Food to help put on weight

Right, Mia is a Great Dane and I currently feed her on Wainwrights Turkey and Vegetable which is under 23% protein I think. She gets 800g a day which is a lot and more than the guideline for her weight but she is always starving. Her food is spread across 2 meals and she also gets scraps inbetween. The problem is that she has lost 5kg in the last 6 months (with ~2-3kg in the last month alone!) and is now 49kg . She is just under 2 and should not be losing weight. I have mentioned this to the vet but they have just said to keep an eye on her for now as she has gone through a lot in the last few months (false pregnancy, spay operation with lump biopsies and she is currently recovering from a bad toe infection).

Thing is I'm worried about just waiting it out , I really don't want her to lose any more as she is looking boney. I can't afford (I don't mean financially) to feed her any larger portions as she already gets 400g in one go which is a lot (and soaked) and I don't want to increase her risk of bloating. I also can't really afford to add in an extra meal in the middle to give her extra because both me and the OH work and it would put serious exercise restrictions on her (again because of bloat). I also don't necessarily trust the vets nutrition guidelines as they seem to focus on supermarket brands.

So... can anyone recommend any good foods that I could try to fatten her up with? It would need to be grain free as grain upsets her tummy. I'm tempted to go for a much higher protein food so that she can eat more calories without having to take in more volume. I have avoided doing this as she has grown because I didn't want to cause any skeletal problems, but she is pretty much fully grown now so that shouldn't be an issue. Are there any other risks of giving high protein food to deep chested dogs?

Alternatively are there any natural high protein/fatty foods I could supplement her with in the evenings that might help? I was thinking maybe some tripe or liver or maybe another fatty bit of meat or something?

Tripe
Pasta
Potatoes
Pigs ears

How about Arden grange sensitive? I think its higher protein and oil. My GSD is fianlly maintaining his weight well since being on this.

Raw tripe - nothing better, they love it & its good for them

Have you tried Orijen?

It is completey grain free, has a high protein content and fat content so is excellent for putting on weight. It also means you can feed smaller volume.

My GSD who consumes circa 1kg of raw food at a sitting or more, has half a cup of Orijen!

Feeding a high protein food is not a risk to dogs predisposed to GD/GDV (I have two breeds which are).

Also this way you can still feed twice a day with no problems.

Remember that when you start to feed extra fat/oil this is laxative.

http://www.orijenpetfoods.co.uk/

Iv heard chappie tins are good for putting weight on

I agree with SB's post and I also think its the protein she may need. I tried wainwrights etc with my boy and there quite simply not enough calories and I too didnt like the amounts I was having to feed etc....it actually wasnt possible to feed him enough of those types of kibbles!!! The quality/protein and calorie content just were not enough for him.

I'd say consider Orijen or even raw feeding if you can. Raw feeding made a big difference to my boy.

My boy can also eat 1kg of raw meat at a sitting and if you look at whats in most dry foods and the low protein levels etc, there is no way he could have had what he needed from a food that was roughly 74% NOT protein, meat, animal based etc etc


Hope you find a way that suits you and your dog.

Not grain free however, contain either wheat or corn or both. I can't feed them for that reason That said, Wainwrights isn't grain free, it contains barley, some flavours contain rice.

I never had a problem with Wainwrights but then Rupert needs stupid amounts of food on all the dog foods I've tried. He's on raw now, gets around 1kg of meat a day and doing well on that. I'd go for Orijen if I went back to feeding kibble.

my boy has always been light for a doober very well muscled but not much coverage on his ribs and recently i have tried barking heads fuss pot (salmon & potato) and he has visibly increased weight since being on that.

Ours went from pure muscle to a wee bit o' fat wi rice.