Question about weight gain

KimB3384 · Oct 23, 2015

I so wish I was writing this as a question about me but, alas, I have no trouble gaining weight. Beezy, on the other hand, has a really tough time. Her metabolism must be through the roof and combined with her 4-5 daily walks (her idea, not ours) and twice weekly daycare visits, she is thin. Too thin in my opinion.

A few months ago she weighed in at 16.8 on the vet's scales, so I decided to try to fatten her up. She's on a yeast starvation raw diet because of allergies, and based on her weight I'm feeding her 3.5%, rotating back and forth between rabbit and duck with sardines added in once a week. Basically, this works out to 8 oz. of meat daily spread out between three meals. I also give her an ounce of quinoa and an ounce of bison tripe with each serving. So she's getting a total of 14 oz. of food every day. Wednesday when I picked her up from daycare and weighed her she was up to 17.4, so she is slowly gaining weight.

My question is this - am I doing this correctly? Should I try to give her even more food every day? Like, up her to 4%? She has a small frame so I don't want her to become a fatty-boom-batty, but I'd really feel better if I wasn't able to feel her ribs so easily. And maybe this slow gain is the best way to go? I don't know... Gah!

Can I just give her a candy bar every night? (Kidding. Sort of).

Thanks for help/comments/suggestions.

hannah · Oct 23, 2015

How about mixing in some full fat plain greek yogurt? We do sometimes for banksy if he is being picky, and were told to when he was a baby from his breeder.

KimB3384 · Oct 23, 2015

That's a great idea, [MENTION=1276]hannah[/MENTION]! She gets kefir in the morning, but it's low-fat because that's all I can find. I'm totally getting some full-fat Greek yogurt tomorrow. She can't have her cottage cheese anymore so this will make her day. She'll be so excited. Thank you for the suggestion

Cbrugs · Oct 23, 2015

Feed her people food...duh. Just kidding!!!

KimB3384 · Oct 23, 2015

I bought her a Big Mac meal for dinner tonight. A shake, too.

JuniorsMom · Oct 23, 2015

Just have her follow me around and eat what I eat. No problem!

KimB3384 · Oct 24, 2015

Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

hannah · Oct 24, 2015

How did she like the Greek yogurt. I sometimes as well mix in a spoon pumpkin (not pie filling LOL) or sweet potatoes too (canned)

KimB3384 · Oct 25, 2015

hannah said:
How did she like the Greek yogurt. I sometimes as well mix in a spoon pumpkin (not pie filling LOL) or sweet potatoes too (canned)

It was edible, so she loved it. Seriously, this girl hasn't met a food she won't eat. We can't do pumpkin or sweet potatoes because of the yeast issue, but GY combined with a rabbit ear sent her over the moon. Thanks again for the suggestion, [MENTION=1276]hannah[/MENTION]!

hannah · Oct 27, 2015

Glad to hear !

davidh · Oct 28, 2015

I don't feed raw, but if she needs to gain weight, then add more food. Not necessarily more protein, but needs more calorie intake.

Mavis · Oct 29, 2015

We had a weight problem when we got Bambi. She was 19 lbs. (too thin) and went down to 17.4. She had just had a litter. I was a wreck. She looked awful - waaay too thin. We increased her food and probably after about 4 months, she was up to 22.2, which is perfect. She gets almost as much food as our other dog who is around 50 lbs. Lots of snacks during the day, too. At first when we increased her food she seemed to just poop all of the time instead of metabolize it, but after a while I think she got used to it and started gaining weight. She has been stable for a long time now.

KimB3384 · Oct 30, 2015

Mavis said:
At first when we increased her food she seemed to just poop all of the time instead of metabolize it, but after a while I think she got used to it and started gaining weight. She has been stable for a long time now.

This is EXACTLY what I needed to hear - thanks, [MENTION=1070]Mavis[/MENTION]. We're at that stage right now. I've upped her food intake by 4 oz. per day, plus she gets some almond butter, some spinach leaves or frozen broccoli, and some rabbit ears or other treats during the day and her pooping is through the roof. We used to be at 2x but now we could be 5 or 6, depending on the day, so I was kind of concerned that I was going about this in the wrong way. But I can feel the difference for sure. Her spine is way less bony and her ribs aren't nearly as easy to feel, so I can tell she's slowly filling in. We'll keep on this course and see how things stand in another few weeks.

