What can I do to make my dog a healthy weight without feeding her crap!?

I'm not bashing Eukanuba (IMO most of their foods are okay), but for the money you can get a much higher quality food.  In fact, you can probably get a better food for much less.  Also, there is nothing at all wrong with giving a dog a good quality canned food, and in fact there are many benefits.  Dogs also benefit from the addition of healthy "people" food such as eggs, yogurt, cottage cheese, various types of canned fish and of course meats like chicken or beef.  Some people who would prefer their dog to eat nothing but kibble report that the dogs become picky if they start adding extras to it.  I personally have never had a dog who wouldn't eat anything and everything put in front of it.

To get a dog to gain weight, the best thing is to feed three to five small meals throughout the day rather than trying to coerce the dog to eat just one or two huge meals.

And it may be that she's just nervous settling in to a new home and that her appetite will improve with time.  Most cockers are known for having fairly healthy appetites, but I had a cocker mix years ago who wasn't a big eater at all.

I agree that Euk isn't terrible, but it's pretty grain heavy for the money.

When I brought home a rescue cat who was terribly underweight, I put her directly on Blue Buffalo Wildnerness, which is what my cats eat, to help her slowly gain the weight she needed to gain.  This, which isn't a totally grain fee, just a bit of oatmeal,or any of the grain free formulas would be a good way to help her to gain HEALTHY weight.

I agree with several small meals per day as well.  And please do remember,lean is always better.  Not emaciated skinny, but lean, and it's ok to feel ribs.

glenmar

And please do remember,lean is always better.  Not emaciated skinny, but lean, and it's ok to feel ribs.

I agree with Glenda.  I prefer to be able to feel ribs (like between a 3 & 4 on the body condition scale).  If I can't feel ribs, or have to press my hands into their sides to feel them, it's time for a diet, lol!  Harry's like this.  Sammy is a lot leaner than Harry, though.  A lot of times I can actually see the last 3-4 ribs, especially when he's running.  Some people might think he's too skinny, but I don't, and my vet says he's at perfect weight as well.

From your post, it seems like your pup really likes real meat, so you can use those for treats, instead of the ones you said she likes but you don't like.  Keep some shredded chicken, cut up hot dogs, roast beef, etc in your fridge and use those for treats.  They're especially great for training treats, because the dog think they are awesome, so using them as rewards in training is excellent.

I also think it's a good idea to do several smaller meals throughout the day, so she'll be able to eat a decent amount each day.  Feeding larger meals only twice a day may make her feel too full.  The Eukanuba has a lot of grains, which adds to this.  If you switch to a less grain-heavy food that has more meat in it, you'll find you don't have to feed as much every day for her to be able to get the nutrition she needs and maintain a healthy weight.

Good luck, and by the way, we do love pictures!

content edited - spam

I definitely agree that smaller more frequent meals are the best way to go.  If you don't mind a little extra work, crock potting a kibble topper might make her food a little more appealing. 

WetNoseKatie

They only have 30 calories per treat- no meat, and no grain fillers like corn wheat or soy.

I'm probably supporting a spammer, but I've gotta ask....what, exactly, is in these treats?  "No meat.  No grain fillers."  Is it a veggie treat or something?  No meat=no eat around our house.

BEVOLASVEGAS

I'm probably supporting a spammer, but I've gotta ask....what, exactly, is in these treats?

Uhhh, yeah, I was wondering the same thing.  No meat?

Also, though you want to put weight on, 2 cups is a huge amount for a cocker spaniel sized dog.  My Chow eats 3 cups a day at close to 75 lbs.

How about a higher calorie food? Innova or Canine Caviar would be my choices.

I also have to agree with adding healthy toppers. My experience is, that sometimes they just increase apetite over time. who knows why.

But i have never heard of a cocker that's is THIS picky. are you sure there isn't another underlying medical problem? maybe something with her teeth?

Checking the teeth is a big one - good thinking Janet!

My dog eats Blue Buffalo - and has done well on it. But - each dog is different. You've gotten some really good advice here, and I don't have much to add except:

You don't want to put on too much weight at once, her body isn't used to all this food and she can make herself sick if you over feed. Start with a few smaller meals a few times a day. Put the food down, give her an alloted amount of time to eat. If she doesn't eat - pick the food up and try again at the next feeding time. She'll start to eat more as she gets more comfy in your home - remember she's coming from a very stressful place (shelter) and who knows how long she's bounced around or has been on her own until you got her!

I am going to second what the others have said about choosing a different food, because you will get better quality for your money.

Also, did your vet advise doing a follow-up dose of wormer to be sure she isn't still harboring some parasites? When we adopted our pointer mix she had hookworms, and we wormed her twice with Drontal, two weeks apart, and then started her on Interceptor monthly. Depending on how badly your girl had worms, and for how long, her body could still be recovering from that damage.

I have a dog with me right now who needs to gain weight and muscle mass, so we have him on Cal Natural puppy food (which is approved for all life stages) and he gets an egg in the morning with his kibble, a raw meal for dinner and other toppers depending on what I have.

He eats four meals a day, and we walk about 3 miles daily, and will increase that as he gets stronger. (He's an Aussie and should be able to go for a six mile hike without batting an eyelash, but he's just not healthy enough to do that now.)

Hope that helps!

PS - Post some pictures of your girl! 

Important thing too, is you don't want to put on too much weight too soon, this could also lead to other issues. Have it be a gradual thing over several weeks.

Eukanuba foods were the fairly decent ones several years past; but other companies have far surpassed them now with much better quality diets.

Make sure you do not automatically switch to a rich diet though, this is VERY important as it can lead to pancreatitis if too much of a good thing is given as the initial diet.

I would switch to a bland, but excellent quality food i.e. Blue Buffalo, California Natural, etc. then, if you want to after a while, you can try the richer foods of superb quality, i.e. Orijen and their 3 different formulas.  

You are supposed to be able to feel the ribs and the backbone. There are no muscles that go over the top of a dog's spine, so anything covering the spine is fat. Some fat is okay, but if you can't feel the spine then it's too much. Here's an explaination that I like. Make a fist with one hand. Run the other hand over the back of your fist. If your dog's ribs feel like that they are too fat. Now run your hand over the knuckles. If your dog's ribs feel like that then they are too thin. Now move your hand down to run over the back of your fingers. If your dogs ribs feel like that then they are okay.

For a smallish cocker spaniel, one cup a day might be too much food. My 40 lb samoyed gets less than two cups per day. In my experience, dogs that are picky eaters are being given a bit too much food. Dogs that are kept at a lean healthy weight are NOT picky eaters at all!

Slightly off topic - but here is a really good article about pancreatitis. the cause is not really known, and is more common in older dogs - and has been more-so linked to a hormonal imbalance http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_canine_pancreatitis.html 

I would also not describe BB as a 'bland food' BB is VERY rich, and some dogs do not do well on it because of this and the long list of ingrediants. There are many high quality food out there - and some work better for some dogs than others. I would simply mixed the eukanuba with the new food and let a slow transition take over - IF the op wants to switch foods. I personally feed BB (but I think I already said that) and my aniamals do great on it