# How do I get my dog....



## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Hey, My beagle-bassett Emma is too skinny. She is kind of stubborn. I think the people who owned her before me gave her table scrapes and that is a no no in my house. We use old roy and have used it without an issue with all of our dogs. I am aware that people have their preferences with dog food and you are welcome to voice yours but my personal choice is that brand. Remember that all brands have their horror stories. Anyways, is their any tricks to get a hound to gain weight? She has no health problems but she is craving human food and I will not give in to table scrapes. The food I eat isn't even healthy for me :| She isn't skin and bones she weighs about 35-40ish but I would like to see her get a little bit of healthy bulk like a basset if it is all possible. Maybe she just takes after her beagle side? Shes the girl in my avatar. Please feel free to voice if you think she is too skinny or not. Attached is a close up body shot of her. If you need any others I can provide.


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## sparkyjoe (Feb 27, 2012)

Well, she looks in good weight to me, but I would have to get hands on her to know for sure. Have you done the hands on test for weight?

A couple more questions...

How old is she?
Is she spayed?

And finally, yeah, I personally wouldn't feed Ol' Roy if I was being tortured, but if your dogs are happy, healthy, and well cared for I can't object.

ETA: Here's a link to a page to help decide if your dog is at a good weight. http://www.k9station.com/articles/fat.htm

_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

She feels boney in the rear end to me. You can see it a little bit in the picture. I will check out that site. The other two are fine weight. Perfect even, I have a terrier that weighs about 12 pounds which is fine for his breed, he is a mix between a border terrier and a dachsund? Not really sure. The Aussie weighs about 50-60 pounds. He is the big fluffy bear in the picture. 

She is 5 years old and she is spayed.Thanks Joe


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

From what that webpage says she is at a fit weight. Maybe I am just used to my sisters fat dogs? :lol:. My main issue is I never saw a dog with prominent hipbones before.


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## sparkyjoe (Feb 27, 2012)

Ok, I know what that feels like, and I can relate. My boy was always underweight as a youngster, in fact one of his nicknames was "shelf butt." But, after he hit around 3 years old he was finally able to add weight. Sometimes they don't fill out until they reach maturity. Being spayed/neutered can also help them put on weight.

In his later years, and after the cancer diagnosis, he lost weight like mad and I had to add all sorts of supplements to keep any weight on him. Poor old pup.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## sparkyjoe (Feb 27, 2012)

Just saw your last comment, and yeah, most folks overfeed their pets to the point that the poor things are way over their ideal weight. I always tried to keep my boy on the light side.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

I wouldn't know what to do if my terrier mix was overweight and wasn't trying to eat me. Same with my Aussie/Collie mix. He is a big teddy and loves to lay his head on my shoulders to sleep but he also loves to chase the local kitties even though he wouldn't know what to do with one if he caught it. My Beagle/Basset is lovable and sweet. I just don't know how my sister can be okay with stuffing her babies full of crap. It's like she thinks "If I give them a treat they know I love them" The best way you show them you love them is to keep them at a healthy weight. What dog food do you prefer?

Attaching total cuteness for you to absorb. :lol:


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Please ignore my dirty and unswept bedroom. I swear it isn't that disgusting all the time. *BLUSHES*


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## sparkyjoe (Feb 27, 2012)

Awwww, they're total sweeties! I really miss my boy. (Sob!) I am in serious puppy withdrawal.

I don't have a dog right now, I lost my boy late last year, so I'm not current on foods. The recent big recall was scary.

In general I prefer grain-free, and I will probably rotate protein sources with my next dog. I went through lots of feeds to find that right one for my boy who had a sensitive tummy. I think I fed Evo the longest but they had just been sold a short time when I had to take him off kibble because of the wound in his mouth from the melanoma.

I like Acana, or some of the other smaller, Canadian manufacturers.

The thing that I like is that the higher quality foods usually require leads to be fed, therefore less poo is produced.

I honestly think that my use of a "raw type" diet (Honest Kitchen) added several *quality* months to my boy's life. Super expensive, but worth it.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## sparkyjoe (Feb 27, 2012)

Oh, and do not worry about the house. I've been sick with migraines for months and the last thing I want to do on my few good days is clean house! We're talking pig sty!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## ManInBlack2010 (Sep 7, 2011)

She looks to be in good weight to me. You should be able to feel her ribs without having to use a lot of pressure, same goes for the hind quarters. I personally would switch food. You don't have to go all out and feed your dogs the most expensive stuff on the market, i know that price is usually what it comes down too. From my experience Taste of the Wild has been cheaper than most high end foods but is great quality. Thats what I feed my dogs. But even something like Eukanuba is a little better than old roy but still not extremely expensive. I like Euk's Adult Lamb and Rice formula.


