My 16 month old is currently fed Burns...
thing is for some time, I've always felt he was underweight..... it seems now that the weather has gotten colder he has lost even more weight...so I'm fairly convinced he's too skinny... his back bone sticks out!
I'm also aware that a lot of dogs these days can be overweight too!
I've fed Burns Chicken and rice to him primarily because it seemed to suit his delicate digestion.. but now I'm wondering - is 18.5% protein too low for him?
The Burns nutrtionist suggests either feeding him extra, or changing to the lamb version or high energy version of Burns complete....
What can I do to help him gain that extra bit of weight - he only needs to gain say an extra 5 or 6 lbs....
Any suggestions greatly received!
X

What breed do you have?

I think Burns is rather renowned for keeping dogs "slim".

Tripe and lamb breast are good for good for putting weight on. Cheese is also good, if he can tolerate the lactose.

Isnt burns lower in fats too? you probably need something a little more in the way of fats (not protein) to add more coverage, you could add satin balls in as a daily treat they are very high in fats.. Tripe will add weight on to..

>I think Burns is rather renowned for keeping dogs "slim".

yeah i agree,and the protein is lower than i would like too,which means dogs will lose muscle along with fat.From all the research i have done 25% protein and above is the optimum number for the canine.

As for getting the weight on i agree with everyone else..Lamb breast,tripe,satin balls(used sparingly as treats),eggs(protein and fat),suet,marrow scraped out of marrow bones and added into the feed,briskett bones.

Sorry to branch slightly off topic, when adding raw food or changing is there a good book to read with all the basics?

I have heard quite a few people find their dogs very lean on Burns.  I feel that level of protein is too low.  Might be OK for a an old sedentary dog.

I feed even my oldies Arden Grange Adult which is 26% protein.  Protein is needed to build muscles and repair the body.  Better to feed a higher protein diet but less of it if weight gain is too high.

If you reduced meat to a dry matter equivalent it would be like over 40% protein so protein (or fat for that matter) should not be a problem for a healthy dog.

The AG Lamb and Rice has been found to be very easy on the digestion of sensitive dogs as has their fish variety.

If he's happy on the Burns, why not just increase the amount? (Apart from the obvious cost factor!)

My bitch is on Iams and has to be fed at roughly double what they reccomend as she does 4-5 hours of excercise a day. She looks fantastic on it.

(In case anyone is about to enlighten me, I am aware of the ethical issues possibly involved in Iams, and am looking into it with a possible view to changing brands, but as she look so good on it, obviously I am reluctant to unless I have to)

Problem with increasing the amount, is that this can cause a dog to become loose,a s they can't cope with the volume.  I would imagine the poster is feeding as much as the dog will eat, it just isn't nutritious enough for him.

thanks for all your replies so far... I'll try and answer some of the questions raised...

breed is Staffordshire bull terrier...
I have tried increasing the amount of food he's been fed, but as I think Brainless mentioned, I'm ever cautious because of his occasional delicate digestion...
Burns do have an alternative, a higher protein version of the food, it's 24% protein, but it also states that it's particularly suited toward pregnant or lactating bitches or large breed puppies!!
OR a high energy lamb version, again 24% protein, again for large breed puppies or underweight dogs...

As lamb has been mentioned as an addition, do you think the above might be worth a try?
Another fellow dog owner suggested trying Dr. Johns Gold, but again I've read good and bad things about that particular brand..
crikey it's such a minefield... I just want the little chap to have a bit more coverage!
P.s. - May I ask what the heck are satin balls?

leave the Dr John and any similar food if your dog can suffer digestion problems, the change from such a good food to this may well not bode well! :)

Someone gave the recipe for satin balls if I remember correctly, do a search here see if you can find it :)

so do the satin balls have to be fed raw? 

But surely they contain sugar?  Very bad for teeth.

I didn't see any added sugar in that recipe Maisiemum?

Recipe I use for these is inThis post

thanks for that recipe!  Will give it a go!

I used to feed Burns, it was fine for my two middle aged adult dogs but when I got my puppy I asked the nutritionist would he be ok on this as it looked very low protein compared to other quality complete feeds, they assured me it was fine so I continued to feed it.
Big mistake, my big chunky pup lost lots of bone, speaking to other dog friends they all said "hope youre not feeding him on burns"! others had had the same result.

So although Burns im sure is a good feed for older easy doers I would never put a youngster or puppy on it, I think if you try something else you will notice a big change very quickly .
Mine are all on Arden Grange now, they all have good body weights and their coats are tip top condition

I used to feed Burns Chicken and Rice to my lg breed adult bitch. She was also on the light side so I changed to the Extra which worked, however I now feed Autarky to my lot (after a friend , previous post, tried it and found it very good)

If you are anywhere near Bristol I have a new 15kg bag of Burns Canine Active you can have....unopened!   It piled the weight on my girls, hence no longer using it

bless you, thanks for the offer, but I'm a fair way from Bristol...

thanks anyway :-)

Both my dogs are fed on Burns Lamb & rice, and they look superb on it! The younger one has been having it since he was 6 months old, and was a bit slim for a while, but now at 4 he's an excellent weight.

I used to have a terrible time trying to keep and get weight on one of my GSDs but since she got to about 2 or 3 year old I've never had a problem.  It could just be that gangley teenager stage that he'll grow out of :-)

Stacey x

I have one dog that hates Burns and loses loads of weight on it but it has been a godsend for my 4 year old WSD.  He always had problems with his anal glands and Burns has sorted it, his coat is the best it has looked for ages and gone all soft.  He is on the venison type and still has loads of energy and is an active dog doing agility.

As the saying goes, what might suit one might not suit another.

Are you sure the dog is actually TOO SLIM< or just not hog fat like most of the dogs you may see huffign round the ring? I have my dog, in summer particually light, you can see his ribs, but you can also see his muscles, something that seems to have been lost in teh Stafford of modern years. Very hard to say without pics, but I bet your dog is simply fit and lean, and not hogfat.
Be glad of that, it will live a longer healthier life as a result!

no, he was slightly too slim.. pin bones showing, floating rib showing a bit too much for my liking..
he's now gained a couple of pounds since this thread started and looks all the better for it...