Need help getting my dog to quit looking like i starve her!!

Just my experience:

We could NOT get Culley to gain weight. He's insanely active and no matter what we gave him he was skinny- and not a healthy skinny. He needed to gain weight.

I rotate various premium kibbles and also feed some home cooked and raw, but none of them seemed to do the trick. He was always skinny and funky looking and yes, we were sure it wasn't parasites or any other health issue.

So, about a month ago our Petco started carrying Solid Gold. I decided to try Culley on it two weeks ago and within a matter of days he had already gained some weight. I about two weeks time he looks like a totally different dog. He's super shiny and pretty, his breath is better, and he's finally starting to get some meat on his bones.

Our other dogs though, do about the same on Solid Gold as they do on Avoderm, Innova, Blue Buffalo, Castor and Pollux, Natural Balance, and Canidae, which I rotate. For whatever reason, Solid Gold just really agreed with Culley and made him look AWESOME.

So my vote for weight gain is Solid Gold. Just from experience.

Brittany, which Solid Gold formula did you use? I've been feeding Gingerbread "Just a Wee Bit" recently and am very impressed with it... other than falsely accusing the food of giving him the itchies. Shame on me. lol But I've noticed several of their foods are very similar- bison or beef and salmon based and it seems like a really good combination to me.

We used the Wolf Cub formula (uses Bison and Salmon meal), even though he's not a puppy. We figured the extra calories and protein wouldn't hurt him. I'm going to try the other formulas too though, and see what he does best on. We'll do Wolf King next and then Hounden Flocken. I'd like to try Barking at the Moon, but they only carry  the 5 pound bags, which would probably last me about 2 days.

I have found with my german shepherds that they tend to look pretty skinny until they are a couple years old.  Looking skinny and acutally being underweight are not the same.

In the winter I do have a couple I have to add a third meal of raw just to keep the weight on them.  But, my general suggestion here would be to not worry about adding weight because of how she looks, unless she starts looking anerexic.

 Wow raceprofessor.You made me feel like I shouldnt be owning a dog.I'm sorry I am feeding her garbage.I dont want to be.Price isnt the reason I went with these foods.Purina,pedigree,Iams,etc is the dog foods that I have grown up with around here.But now I know what I should be feeding her.

I care about my dog and that is why I am on here seeing what advice people have to give me.And all of you others have been very helpful with the advice you all have given me. I will be make a trip to the nearest store(about an hour a away) that have a variety of the dog foods that have been recommended this weekend.

And for the people that have told me that she isnt too skinny but should look a little skinny thanks.I was worried about that a lot.No one else has Setters around here so it's just been the internet and books for me. 

 I bet if you post some pictures of her the experienced folks here will be able to tell you if she needs to gain a little more or not. :) A side view and a view looking down at her back are most helpful. And don't worry, for some reason dog food seems to make some people go a little crazy, best to don a flak jacket any time you're asking about foods. If going to the store is a big inconvenience for you, you can get a lot of foods online, too. When I was in college the nearest Petco was 40 minutes away, and the nearest store that sold "premium" kibbles was well over an hour away. I ordered food online and it worked quite nicely. :)

kle1986

 Wow raceprofessor.You made me feel like I shouldnt be owning a dog.I'm sorry I am feeding her garbage.I dont want to be.Price isnt the reason I went with these foods.Purina,pedigree,Iams,etc is the dog foods that I have grown up with around here.But now I know what I should be feeding her.

I care about my dog and that is why I am on here seeing what advice people have to give me.And all of you others have been very helpful with the advice you all have given me. I will be make a trip to the nearest store(about an hour a away) that have a variety of the dog foods that have been recommended this weekend.

And for the people that have told me that she isnt too skinny but should look a little skinny thanks.I was worried about that a lot.No one else has Setters around here so it's just been the internet and books for me. 

 Took some pics like 5 minutes ago of her but I dont know how to put them on here so they are viewable on my page.Thanks for the help.

Raceproffessor I'm sorry about your cat. 

I put a table spoon of vegitable oil in my GSP's food when she was a pup. That helped get some meat on her bones She is 18 months old now, has filled out nicely and is still full of energy.

kle1986

 Took some pics like 5 minutes ago of her but I dont know how to put them on here so they are viewable on my page.Thanks for the help.

Raceproffessor I'm sorry about your cat. 

 Here are the pictures of your setter! Re-posted from your profile. :) She's really pretty! That coat is amazingly shiny.

 Some people will disagree with me (always! It's purely a matter of opinion;), but that looks like a healthy puppy, to me. She's beautiful! I don't think she's too thin, at all. I think we're all too used to looking at fat dogs.

People are so used to seeing overweight dogs, that when they see healthy ones, they tend to think they're "too skinny"- I get that with my dogs ALL the time.

Honestly? I think she's BEAUTIFUL and a great weight. Her coat is gorgeous, and she has a nice waist and tuck. I think she looks just fine.

 She did look really bad at one point.I finally got her ribs covered nicely I think.You used to count them 50 feet away it was that bad.What I'm worried about now is her hip bones.Should they be visible like that?

Her coat started shining like that after I started adding eggs to her food.Her coat is so nice and sleek too.Everyone always comments on her coat.

 Now I do have a fat dog.My dalmation lab mix is probally 10 lbs overweight.And she doesnt get but 2 cups of dog food.She is spayed though and some people say that is why she is fat.