# Please help. I need to faten a dog up:confused:



## shellmark618 (Dec 11, 2012)

I pick up a rat terrier that has been abused, starved, and neglected. She is warming up fast. I took her to the vet yesterday and she is under weight along with other issues we are dealing with. But she is not liking the food the vet put her on. WHat else can i use to fatten her up but I don't want to blow her BM's up either. LOL

Please help
Shell


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## ChaosIsAWeim (Feb 12, 2011)

What did the vet put her on? How much underweight is she, if you have a picture it might help with giving advice. 

You could try satin balls, but you have to be very careful with them, don't over feed because they can cause pancreatitis.


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## shellmark618 (Dec 11, 2012)

http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/a520/shellmark143/IMG-20121214-00227.jpg I hope this goes through.

The vet put her on a high calorie wet dog food. Feed her 3-4 times aday besides her regular food. She weighed in just shy of 5ounds and she is suppose to be closer to 15pound. She is nothing but bones. None of my dogs have been big fans of science diet as well as me. I have tried to feed it to her and she will not touch it.She has been abused,neglected and starved.

Help help
Thank you
Shell


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## Bethl (Apr 30, 2012)

she sure is under weight  Here's the thing no matter how good/high calorie the food is if she won't eat it it does no good. Have you considered making your own? It's not that hard - example cook up some hamburger (rinse it if lots of fat) add some cooked rice, pasta, vegs, maybe even add some gravy to flavor it up. If she likes it you can cook this in batches and freeze, and the micro to thaw/warm up. Same thing can be done with chicken. Buy a whole chicken boil it/cook it - remove all meat, chunk into bite sizes pieces and add other food items to it, put in zippy bags and freeze.


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## hamandeggs (Aug 11, 2011)

Bethl said:


> she sure is under weight  Here's the thing no matter how good/high calorie the food is if she won't eat it it does no good. Have you considered making your own? It's not that hard - example cook up some hamburger (rinse it if lots of fat) add some cooked rice, pasta, vegs, maybe even add some gravy to flavor it up. If she likes it you can cook this in batches and freeze, and the micro to thaw/warm up. Same thing can be done with chicken. Buy a whole chicken boil it/cook it - remove all meat, chunk into bite sizes pieces and add other food items to it, put in zippy bags and freeze.


Sorry, but this isn't enough nutrition. 

I would try a higher-quality kibble in addition to the wet food.


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## ChaosIsAWeim (Feb 12, 2011)

Ok, I agree put the dog on the highest quality food you can get that won't break the bank, one that is wheat/corn/soy free. You can supplement that with satin balls. What protein source is the food you are feeding? You can try a different protein source and see if that might be the issue.


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## Bethl (Apr 30, 2012)

My bad! I meant that in addition to a good dog food and/or when she just won't eat the dog food


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## beretw (Sep 25, 2012)

Satin Balls may be a good option for you here.


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## HollowHeaven (Feb 5, 2012)

I'll stand by satin balls. I've had to use them with my husky several times and they do help.


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## shellmark618 (Dec 11, 2012)

Some of you have suggested satin balls, how do you make them or where can I buy them?

Thanks,
Shell and furkids


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## RedGermanPinscher (Jun 22, 2012)

shellmark618 said:


> Some of you have suggested satin balls, how do you make them or where can I buy them?
> 
> Thanks,
> Shell and furkids


Some higher calorie foods I have had luck with are in no particular order:

1. Nature's Variety Instincts
2. EarthBorn Holistics: Primitive Natural 
3. EVO: The Red Meat & The Herring formulas


Take a look at www.dogfoodadvisor.com for some other high quality foods.


There are several different versions but this seems to be one of the more popular recipes.

http://www.holisticdog.org/Nutrition/Satinballs/satinballs.html
Just noticed that at the bottom of the page there is a link to additional recipes.

And please remember, whether you choose to go with the Satin balls or not. Start with several small portioned meals a day and gradually decrease the amount of feedings and increase the amount of food per feeding as you see improvement. Feeding to much too fast can cause some devastating issues..



Ex: If her ideal weight is 15 lbs and suggested feeding amounts are 1-1 1/2 cups a day divide it up into say 1/4 of a cup 4-6x's a day (if possible) then gradually work your way to 1/2 cup 2-4x's a day so on and so forth till you find an amount per feeding and amount per day that works well for the both of you..


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## seaboxador (Sep 23, 2012)

The vet will know best what to feed her. You could always try making it more enticing by adding some high value food like bacon, dehydrated salmon, etc. A little cut up small can go a long way.


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## mejohnso (Dec 19, 2012)

Maybe try some canned pumpkin? Maybe add it to a kong with the Science Diet for now? We just adopted a very underweight Beagle and while we are having lots of other behavioral issues with him, the one thing that seems to be going well is his weight gain. Also, did the vet de-worm your rat terrier? I know that our guy was a little slow to begin gaining and it turned out he had a tapeworm. Once he finished his de-worming treatment and we began supplementing with the canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix, just the plain) he started gaining a little more than a pound a week.


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## ChaosIsAWeim (Feb 12, 2011)

shellmark618 said:


> Some of you have suggested satin balls, how do you make them or where can I buy them?
> 
> Thanks,
> Shell and furkids


There are numerous recipes, this seems to be the most common

http://www.heartlandgdr.org/satin_balls.htm


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