Is Pepper too thin???

[Caroline Black]

Hi all,
I am a little worried about my 1 year old male. He has just gone one year, and is showing no signs of filling out, as he has been a lanky thin teenager for some time now. He has 2 meals a day to which i have added some tripe. See below info on his food and photos below. But he always seems starving!!!! Like when we are out walking for example, and he spots a piece of bread, he lunges for dear life at it! I have actually had a few people complain to me that i don't feed my dog!! He doesn't have worms, has been treated and checked. Any ideas? What do you think....is he fine...is it normal at his age to be so slim?

Ingredients: corn, fish meal, corn oil, yeast, beet pulp, calcium carbonate, dicalcium phosphate, Fructo-Oligo-Saccharides (FOS), Yucca Schidigera, coline chloride, vitamin B compound, preserved with natural extracts rich in tocopherols.

Typical analysis: 8% moisture, 24% protein, 11% fat, 2.7% fibre, 6% ash, 1.2% calcium, 0.8% phosphorus, 0.8% Omega3, 5.5% Omega6.

[Rebecca]

Caroline, you may also want to look at the Orijen range of kibble. They are grain-free, low carbs and high protein, and contain no controversial fillers. I have a very fussy Gordon who would never eat kibble, but when we got our Irish and decided to put him onto Orijen, well, the Gordon thought it was yummy (treats!!). So now I have given up wet food and moved both dogs onto Orijen. They get a topping of a good quality tinned meat or fresh cooked heart, but that's more to satisfy my need to give them an extra treat! Both are thriving. It's expensive food, but worth it I feel. Here's a good resource for finding out about dog food quality (thanks to an earlier post here for this):
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/
The link to the index of dog foods is at the bottom left of the home page (it's a bit hidden).

The Orijen websites are at:
http://www.orijenpetfoods.co.uk/
http://www.orijen.ca/orijen/about/

[Alison Ashley-Turner]

Hi there...

I had the same problem...

I now hand feed my boy, twice a day with well soaked Royal Canin kibble Junior Maxi and lots of tripe. Someone had to show me how as I wasn't getting enough in him!! Roll it into balls and place right at the back of the throat and push down slightly, he only has one option but to swallow! It has worked for me, my boy now putting on weight.... hope this helps...

[Rebecca]

I was a bit concerned about too.... it sounds like force-feeding and that's awful. I would seriously consider trying him on a different diet and hand-feed him, but not force feed him.

I know I might sound like a promotions agent for Orijen (I'm not) but this is the first kibble I have found that I am (a) confident to feed my dog in terms of the ingredients, and (b) that my very fussy Gordon loves to eat. Also, my Gordon hates tripe. I find some lamb or ox heart boiled for a few minutes makes a much more appetising topping to get her started on her food. I almost always need to entice her to eat her food to get her started (and sometimes bribe her by offering heart in one hand, withdrawing it and offering her kibble in the other hand, then when she eats the kibble she gets the heart) but once she's going and I say "help yourself" she cleans the bowl every time these days. I also use Orijen kibble as training treats, which is saving a fortune cause I used to buy things marketed as treats (expensive).

If you look up Royal Canin on the Dog Food Analysis site, all of those I looked at were 2* (6* being the best) and not recommended because of insufficient meat content, low quality grain, and controversial fillers.
http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog-food-index-r.html

[colette tuite]

Alison,Have you considered why your dog is not eating all you want him too.It may be that he suffers from tonsillitis. Irish setters can suffer from this and when they are removed the animals eat with relish.

The digestive process is activated by the secretions of amalyse upon the action of the dog chewing its food.(This is the start of carbohydrate digestion).I would suggest that by force feeding you are impairing the digestive process in your dog and secondly making a rod for your own back.