Dog Community

How to bulk up underweight Great Dane

Posted : 7/1/2006 11:23:12 AM

Greta is 2 years old and has weighed 105 ppounds since about 9 months of age. The pics here are from yesterday. She spent 5 days in a kennel with lots of playtime with other dogs and came home skinnier than ever. My parents are feeding her Canadie All Life Stages and she's getting about 3000 calories a day. Eats like she's starving.....finishes her meal and then heads for the cupboard where the treats are kept. I know it's best for large dogs to be on the thin side, but we all think she's too thin. Spine, hip points and ribs all very visible. Aside from simply feeding her more...any tricks up your collective sleeve to bulk her up?

Sydney

Posted : 7/1/2006 1:25:25 PM

She does look a thin, but not terribly.. you are right, giant breeds should be thin till they mature..As im sure you know, great danes are slow to mature..a lot not maturing till 3 years of age..they grow up first.. then out..My first great dane, Tank was always VERY thin, no matter how much i fed him he just didnt gain weight..then at almost 3 years of age he started filling out..i wouldnt worry too much, but if you'd like you can try adding Satin Balls to her diet a couple times a week, i wouldnt recommend feeding it to her everyday though, but it should help add some weight to her
[linkhttp://www.pekes4u.com/satinballs.htm]http://www.pekes4u.com/satinballs.htm[/link]

forpaws

Posted : 7/1/2006 3:22:33 PM

Have you dewormed her? Sometimes worm infestation will cause them to act like they are starving and not gain weight. Hook worms are great for that. Yuck.

You can add a small amount of puppy food to her daily intake to help bulk her up a smidge.

She is beautiful. I love her coloring.

dyan

Posted : 7/1/2006 4:06:43 PM

Personally, I think you shouldn't worry about bulking your Dane up. This is my opinion,,,but gee these dogs don't have a very very long life span and I don't know that I think being bulky is going to help it,,,I kind of think thinner might be better. I have a Dane that looks pretty much as thin as yours. She was a show dog and won many prizes and she came to me like this. When I took her to the vet they said she was perfect and not to let her gain too much weight if I can help it. She was a little over 100 but now she is 97 but we walk a lot. I will show you a picture of her where she shows her slender figure. She actually doesn't show those ribs quite as much as in the picture.

dyan

Posted : 7/1/2006 4:24:26 PM

Sorry, for some reason I can't post that picture,,never had problems before but I have tried 3 times AND rebooted. The picture is under 200 kbs.
So I will try making it really small and see what happens.

dyan

Posted : 7/1/2006 4:38:49 PM

one more time...

Edie

Posted : 7/1/2006 9:43:56 PM

Are you sure you're supposed to see every rib [sm=eek.gif]

Purple pets a little pasta,fatty cuts of meat added to her meals and as has been suggested satin balls could help,a good quality canned food such as innova wouldnt go amiss. There are many things you could add,too many to list here,just use your imagination [

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PurplePets22

Posted : 7/1/2006 10:09:03 PM

***Tank was always VERY thin, no matter how much i fed him he just didnt gain weight..then at almost 3 years of age he started filling out.. ***

I think Greta will too. She and her little "sister" Annie are very active chasing and wrestling with each other all day. Annie just turned 1 and is at a perfect weight. Just another example of how different we and our dogs all are. I printed the Satin Balls reciepe and will ask about worming. We don't want her to get fat at all...but her poor spine needs some cushion [

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jennie_c_d

Posted : 7/1/2006 10:15:41 PM

Is this notion in the air lately? Everybody seems to want to fatten thier dogs up.

Your dog is beautiful. She's fit, and muscular. She's a young, healthy dog. There's nothing wrong with her being a little thin. It's better for her joints, her heart, and her longevity (especially as a giant breed, on all three of those) that she stay thin.

dyan

Posted : 7/1/2006 10:19:07 PM

I also think that if she is slim now,,she has a better chance of not being too heavy when she starts slowing down later in life!

danehaven

Posted : 7/1/2006 10:33:18 PM

She is not too thin. She is only 2 yrs. old? She has another 2 years to fill out. Most dogs are too fat. So when people see a fit dog they think it is starving.

Edie

Posted : 7/2/2006 12:15:58 AM

So when people see a fit dog they think it is starving.

Well,i think i can tell the difference between a fit dog and a skinny one. I still dont think it's healthy to be able to see every single rib and the hip points.These dogs just dont have any insulation from the cold,nor do they have any backup if they were to get sick and lose even more weight.How would the thin dogs above go if they were to get sick and lose weight??? They wouldnt stand as much of a chance as a dog with a healthy amount of padding,would they?

I've seen dogs on animal cops been taken away with more padding on them than the dogs posted above.

I guess,it's horses for courses.Some owners like fat dogs,others lean and healthy,and yet others prefer skinny with every rib and hip bones easily visible.

glenmar

Posted : 7/2/2006 6:50:44 AM

That is NOT a skinny dog. Thunder dropped a couple pounds this past winter and HE was a skinny dog. I don't see hip points on this dane.....they were clearly evident on Thunder.

If a dog looses weight from an illness or the cold, you slowly build them back up. Not a big deal. If the dog is generally healthy and has a healthy immune system s/he is not likely to really get sick enough to loose much weight. That said, yes, I will work on getting Thunders weight up two or three pounds BEFORE winter, but I'm also working on increasing his muscle mass. Our last winter came on hard and fast and his body wasn't READY for it.

But, this dane is clearly NOT too thin. And it's not a matter of what I like, it's a matter of what is healthiest for the dogs.

dyan

Posted : 7/2/2006 7:31:34 AM

I read a while back that you should be able to see ribs on a dog...I think she is perfect because you can just barely see her ribs. She is beautiful!

danehaven

Posted : 7/2/2006 10:48:05 AM

A 9 month old Dane should weigh 85-120 lbs. height 28-34 inches

One year 90-135 lbs height 28-36 inches

Full grown 100-190 lbs height 28-38 inches

Typical males weigh 140-170 lbs. and 33-36 inches in height
Typical females weigh 110-140 lbs. and 30-33 inches in height

www.chromadane.com/ht&wt.htm

If she is within these parameters I wouldn't be worried. I wouldn't be trying to "bulk" her up. Maybe add an extra half cup per each meal for awhile and see how she does.