I rescued a dog from the local police station a year ago.She is now about two years old.We think she is a rhodesian ridgeback crossed with something!!She has all the character and markings of a ridgeback but w/o the ridge!no surprise.When we first got her she was extremely underweight.At the time i fed her on 'burns' three meals a day.Her muscles are now developed but i just can't get any weight on her.Her ribs are still quite promenant.I have had her spade as i thought that might help her fatten up.For the past 2 months i have been feeding her an active dog food with high protein,giving her twice the daily amount,this is sending her more 'scatty' than she already is and she poos about 5 times a day..I have spoken to my vet who just said she'll put it on in time!!I want to know if firstly i'm doing the right thing by giving her high protein food and any ideas you have on fattening her up.

jenny

Get her off all the high protien foods she needs bulk and that means tripe and biscuit meal put her on that for six weeks and you will see a difference and she will love it you have to buy it from pet store and it comes frozen in packets minced, not the white stuff your butcher sells. and she wont poo as much.

Jenny you're feeding her too much and the food is just pushing straight through without stopping to be digested. Burns is a good dog food so I would suggest that you put her back onto it. She's still growing up and some dogs can take their time filling out. Who knows - she might be crossed with a greyhound or something naturally skinny!
Spaying won't necessarily make a difference to a dogs weight but at least you won't have to go through seasons etc..
Split feed her twice a day and perhaps add some pasta, rice or tripe to her meal.
If she's naturally scatty then she's probably burning lots of energy so a lower protein meal would be of more benefit to her.
Don't worry too much if she's happy and healthy she'll probably be ok.
Lara x

Hi,

I agree with Corso Girl - she needs a natural meat diet to help put condition on. Many of these high protein dry foods are full of artificial rubbish and are likely to make a dog scatty and as you say make them poo because they cannot digest it.

Raw meat with biscuit will be great, but you will need to change her over to this during about 5 days to avoid digestion problems.

Manda
x

She could be a ridgeless RR. We own a Rhodesian Ridgeback with ridge , but one of his brothers had no ridge - so it does happen. We feed two meals a day - one in the morning and one in the evening and use Wafcol Adult (as recomended by our breeder - you can order from pet suppliers, we feed the large breed recommended amount) www.wafcol.com Wafcol has a good balance of all the nutrients and minerals, and we mix that with a spoonful of pedigree chum.

Our dog walks three times a day and usually poos twice a day and is quite health and very very lively.

A healthy ridgeback is quite lean - they don't carry any body fat - in top condition you shoudl be able to see the outline of the ribs when they move.

I'd recommend you take her off the active dog food - it tends to be high in protein , and dogs will literally 'dump' if its in excess (hence the poos) ,and it won't do they much good.

Whats her height and weight ? RR bitches are usually 24-26 inches high at withers and 65 - 70 pounds in weight. Have you got any pictures of her?

Nikki

Sorry to give differing advice, but have you considered putting her back on to the Burns and adding more fat/oils to the food like a tablespoon of beef suet, chunks of cheedar cheese and maybe some milk/rice pudding if she can tolerate it. Also oily fish like sardines/pilchards. Maybe add one of these extras a day, but start with small amounts til she gets used to them. "Pedigree Rasks" - a bone type treat is high in calories and one a day could up her intake too.