef, 70%-85% lean
18 ounces Total Multi-grain cereal (or other vitamin-fortified, unsweetened cereal
2 pounds oatmeal, uncooked regular or quick oats (not instant oats)
20 ounces wheat germ
1 ¼ cup canola oil
1 ¼ cup unsulfured molasses
10 hard-boiled eggs and shells, crushed and minced
10 envelopes unflavored gelatin
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon minced garlic

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Divide into freezer bags in daily ration portions (some divide into 10 equal portions, others 14, and I divide it into one-pound packs). Flatten out the filled bags to expel air and completely fill the bags, and to reduce freezing/thawing times. Seal and place the bags in the freezer in a single layer. Once frozen, the bags can be stacked. For travel, the frozen bags can be placed in a cooler and used to chill other items until needed. Break thawed meat mixture into chunks or roll into meatballs. Feed raw as a meal or supplement.

Yield: approx. 17 pounds @ 1275 calories/pound.


About the Ingredients

Beef: If the goal is to improve the coat, then use leaner ground beef. If the goal is to put weight on, quickly, then use ground beef with higher fat content.

Cereal: The original recipe calls for Total cereal, but another fortified, unsweetened cereal could be used. Some competing recipes discourage the use of Total cereal “due to its high sugar content”, but since it is unsweetened, the sugar content is low. Total was chosen for the original recipe because of its vitamin content.

Molasses: Some recipes criticize the use of sugar (molasses) in the recipe, however the molasses contributes minerals and calories. If the Satin Balls were being fed on a regular basis, long-term, then one might want to omit the molasses.

Eggs: The original recipe for Satin Balls calls for 10 raw eggs. Apart from concerns about salmonella, raw egg white contains avitin which blocks the use of the B vitamin, biotin. While there is a lot of biotin in the egg yolk, to offset the avitin in the egg white, dogs do not digest raw eggs as well as they do cooked. Cooking neutralizes the avitin, allowing full use of the biotin. Cooked eggs are more nutritious and easier to digest, with more usable calories per egg, so our recipe calls for hard-boiled eggs. The shells are included for their calcium.

Gelatin: Some recipes call for unflavored joint health supplement gelatin.


Other Recipes 
Some of the competing recipes, variously called Satin Balls or Fat Balls, call for subsets of the main Satin Ball recipe, and often add cream cheese or peanut butter. The high dairy content of some of these recipes may cause digestive upset in some dogs. Here are some of the other, popular recipes for Satin/Fat Balls.

Fat Balls #1:
10 pounds ground beef
10 ounces uncooked oatmeal
6 raw egg yolks
10 ounces wheat germ
10 ounces molasses

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Roll into one-inch balls and freeze.


Fat Balls #2:
1 pound ground beef (high fat content)
1 package cream cheese
1 jar all-natural peanut butter
12 raw egg yolks
1 cup rolled oats soaked in milk
1 jar wheat germ

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Freeze into meal-sized bags and thaw as needed.


Fat Balls #3:
1 half-pint container heavy cream
12 raw egg yolks
2 blocks cream cheese (at room temp)
5 pounds ground beef
1 small box Total cereal (crushed into crumbs)
1 cup wheat germ

Mix dry ingredients, add heavy cream, add cream cheese, mix together. Add ground beef, and mix together. Roll into balls and freeze.


Fat Balls #4:
2 cups dry dog food, crushed fine
2 packs cream cheese
1 ½ cups peanut butter
½ cup corn oil
1 cup cottage cheese
1 pound ground beef, browned (reserve some of the fat)
additional crushed dry dog food, as needed

“Combine all ingredients and mix well. Work to a doughy mixture, adding more crushed dry dog food meal as needed, if consistency is too thin. On wax paper spread some crushed dry dog food meal and roll out mixture into log shape. Refrigerate until firm and slice as needed. Feed them a slice or two several times during the day.”