Mavis · Oct 31, 2015

[MENTION=380]KimB3384[/MENTION], I'm so glad. Keep at it and you will see that she will gain weight. Another thing, Bambi's poops were like soft serve for a few weeks because her body was adjusting, but that stabilized, too. Now she poops a normal amount and they are just right.

(Never thought I would be so excited about poop!) Sounds like Bisou doesn't have an eating problem, nor does Bambi (although sometimes she will skip a meal - another thing where I imagine the worst and think she is dying); we both are lucky that our fids eat. Some folks on the forum have frenchies who aren't food motivated and couldn't care less about eating. I don't know what I would do if that were the case!

chubbybunnymax · Nov 20, 2015

KimB3384 said:
This is EXACTLY what I needed to hear - thanks, [MENTION=1070]Mavis[/MENTION]. We're at that stage right now. I've upped her food intake by 4 oz. per day, plus she gets some almond butter, some spinach leaves or frozen broccoli, and some rabbit ears or other treats during the day and her pooping is through the roof. We used to be at 2x but now we could be 5 or 6, depending on the day, so I was kind of concerned that I was going about this in the wrong way. But I can feel the difference for sure. Her spine is way less bony and her ribs aren't nearly as easy to feel, so I can tell she's slowly filling in. We'll keep on this course and see how things stand in another few weeks.

[MENTION=380]KimB3384[/MENTION] I was just curious how your pup is doing now and if she continues to gain weight/fill out. I've also had trouble putting weight on Maximus. He seems to be stuck at 21 pounds and is on the thin side. He is about 1.5 years old now. I've increased his food intake and he would just poop it all out, however I think his body is finally getting used to it. He had only two poops yesterday (he used to go 3-5 times daily) and his poop was smaller. Yay!

If Maximus could speak, he would tell you that I starve him. He has a healthy appetite and gets around 700 calories a day. I wish I had his metabolism. Heehee

Mavis · Nov 20, 2015

[MENTION=1068]chubbybunnymax[/MENTION], I'd feed him a little more than you are at each meal. He will poop more and have soft poops for a while, but then his body will acclimate after I would say 2-3 weeks and he will start to gain. Bambi weighs 22.2 lbs. (I wish she would be at 23), and she gets the same portion of food as Ginger, our 50+ lbs. Doberman mix.

KimB3384 · Nov 23, 2015

Funny you should ask, [MENTION=1068]chubbybunnymax[/MENTION]. I was just thinking the other night that I should come back in and update everyone. I'm happy to say that we've finally got some meat on 'dem bones! We're still lean, but I suspect we always will be. She was the runt of the litter and very nearly died after getting stuck in the birth canal. The breeder didn't even let anyone know she'd been born because they thought she wasn't going to make it, so I think she's just a delicate little flower. When we started this process, we were at a little over 16 lbs. and two weeks ago we were up to 17 lbs., 6 oz. She's getting a vaccine today and they'll weigh her, so I'll be anxious to hear where she comes in now. The girl can still rock 3-4 poops a day by times, but now they're seriously like little bunny droppings. I'll let you know if we've gained any more weight.

KimB3384 · Nov 25, 2015

Quick update: we weighed in at 17 lbs., 7 oz. at the vet appointment, so it's working!!! The vet also gave her a 5, or ideal, for body score. It's weird because the vets are a husband and wife team and the wife was the one who said last year that she wanted her up to 19 lbs., but the husband was the one who gave her a 5 today and said she looks great. I don't care, as long as she's healthy and happy!

KimB3384 · Dec 17, 2015

Hey, [MENTION=1070]Mavis[/MENTION] - it's working! It's working! Tubby, er, I mean Beezy weighed in at 19 lbs. 4 oz. yesterday! She just looks so much better now. I can still feel a little more rib than I'd like, so I'm going to keep feeding like we are and reassess in another month. Thanks again for your help and encouragement

Mavis · Dec 17, 2015

[MENTION=380]KimB3384[/MENTION], whoo, hoo!!! Fat frenchies rock - more to kiss! :biglaugh:

Glad it's working for you. I could relate so much to your concern. Bambi looked like heck when we got her, she was so thin. She eats like a little piggy now. Her poops are regular and normal, so her system has gotten used to more food.

Keep us updated on her weight gain.