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## Enkil (Jan 15, 2012)

My dog food of choice is Blue. That's what I have my pup on. Have to have him on quality food because he's going to be my service dog.

Being a hound, she'll look/feel a little lean. They tend to be more muscle. She looks good to me. I know how you feel about table scraps. Mine gets none though the roomies give their danes lots. :/ Only thing my pup gets is checken broth frozen into ice cubes for hot days.


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## starrlamia (May 3, 2012)

she looks fine to me too, though if you are worried you could try a higher calorie food. TBH premium foods are more expensive but your pets will eat a lot less of it because premium food has more digestable food and less filler then stuff like ol' roy. So it kinda works out in the end


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Ha, yea, I just don't seem to have enough time for housework anymore and the husband won't clean. He comes home and colapses and doesn't move. I have been hearing more and more about kitchen prepared raw foods but I am concerned about her. She gets sick if she eats anything other than dog food. I may try something for sensitive tummys and feed her seperate from the other dogs.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

I agree, she does look good weight but if you feel she NEEDS a few more pounds, feed her your brand of puppy chow. Our dog Zoey Mo was such a scrawny thing we thought she was sick or something, other people though we didn't feed her (She ate her bowl and our other dogs at times). As it turns out she got just a veracious metabolism and works off regular food super quick, so we switched her to puppy chow (vet recommended). She finally had got a few pounds on her now and looks a lot better


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Hmm, thats a lot of good ideas. Her being a beagle partly would cause her to have a higher metabolism. That's a good idea and a cheaper fix. Thanks! I hope the puppy chow works for her. It would be more sensitive on her tummy too.


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

It'll put on the weight quick because its full of fats so make sure you watch closely and when you feel like she's got those couple extra pounds start slowly switching her back. If she loses it again you might have to figure out a mixture of adult and puppy food that works for her. 

our other dog is getting chubby too even though she doesn't need the puppy food but when they switch bowls on ya every 2 minutes its hard to control who eats what.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

ManInBlack2010 said:


> She looks to be in good weight to me. You should be able to feel her ribs without having to use a lot of pressure, same goes for the hind quarters. I personally would switch food. You don't have to go all out and feed your dogs the most expensive stuff on the market, i know that price is usually what it comes down too. From my experience Taste of the Wild has been cheaper than most high end foods but is great quality. Thats what I feed my dogs. But even something like Eukanuba is a little better than old roy but still not extremely expensive. I like Euk's Adult Lamb and Rice formula.


I am glad you said this the way you did. My sister tells me all the time all of my dogs are too skinny. My vet says my terrier is perfect weight. He got extra check ups because when he was found he was covered in cow poo and underweight. Just because my dogs don't collapse like logs and pant like hers do when they barely walk doesn't mean they are malnurished. Her dogs are way fat. She has a norwegian elkhound and a beagle/dachsund mix. Both obese. Both breath heavy. Both get gobs of food and iced dog cookie treats everyday. My dogs don't get treats I want my doggys to be healthy and being overweight is not good for a pooch. Emma just seemed a little skinny to me. I am glad no one here seems to think she is. That's great.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

lvandert said:


> It'll put on the weight quick because its full of fats so make sure you watch closely and when you feel like she's got those couple extra pounds start slowly switching her back. If she loses it again you might have to figure out a mixture of adult and puppy food that works for her.
> 
> our other dog is getting chubby too even though she doesn't need the puppy food but when they switch bowls on ya every 2 minutes its hard to control who eats what.


I know what you mean. My three prefer one big bowl where they take turns eating. It's actually pretty funny. But all three heads go in the water bowl at the same time. :lol:


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

lol if its hot out Zoey-Mo will paw at her water dish, trying to swim in it. Untill we let her outside and fill up her pool


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## SweetNightmare (Mar 15, 2012)

Working at a pet store I see all shapes and sizes of dogs. Some carry their weight differently. I know my chow mix carries her weight much more leanly than other chow mixes. As long as you can't visibly see the ribs, but can still feel them, and there's a defined waistline, you're good. As far as getting her to eat her dog food, you might try going to a grain free food to see if she likes it better. Blue Buffalo Wilderness, Natures Variety Instinct, and Orijen are just a few excellent brands you can look into. (I spend a lot of time reading labels.) Many dogs do fine on cheaper dog food, while other do so much better on a higher quality. Higher protien like Wilderness and Orijen have can also help fill her out if she doesn't just happen to have very prominent hip bones. I know every dog food has horror stories, but these are the ones I've seen the least horror from.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

SweetNightmare*hmm, okay. Thanks for that input. Good to hear from somebody who is reads those labels and works with it.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

lvandert said:


> lol if its hot out Zoey-Mo will paw at her water dish, trying to swim in it. Untill we let her outside and fill up her pool


Ahhh! the cuteness! She looks like a shepard. Too cool though she reminds me of a fox in a weird way.


