What can i do to put weight on my dog?

feed him
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my head

Take a stool sample to be tested, and ask for a blood test to check the glucose, liver. kidneys, and CBC (complete blood count) Be sure the vet checked the teeth. Are they causing difficulty eating? Also skin problems need to be resolved. Chronic Infection will suck a lot of his energy.

This will help to identify or rule out a medical problem. If you're frustrated with your vet consider a second opinion. Ask friends and coworkers about who they take their dog to. But before that, think about what your vet said from a different point of view. try to be objective. You said that you want the best for your dog, that might mean letting go of some pride and admitting you might be wrong. Your vet has a lot of education. Use it to your dog's advantage.

Also Purina Pro Plan or Science Diet dog foods are really good for helping to gain weight. Don't skimp on the food. Home cooked diets can be deficient in vital trace nutrients.
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If you make your own dog food, you need to double check the ingredients and proportions you're using. There are tons of information available on the topic, and you'll find that many pet nutritionists, and veterinarians often disagree on the ingredients, proportions and amounts, It's your job to sift through the data and devise a proper feeding regimen for your dog.
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Ok just feed them alot for lunch and dinner and then if they get fat then just cut it off.
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Have your vet refer you to a canine internal medicine vet.

OPINION NATED, ProPlan and Purina products are crap. Do some research.
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Add cottage cheese to his food.
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Had to do it for my beagle mix.

Sounds like you need another vet if you are feeding the dog and it's losing weight and your vet doesn't believe you.
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I know making your own food may seem like the best thing to do, but really, store bought stuff is loaded with ingredients you would never even think of, and plenty of fatty stuff in it. Try mixing the soft and dry food together and even using cheese or bread as treats. I had a dog that actually became over weight doing these things (started out at a normal weight) so I'm sure they will work for you.
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Lots of dogs always!

well i have a dog and he is a winter dog
well when we feed him we get the table scraps can dog food and his dry dog food and mix it all together and feed him
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i fed mine extra from the can for breakfast with her dry.
sounds as if he's not getting enough calories. feed him more.
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A food with corn in it always works.
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If your dog is otherwise healthy, then you have a simple solution.

Give more food. Be sure the activity level, exercise, is appropriate.

If you are feeding sufficiently and the dog is still having trouble, then there is something else wrong.

If your vet won't listen, then get another vet.
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Raw meat.
Raw beef and chicken can sometimes be really good for dogs and the extra protien might help him gain weight by building muscle (remember to NEVER feed a dog cooked chicken with the bone in. raw bones are fine but cooked ones break into sharp pieces that can hurt his digestive tract). Exercise him alot and watch him carefully. I know that with horses they sometimes put a little vegetable oil on the feed, though I'm not too sure if that's recomended for a dog. You could ask your vet though!
PS- If all else fails, there is ALWAYS another vet that you can take him to. Don't feel obligated to just stick with one!
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When you offer both the home made food and the store bought food, your dog may be turning up his nose at the dry food in favor of the homemade stuff. This might not have the proper calories he needs to put on weight.

If he is eating it all, which you state, then he may have some kind of internal parasite or other problems that you'll need to have tested.
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I would consult another vet. The dog is a rescue so it could have worms, diabetes, liver problems and anything else. Worms are more likely. Feed him a mix between store bought & hand made. I know a lot of people that make there own dog food, but remember that canines are ancestors of wolfs & coyotes and if you think about it they don't eat cooked food. When you cook food you are cooking out the much needed fats & nutrients that animals need to gain weight. Bears eat salmon skin (not the meat) because it contains the most fat. Add some fish to his diet, and even rabbit, beef & pork. Don't cook it as long for him as you would for yourself, and make sure that you are also mixing in canned dog food, at least for right now until his weight gets back up. But definitely consult another vet.
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Obviously you need to eliminate any physical problem with this dog, and even the skin condition could be involved in this lack of weight gain. Depending on his previous circumstances, he could well be getting more exercise then before which might be why the drop in weight rather than gain.

