High Drive female cant keep weight on her... - Page 1

I have a 15 month old all old lines czech female. She bounces off of every corner of her kennel like a  crazy rabbit. And when she is out running the property during the day she runs like a mad deer all over 10 acres. This girl never gets tired and never stops for anything . I feed Enhance Hunters Edge feed and she is getting 12-13 cups daily and I cant not keep the weight on her she is running herself to skin and bones. Was wondering if anyone has delt with this and how you keep the weight on a drivey dog like this. Im thinking about adding bill jack to her feed and I also found out about this.      

                                                                                                Thanks....

    SATIN BALLS

10 pounds hamburger meat
1 lg. box of Total cereal
1 lg. box oatmeal
1 jar of wheat germ
1 1/4 cup veg oil
1 1/4 cup of unsulfured molasses
10 raw eggs AND shells
10 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together, much like you would a meatloaf.

Divide into 10 quart freezer bags and freeze.

Thaw as needed and feed raw!

Welcome to my world.

I have often had to ask about weight, because my Czech girl is hell to keep weight on, even though she is 3 years old and spayed!  Particularly when we're working up to a trial.

I do have to say, she's gotten better now that she's 3 and learned when to 'turn it on and off' but I was feeding her 8 to 10 cups of kibble and suplimenting with eggs and bones to try to just maintain her at 57lbs.

I wish I said I found a magic bullet but I haven't.  I just look for foods with maximum calorie count per cup.

VPGS,
12 to 13 cups of food per day is a huge amount.  Are you sure you are measuring that food correctly?  If she has a good energy level and is muscled I wouldn't worry about her weight.  GSD's don't fill out until much later, usually around 3 years old.  The satin ball recipe is good but not a complete raw diet.  If you are going to feed raw you need to incorporate raw bones into the meal.  

If nothing else I would change food, that is a huge amount to feed.  I would be concerned about bloat with that volume of food.

Jim 

This does not make sense. If you are really talking about even a dry measure cup, something is not right. I have never heard of this food, and my first question is have you tried a different food? Even a dog who is very active would not be eating this much and still loosing weight. When was the last time she was checked for parasites and wormed? A tape worm, for example would be something to rule out. How are her stools? What does her coat look like? What else is going on with her in terms of amount of water she drinks, how much she pees etc.?

As a comparison, I have several dogs I consider constantly in motion and they don't need anything like this as far as amounts. Young, and very active dogs can be on the thin side, but again, this is excessive. I suggest something is amiss. A thyroid condition would also be something to have checked out, as well as diabetes melletus or insipidus (two different diseases) and certainly some cancer problem would be a possibility (although not my first thought). My strong recommendation is to have this dog thoroughly checked out by a competent vet if a change to a different high quality food does not help. Do you have photos you can post of the dog?

Good luck.

Hodie,

I believe you have seen pictures of my Czech female, who is well muscled, well coated but quite slender.  I went through every single one of those tests with my vet and every single one came back negative and normal.

Now I never did have to feed that much kibble and my girl would never eat that much, she's never been a 'chow' hound and regulates her own intake but keeping weight on her is a challenge.  I have to check the calorie count of any food I give to her and make sure it is performance level or higher.

Edit:

Not that I can stack worth a damn but this is her.



And this is her at her Sch I trial

 RLHAR,

I agree your dog looks to be a fine weight. However, the amount the OP is supposedly feeding is an incredible amount, if it is a real measurement. Of course, the metabolism of dogs will vary, and I too have a GSD of German showlines who was thin, but by experimenting with food brand and an amount, and treating for a giardial infection which was there but not obvious, she now has stabilized her weight. I still would be concerned about this amount of food. Like Jim, if the dog looks ok then she may just be an anomoly, but my guess would still be that something is out of whack.....just my two cents, for what it is worth. If that is zero, so be it! LOL

Have you checked her out for EPI? 

Hodie,

I do agree with you about food brand.  I do have to be very careful and make sure I've got a top calorie to cup ratio to feed her, particularly when we're gearing up for a trail!

When I took her to my father's vet this past week, the vet was like "OMG I never see a 'thin' dog in here!"  I just wanted to beat my head into the wall.

To the original poster: I agree that 12-13 cups is a HUGE amount. I'd worry about pancreatic enzyme deficiency if she can't get keep weight on her with that amount of food. That said, I'd check out a different food--the food you say you are feeding is 18% fat/24% protein--she may need a higher amount of protein or a food with a different protein source. Or may just need a food that she metabolizes better.

Another thing to do, once you're positive she's on a food that suits her well and there's no parasites or digestive issues, is to crate her for 4-6 hours a day. Maybe this would just be during the night, or maybe for 2 hrs after each meal. The goal isn't to just stuff her in a crate and warehouse her, but to give her some enforced quiet time when she isn't burning as many calories. Let her exercise freely otherwise, but make sure she has quiet time following meals to digest and process some of that nutrition she just took in.

Christine
blackthornkennel.com

Thanks for the input all. She has been taken to the vet many many time and tested for parasite and is wormed regular and all test come back normal. He coat shines like glass. I do not want to feed raw this satin was just a way I was reading to put weight on a dog along with feeding her the reg kibble. She has 5 gallon of water in her kennel and she will only go through about half a day. I use a 1/2 cup food feeder and I give her 12 scoops so that would equal about 6/7 cup sorry for the above missprint. I think im going to try to add some bill jack to her feed and going to crate her some each day to see if this helps.