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## Kenny G (Jun 9, 2012)

It's really difficult to say what the "ideal" weight of a dog is. It depends largely on the build and body type of the individual dog. Speak to your vet they can tell and recommend if she needs to gain or lose weight, and how much.


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## xShainax (Feb 11, 2012)

She looks in good weight. I won't worry too much but if you are concerned go to the vets. BTW, your black dog is cute


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Thanks, he is my fuzzy teddy bear the big silky sweet heart. Sigh.... Yea this tax season all three go for their check ups and the boys get neutered. Fun fun. I figure get them both done together. My vet is a good country vet. He took in my terrier free of charge and wormed him and gave him a once over since he was covered in cow poo. He was concerned with the bacteria. He had him in a week later and vaccinated him with all but the rabies since he wasn't old enough for about 20 dollars. Good guy.


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## Nuts4Mutts (Jun 20, 2012)

She looks beautiful to me. Some dogs are naturally slender, even if it technically 'defies' their 'breed standards'. I've read adding boiled chicken/rice can help add a bit of weight to her. 

I'm honestly pretty amazed that you're brave enough to say your dogs eat Ol Roy! Haha! I was on Dogster.. and knew that if I even whispered about putting 'Ol Roy' and 'healthy dog' in the same sentence, I'd be nagged on forever! I say whatever food keeps the dog happy & healthy. Perhaps looking for a food where meat is the first ingredient though? Most dog food has corn or some other grain as #1, some dogs that are inactive, it's fine. But dogs who have a high metabolism need more meat in their diet. After all, doggies in the wild eat pretty much nothing but meat 

One brand that is very good quality for how inexpensive it is - "Nutra Nuggets". [I make sure to get the lamb & rice kind, lamb is the first ingredient] It's not a whole lot more than Purina Dog chow/ pedigree/ol roy/etc, but it has some better quality ingredients in it. 

Perhaps consult your vet about supplements that might help her as well? 

Good luck! Btw your dogs are all so pretty! =D


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## BeckyFish97 (Apr 9, 2012)

I wouldn't say she is underweight, but I wouldn't say she is overweight either, if you feel she is too skinny then I would say you know her best, you're probably right. I feed eve fish4dogs, and when she was young I gave her scrambled eggs with it, to help with her muscles, maybe try giving her some eggs with her normal dog food, and then slowly wean her off of it when you see her starting to gain weight.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

LoL yea Nuts4Mutts, around here Ole' Roy is the food of choice. Must be a thing in my area. If I feed my terrier anything else he gets sick. I almost lost all three of them once when I switched them to the Dollar General brand and mixed it in because I couldn't get to the store. Mistake learned from. I don't have any type of opinion on dog foods really because they all have their horror stories that someone out there has. It's all about what your dog can handle. I do believe Ole' Roy has a meatier option than what I am using. Thanks for your input on her.

Beckyfish* I think that I am going to try to switch her diet up and see what happens. She will be going for a vet check shorty with my boys when I get them neutered. I am going to have him weigh her and give her a once over just to be safe.


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## RedFynn21 (Jan 5, 2012)

Hey...just thought I'd pop on here real quick to say hi. Your dog looks like she's the ideal weight to me, and if you feel whatever brand food you feed her works, then that's all that matters! But I had a similar worry about my Dakhota when we first got him. He was actually very skinny. The vet recomended Taste Of The Wild dog food--it's high in protein, and he put on 5 pounds in about 4 months. But hey--to each their own. lol Maybe give it a look, if you are thinking of changing up her diet? I also feed it to Dakhota because he has really bad food allergies, and it seems to be the only food he can eat w/o upseting him. Hope all is well!

-RedFynn


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Never thought of allergies as being the cause of her weight. I am glad she looks okay to everyone though. I think I am used to overweight dogs. My sisters dogs are all fat. My moms dog is fat. I was getting a complex and anxiety because my sister kept saying she is too skinny. I am going to read some dog food labels this weekend and see if I can find something a little higher in protein. Heres my moms dogs just to illustrate my family's animal obesity issues. She isn't too bad in that pic but she put on about another 10-20 since then if you can picture it. My sisters elkhound is way fat for the breed. About 65 pounds, she should weigh about 40-50. She's a purebreed. Her beagle/dachsund is to fat too. Should weigh maybe 30 at most and weighs about 40. It's rediculous. I wish I had a life as good as her dogs. Being fed dog cookies with icing and huge cans of soft food on top of an endless amount of dried food everyday.


