Favorite Weight Gaining Product? - Page 1

I'm looking for a product/recipe/food which works well for gaining weight. Since our pup fell ill last month we have been struggling to gain back the weight he has lost. He is very active, but even when restricting physical activities he still has not gained the weight. He's 4 months old and ~26 pounds, weighing only 6-7 pounds more than he did at 9 weeks old. Hip caps and ribs are very visible, but his coat is spectacular. He's currently on Orijen until he gains the weight, at which point he will be switched to raw.

Go to the raw now.  I raise all my pups on raw from the time they can crawl to the pan.

Big fat healthy pups. They are fed raw for life if they live with me.

I agree, put him on raw now; no need to wait.
Just looked at the Orijen dog food as I have heard so much about it; not impressed.

Raw is the perfect diet for him, and you will see his weight improve, unless there is an underlying medical cause.

I raised my female on raw since 8 weeks old and do raw for all 4 of my other dogs. Unfortunately, we do not know why he fell ill and he was on raw at the time. We would like to do an elimination diet, but I will not start raw while he is underweight.

OP, if your pup was already accustomed to RAW, why did you switch to something inferior just when he's recovering from an illness?

And, why would you want to restrict physical activities the pup is willing to go through, and thus is enjoying? Less physical activities doesn't make a dog healthier, it makes him fatter.

As with fast weight gain formula, the pup lost weight drastically because of an illness, and if he now gains weight drastically, it will lead to another illness.

Give him a good diet, let him eat as much as he wants, let him be as active as he wants, he's just a growth spurt away from catching up on weight.

What foods are you trying to eliminate from a raw diet?

Raw meat/fish and bones.
Offal/organs
Whole eggs.

Hope he gains the weight back.

While eating raw the pup got ill. When taken off raw, the pup got better. It is not inferior if the dog cannot handle one (or multiple) things in his original diet. A puppy will not be all muscle at 4 months of age. A puppy needs some reserves, which includes fat. This does not mean the puppy needs to BE fat, but he needs to have SOME fat. We will restrict physical activities and replace it with mental stimulation (like scent work) until he is able to gain some fat. I did not ask for something that will cause weight gain over the course of a week. I'd be using satin balls if this were the case. However, he does need to gain weight and that is what it comes down to.

We will be looking into beef, chicken, and/or turkey as the main cause for his upsets. If it's poultry, we will have to hold off on raw until we start breeding meat rabbits as his source of bone. Thank you, we'll add some egg every couple of days and consider fish as a raw treat during training.

If that photo was taken AFTER the pup's illness, i.e. as he's recovered, then I really don't think you have much to worry about. Yeah you can see his ribs a little too easily and he could do with a little more coverage over hips and shoulders - but really he looks pretty well and fit overall, and I suspect it is just a matter of time, and patience on your part, that he'll get back some of his "puppy fat". You just (ideally) want enough weight on him to give him "something to grow on with" at this age; being made to carry any additional weight than strictly necessary is never fair to the dog or its health, so if he's now entered the "lanky teenager" stage a little early due to circumstances, I'd just go with that, if it was my pup.

Provided you are satisfied his gut is now working properly.

As to the feeding: I too feel the need to query your reluctance to return to 'raw'. The fact that he was on a raw diet when he fell ill could be entirely coincidental. Unless you have a definite diagnosis by the vet that there was something in the raw diet that actually caused the illness ?  The vet will have recommended a bland or prescription diet automatically (and please bear in mind that vets, who sell dog foods, are not always so objective anyhow !); does not mean your pup cannot go back to raw asap.  [And I am not even a particular fan of raw feeding, I've aways been happy with kibble !]  It seems to me that the raw you normally feed is the best way to start an "elimination programme"...

Orijen in the USA is a different formulation than in Canada, and more than a few USA residents have noticed poor results since they changed the food. If you are not wanting to switch to raw yet, then perhaps try a different calorie-dense kibble.