The problem with feeding a home-made diet is you may be missing something in his diet that he needs. This is why Dog Food companies spend loads of money researching their diets. Frankly at this point I'd put him onto a good quality complete food, and forget about the home-made

However, before you do anything, this dog needs a full work up, bloods, the lot and if you are not getting answers from the vet you are using, change vets!!! And see if you can find one who is familiar with your breed - might be difficult, but it can pay off in the end to search around.
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He needs more fat in his diet, and perhaps some nutrients he is not getting in the homemmade food. It's easy to leave things out when cooking for an animal.

I would suggest that just for a while, you switch him over to puppy food- trade a few kibble of the new for the old every day, just three perhaps, until he is switched over completely. You don't want to upset his tummy. the puppy food will have more in it - higher fat and additional vitamins and minerals - that will help.

You can add a garnish of the other stuff, but for now, I would get him on puppy food almost completely, and let him put on some weight. Several small meals during the day will also help, rather than two big ones.

You should also try putting him on a fish oil capsule supplement - it will improve his skin, cell metabolism, and immune system. It will help him actually use the food you are feeding him.

Do not free feed this dog - he needs to eat, and for some reason some dogs just take it for granted if it's there all the time. That will also give you a way to keep track of what he is eating.

Don't be insulted about the home made diet not working for the moment - no doubt he needed easy to digest food in the beginning, and it isn't that you did a bad job, just that he needed a complex list of things that are quite honstly hard to keep up with. A healthy dog can do well on a straightforward diet, but think of the fact that the dog food manufacturers spend millions every year on prescri[tion diets and other formulae that are made specifically for different groups of dogs such as those with joint problems, puppies, and senior dogs - it's quite a complicated subject!

If you want to continue cooking for him when he gets back to a bettr weight, take a look at this website-
http://www.BalanceIt.com
The vet will need to prescribe the vitamins for you, but they also have a recipe tool that will help you balance the diet properly, with ingredients you select - and perhaps that will allow you to keep on caring for him as you did before.

It isn't that easy to make up a diet for a dog, especially a rescue - it's quite possible that just a tiny bit of a few ingredients, vitamins or minerals - were missing, and that's all it took to throw things off. It's also possible that his system adpted to bagged food, and the extra good quality stuff didn't have enough 'junk' in it - believe it or not, many dogs from meager beginnings actually do better on low quality food!

It;s also possible that the dog has an issue that has yet to be discovered - thryoid or adrenal glands - but I would try putting him on the puppy food for a while, with extras, and see if it makes a difference. It really should.

Good luck - this dog is a lucky guy. If he gains weight on the puppy food, maybe you should come here and cook for me so I lose weight instead- I'd be happy to offer him a fat transplant!
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Canine Nutrition, Genetics seminar, Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, Tufts University

Does he drink an abnormal amount of water?Go to the Drugstore (Walgreens) and ask the pharmacist for these test strips called Diasticks. They are used for testing the ketons in ones urine. A high level of ketons is a good indicator that your dog may have diabetes.

Our dog 7 year old dog Diablo has had diabetes for 2 years. The vet said to feed our Dog that has Diabetes,a diet that has as much protien and fiber in it as possible. We recently got a puppy(8 weeks old) and while comparing foods learned that puppy food has 2 to 5 perent more protien so we switched and for the past two and a half months he's been eating puppy food, but he is still losing weight!
Before he was diagnosed (2 years ago) with Diabetes, his blood sugar had being so high for so long that he is blind he doesn't do much(he can't see) occasionally he'll go out in the yard and try to join our other dog and the new pup(5 months old) as they play ba(if we would have known sooner that he needed insulin he'd still be able to see)
So if your dog is drinking alot of water (I mean alot) and urinating more frequently (like its just going right through him) Get his blood sugar tested at your vets office.

Best Wishes,
Amy L. Forrester 05/01/10