fattening up a new puppy

marc antonio

Hi all,
I really need your advice and experience. We have a little beauty,(pure breed) basset hound puppy who is 10 weeks old. She came to us after a bout of illness but after numerous trips to the vet she is now at a nursing her back to health stage. Our problem is she is a very fussy eater. She has only ever been fed table food and we now need to build up her calorie intake. We cant afford to let her sit it out and eat the puppy kibble/tins because at 10 weeks she is only 3kg. Any help?????

andreac

It's awful that the breeder let that puppy go until it was ready and healthy.
Anyway. I would try feeding the kibble soaked first in warm water and add anything tasty like scrambled egg, pasta, tins tuna/sardines, mince, chicken etc.
Lambs mince is great for putting on weight.
Little and often is the trick. Feed her 4/5 small meals every day.
What food are you feeding her?

marc antonio

Tbh we spoke with our vet regarding her as the breeder was trying to manage the problem themselves. In fairness the breeder just gave her to us free of charge. Our vet believed it was miss managed worming.
Anyway we are feeding her 4/6 times a day. A typical day consists of the following timetable.
(1) pork chop and gravy (baby gravy no salt)
(2) lambs liver minced down
(3) pork chop with stewed apple
(4) lambs liver minced ( maybe some sweet potato)

She also has sausages (which she loves) fresh cod, fresh trout and chicken(#which shes not mad about) minced beef. Very little/no carbs.

But only put on 400 grammes in a week whereas vet says it should around 1kg at this stage.

scudzilla

We fed ours porridge every morning to build her up, worked a treat

marc antonio

Oh nice idea. Did you make it on milk and water mix or just water.

tazwaz

When my dog was sick I fed him porridge every morn, made it with water and he loved it. Also I gave him complan (I think thats what its called) a nurse told me a lot of old people are on it when they arent eating well.

andreac

Don't give the puppy normal milk as it can make them sick, goats milk however would be good to give her.

marc antonio

Ok. She was on cows milk prior to us getting her so we are weaning her at minute shes on a 80% WATER 20% % MILK.
But goats milk sounds like a fab way to pile on a few pounds.

andreac

They cows milk prob caused a lot of problems with her.
Where did you find this breeder as responsible reputable breeders know not to feed cows milk.
Get her off that asap and put on the goats milk if you want to feed milk.

tk123

I'd recommend a good quality wet food - thats what I use to bulk out my pup's meals to put weight on her. Also rice/potato to bulk it out but you don't seem to be feeding any carbs - is this by choice?
I feed a mix of the wet food and raw meat - chicken , duck necks, turkey, lamb, fish. Also feed small and often - if you feed too much the pup could get an upset tummy.

EG: (price check on zooplus.co.uk or zooplus.de as there can be variations..also the 800g cans are better value)

http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/dogs/canned_dog_food/rocco/rocco_junior/154073

EDIT and another thing - aim for a lean pup - you don't want to pile weight on bones and joints that aren't able to support it. I know somebody with a 1 year old basset thats 5 KGS(!) heavier than my 4 year old retriever and can barely move! :mad:

boomerang

Totally agree with tk123. You need to move her over onto a good quality, complete puppy food. What you're giving her isn't nutritionally balanced - it's very, very low in calcium and that's hugely concerning for a little pup. I'd also be concerned about the amount of liver she's getting. It's too much and you could be risking hypervitaminosis.

Naturediet (wet food) do a puppy variety.

chocoroll

I think a good quality dryfood is the answer here or you can give a combination af 2/3 dryfood en 1/3 wetfood if that makes her eat better. What you don't want to happen is that she gets to much high energized puppy food what will cause a grow spurt. My advice would be go for a good quality dryfood for adults so she wont grow to fast (don't be afraid that this way will keep her small, only thing that happens is that she wont grow TO fast in a short periode of time).