Struggling to get weight on Alfie

[Rosie]

I've been worried recently that Alfie is too thin. He's always been a delicate, slim type rather than a cobby type but he just seems too thin to me, and a couple of other people have commented that he's too skinny as well.

He is 4 lbs 14 oz at the moment. A few months ago he was 14 lb 11 oz, but I think most of the weight gain is probably due to him maturing as he is definitely not any chunkier. He looks in good condition with a nice shiny coat and bright eyes and he is fine in himself, but I can feel every rib and his spine bones easily and he just looks too thin!

The problem is he just seems to be a dog that doesn't gain weight easily, I feed him Ziwipeak mixed with Wainrights chicken & rice food pouches (as he will no longer eat Ziwipeak on it's own) he gets 2 big bowlfuls of this a day but despite what everyone says about Ziwipeak being fattening he just doesn't get any bigger! I don't think he's hungry as if I try to feed him much more he will just refuse to eat the extra.

I know that us getting Badger was stressful for him, and I think he has burned off quite a few calories rushing around being a bit manic and stressy the last 2 weeks, but even so I would expect him to have gained a bit back by now as I have been feeding him as much as I can.

Anyone else got experience of naturally 'skinny' dogs? Any tips on getting him to bulk up a bit? I'm worried it's not good for him, and also worried that when I start to show him people will think I don't feed my dogs properly!

[Sarah]

Try giving him some raw tripe a few times a week
Be warned it can go through them and you only want green tripe not White. It will put weight on as it's very fattening

[Lucy]

I will sound like a broken record because I seem to say this in every post but Kiki is my skinny minnie. She has such a high metabolism that even when I tried increasing her portions, she still looked so skinny
After giving her green tripe once a week for a month or two, she has put the weight on brilliantly. I can't stand the smell so get the frozen minced green tripe from Pets At Home.

I started her off on about 40g once or twice a week (with a chicken wing) and now cut it bag to about 20g once a week and so far the weight has stayed on!

[Rosie]

Brilliant! Thank you both. So don't feed it every day then, Lucy?

[Chloe]

i have the same with Bentley...really struggle to put weight on him finally get him to a decent size and ruby comes into season and it all drops off :/ i need to try him on tripe, recently i started giving him a teaspoon of goats yogurt each day and that seems to have built him up over the past few weeks, hes looking about right at the moment hopefully i can maintain it this time

[Rosie]

Really glad I'm not the only one who has this problem! I kept wondering what I was doing wrong, or worrying there was some underlying reason for it - but he seems so healthy otherwise.

[Lucy]

No, I wouldn't Rosie! He will probably get loose stools and he probably won't need much. I'd start him off slowly so his stomach can adjust and then increase. Once he's ok on it, see how much you feel he needs and if he's not putting much on, you can up it a bit

I would also not give it with his meals as it will digest quicker and may give him an upset tummy x

[Kristi]

I just started giving Birdie tripe (tripett actually that comes in a can) per Lucy's recommendation and she LOVES it! She is really thin too, so, my concerns are the same as yours. So far she loves it and gobbles her food