Ok so back in may or so, i started putting blu on a grain free diet and he hated it from the start... he wouldn't eat it what so ever. so to entice him to eat it i tryed just about everything i could come across to get him to. adding pumpkin spice, gravy, a splash of hot water, yogurt. nothing really seemed to work in the long run, and i tried different brands and flavors to see if maybe he just didn't like a particular one... still nothing, he'd only eat maybe a bowl or two at the most over the course of 3 days.

It's become a serious concern for me, i spoke to his vet who was concerned about his weight... and she said over the next two months she would like to see him gain at least another 10 to 15 pounds. at his neuter check up he weighed 40.1 lbs (which for his size is somewhat underweight... he is quite a bit small. from his paws to his shoulders he is only 19") so to help with this i switched him back to a regular kibble diet... and he still wont touch it. my vet is mostly concerned about his weight because of the amount of exercise he does each day (a total of 5 mile run a day spread out, plus play time and training).

I have considered the option of a raw diet, but as it stands right now with the move coming up and school and all this other stuff hitting me at once i can't afford to go on it (i tried to juggle my budget around to squeeze it in but it just isn't feasible :\)

So all of that being said, do you guys have any suggestions on how i can start putting the pounds back on my lovable boy?

or is my vet just blowing smoke out of her pa-tookis?

I think your Sibe would have to be severely underweight to "need" 10-15lbs on. Do you have pictures? A side view and view from above would be great. How easily are ribs felt?

As for food- satin balls can help put on weight. If eating is a big concern, you can lightly fry ground beef and put that in his food. If a dog is turning that down- they aren't hungry or there's an issue lol

He doesn't sound underweight for his size. At two years old my boy was 44 lbs at 22" tall, he filled out by 3 yrs old to 50 lbs at 22" tall. The vet I was taking him to acted like he was severely underweight and told me I needed to really beef up his feeding. Honestly he was fine and just a normal lanky teenage husky who filled out in his own time.

Your description of how much he eats is rather vague. It would help tremendously to know exactly how much (and what) he eats on a regular basis. Honestly though, if he's healthy and behaving normally and has plenty of energy I wouldn't worry too much. My boy eats very little for his size, barely over a cup a day at 56 lbs and he's 6 lbs overweight!

arooroomom wrote:

I think your Sibe would have to be severely underweight to "need" 10-15lbs on. Do you have pictures? A side view and view from above would be great. How easily are ribs felt?

As for food- satin balls can help put on weight. If eating is a big concern, you can lightly fry ground beef and put that in his food. If a dog is turning that down- they aren't hungry or there's an issue lol

Spoiler:

Sorry that the angles arent the absolute best, but they where taken today while playing a game of fetch at a friends house. if better angles are needed i could take some more tomarrow.

yeah i can easily feel his whole rib cage and most of his spine.

as for him eatting ground beef, that he could never turn down. the other night i was feeling bad about his eatting so while i was at work my boss let me cook off a whole chicken and so i pulled it a part (basicly removeing all the meat from the bones) and packed it up for him, he ate 3/4 of the chicken that night.

I'll look into the satin balls.

Quote :

Your description of how much he eats is rather vague. It would help tremendously to know exactly how much (and what) he eats on a regular basis. Honestly though, if he's healthy and behaving normally and has plenty of energy I wouldn't worry too much. My boy eats very little for his size, barely over a cup a day at 56 lbs and he's 6 lbs overweight!

Ah, sorry about that, in all honestly im not sure "exactly" how much i give him each meal. i dont measure it out just grab handfuls of food and fill his bowl up half way. his bowl holds up to 6 cups of food or water, so figure on average im giving him 3 cups give or take. and if he doesn't eat all of it i put it away for his dinner time or for the next morning, or if he's still hungry for more i'll give him at most another handful which is probably about half a cup.

sorry about my half-assed estimates, i've just gotten into the habit of "eye balling" how much food to give him.

As for what he eats, i originally tryed blue buffalo's natural evolution grain free recipes (if memory serves me) then i tryed the totw, then i tryed simply nourish grain free chicken and rice. now he's back on his authority brand chicken recipe.... which is what he was on originally and ate just fine.

I'm sorry if I missed it, how old is he? I'm wondering if he's just not that hungry. 3 cups sounds like a lot of food to me. My girl will be 3 and she eats just over a cup/day and sometimes she doesn't finish it all. I too was alarmed because when she was a pup I had to put a rock in her bowl to try to slow her down. She scarfed her food so fast that 2 cups would be gone in seconds, swallowed whole. I think it's very common for them turn their noses up at meals as they age. Like Val said, if he's acting fine and playing well, try not to worry yourself too much. And careful making him chickens. They catch on quick that if they hold out long enough they might get a homecooked feast  

Well if he's eating approximately 3 cups of food a day then he's getting more than enough food. If half the bowl holds 3 cups and you said in your original post that he eats 1-2 bowls over the course of 3 days. Sounds like he's eating plenty to me.

The ribs and spine should be easy to feel, but not visible. All things considered, he sounds just fine to me.