Need to 'fatten' the boy up

[Nicky Vangalis]

Hi everyone,

We took Ollie to the vets for his 1 year vaccinations and they checked him out as usual.  Good strong heartbeat, alert, lively (not to mention he erm peed up the vets table ahem! I was mortified!) - weighed him and he's 26.2kg.  I feel this is underweight for a dog but for love nor money we can't seem to get the boy to put on a couple of extra kilos.  The vet told me not to worry because he could see he's a livewire and he said he's constantly burning up his energy on all his runs.  It's not like Ollie ever presents as being hungry - he eats til he's full and then picks at it later on.  We feed him on adult James Wellbeloved and pedigree meat mixed together as we found this doesn't upset his stomach.  We give him chicken and rice on a sunday so that he gets a bit of a treat when we are having our roast dinner.  We don't want to encourage feeding him scraps or encourage a 'leftovers' diet purely because I don't believe this is good for him.  Is it something he will grow into over the next year?  Any tips for putting a few pounds on would be gratefully received.

As an aside - the vet tried to get me to agree to getting him castrated but I told him I don't want him to be as I understand it messes up their fur and he is not a nuisance with other dogs or marking.  What do other people think - was I right?

Nicky

[Ossian]

With you Fran on each point.
weight for a one year old (you dont say how tall or what bone) seems fine. Food is what you have the dog used to but if the vet says he is fine and acknowledges he is a live wire why are you bothered?

Same with neutering, if the dog is fine then the only person who will gain from this op is the vet??

[sue morgan]

I agree, if he s healthy and happy..............let him get on with his life,if he was nt active,,,,then you would worry..he s an Irish,they do things their way

[Nicky Vangalis]

Hi Julie -
I have exactly the same problem. Royal Canin gave him runny poos and Science Plan he just hated. Eukanuba he got fussy really quickly with and pro plan he was fine on as a pup but now he's on adult it reacts the same as RC. It's a shame they don't make an actual setter breed food - a small fortune to be made there if anyone can get the formula right.
His fur is okay, always comes up so shiny for about a week after grooming and he's active and they didn't say he had any problems with his muscle tone - but I'll certainly keep trying foods. I think just have to think will have to get used to buying small bags for a while to try him out. I think it's great if you can afford the home cooked option both in money and time but our lives are such that we can do it on a sunday but not every day of the week. I've read about this urigen (or something like that) pure red meat food from Canada but don't know what people think.

[Astrid Landsaat]

Do you mean Orijen?

[Cathy Smythe]

[Cathy Smythe]

Hi there.
This was a young Tink who would not keep weight on although he ate well and had no underlying problems. The vet assured us he was perfectly healthy, but you can imagine the comments we would get when you could literally see every bony prominence on his body!!!

[Sue and Cash]

Orijen is the food from Canada and they also make Acana. Great company with great products. My dog gets a bad stomach from any changes I have tried. And now that I just won a year's supply of dog food from Eukanuba, that is what he will be on for another year. But I have been using Wellness 95% in the can to add to it since mine will fuss until he gets anything put on that Euk because he doesn't like it very much. The smell of the Wellness fills my house! Anyway it is grain-free and all meat. Not to be used as a food daily but a topper to your food. It comes in Salmon, Lamb, Turkey, Chicken and Beef. Cash loves it. I don't know how to convert from your weight system but mine just turned a year. He is 60lbs. I still hear people say he is thin, but honestly he is built quite nicely with strong legs and while on the leaner side, he isn't lanky or gangly at all. His ribs are covered and I feel he is just fine since they do fill out later on. I wouldn't worry about adding weight. It is harder to take off! A thin dog to me is just perfect.

[sue morgan]

I feed raw meat,wholemeal biscs and raw chick wings.....happy healthy dogs and it is NOT dear,it is so easy and the dogs love it

[Howard Glansfield]

I think you are right about his castration if he is not a nuisance.Fred my seven year old dog is a 'whole' male and has never shown any aggression to other dogs or people.Mind you he can sniff out a bitch in season from about half a mile away!
Fred is a large dog and weighs about 35k but he didn't put his weight on until he he got older ,if Ollie is healthy and your vet is happy then try not to worry.

[Sue and Cash]

ROFL Finn you just described Cash. He too charms the cranky dogs into loving him. I swear the room lights up when he comes in it. He gets the whole dog park into a frenzy somedays with this boundless enery and zest for life. Dogs line up to play with him!

[silvia]

Oberon too :) and he get really annoyed if other dogs ignore him :)

[Yvonne Wark]

My dog Holly is on the raw food diet and she gets chicken wing twice a week. I buy the frozen packs from Pets at home, lamb, fish , chicken, rabbit, and gets tripe with every meal as well as a veg gloop or fruit gloop but she has started turning her nose up and when I hand feed she just spits it out. If I was to let her eat what we are having etc she would it is just her own food she is refusing and she needs to put a wee bit weight on. She is 8 1/2 months now and has turned into such a fussy eater at the pulling my hair out stage now.............