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## ClassicCharm (Jan 17, 2010)

Your hound is the PERFECT WEIGHT. DON'T put more weight on her. Hounds are very inclined to being overweight and then have joint issues, especially the long-backed breeds (like the Basset in your pup). Having some extra cushion is not good for these dogs. She looks like she's athletic, which will convert food into muscle instead of fat. To feel if she's in good weight, you should still be able to feel her ribs through her sides when you run your hands along her sides. You should see the points of her hips and shoulders when she moves, but they should be rounded and not jutting out (like she appears to have in your profile pic). 

I have to very strongly disagree with the poster who recommended feeding puppy food to your adult. This should only ever be done for a dog that is severely underweight, as puppy food is very high in calories as it is relied upon to support the energy required for growth and development, which is much higher than the energy required to sustain good health in an adult dog. Feeding puppy food to an adult hound will make her very overweight and very prone to health issues. 

p.s. She's lovely


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Okay thanks for the input. She is built exactly as you said she should be built. I can feel her ribs but only slightly if I barely put pressure. She doesn't have any jutting joints. Is it common for bassett's to get cysts like I have been hearing? I am curious she doesn't have any cysts. 

What does everyone think about people who feel that to overfeed a dog is to love them? What would you say to a loved one who is doing this?


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## lvandert (Feb 23, 2012)

we had to be blunt with my mom, so it was "Mom your making the dog fat, and unless you want it to die earlier than normal quit it!" But I don't think that will work out the same way...


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Yea my sister is stubborn. I am going to try to get a pic of her dogs this weekend and maybe if there is some critiquing from other people she will get it. She'll get mad but she will get over it.


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## LittleBettaFish (Oct 2, 2010)

Ignore anyone who tells you your dog is skinny. Far too many people have become accepting of obesity in their pets. You see it all the time in vets and parks.

Our GS female weighs 27kgs. She is just pure muscle. Everyday she goes for a free-run or 1-2 hour walk as she has to be fit for shows. The amount of people that tell us she is too skinny is astounding. I think there is such a disconnect nowadays between what is a healthy weight for pets _and_ people. 

Your dog's weight looks fine to me. I personally like my dogs to be on the lean side. Obesity wreaks havoc on a dog's joints and it is so so important to keep the weight off older dogs especially. 

Always go for a grain-free brand of food if you can. A lot of dogs are allergic to corn and I do not like to see it in any of my pet food. We are very limited in brands here in Australia (we feed Earthborn Holistics Primitive and Eaglepack Holistic), but the site http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com has tons of info and reviews. Plus it explains what to look for and what to avoid.


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## registereduser (Jul 30, 2010)

sparkyjoe said:


> And finally, yeah, I personally wouldn't feed Ol' Roy if I was being tortured,


:thumbsup:


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Yea I'm going to ignore it now. It all seems a little silly to pay attention to now that I have heard from you all. I prefer my dogs to be lean as I have seen a few dogs suffer with arthritis now that I think about it, they were obese.


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## ClassicCharm (Jan 17, 2010)

Shirleythebetta said:


> Yea I'm going to ignore it now. It all seems a little silly to pay attention to now that I have heard from you all. I prefer my dogs to be lean as I have seen a few dogs suffer with arthritis now that I think about it, they were obese.


I work in a small animal clinic- honestly, it's so sad how many animals are afflicted with conditions because their owners over-feed them. Your dog is in perfect shape. Ignore people who tell you that she should have more fat on her. Keeping her in good weight makes you a responsible pet owner


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Thanks *Smiles big* I love my babies and want them to be healthy.


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## SweetNightmare (Mar 15, 2012)

Agreed on the overweight issue. I live in a house with a woman who feeds her dogs a can of dog food a day, treats, free feeds kibble all day (and if they run out, she refills it), gives leftovers and table scraps, and sometimes even cooks chicken and white rice for them and will even pick the chicken off the bone for them. While my dog was here, I fed her around 1 1/2-2 cups a day. A couple of times I offered her two feedings, but she actually turned her nose up. She's a good weight. The woman's lab and chihuahua are HUGE. The lab limps around badly because of his hip joint problems, and the chi has a huge pot belly over the bulge of her enlarged liver. It makes me sad to see those dogs. I also see overweight dogs every day at my job. Luckily, though, I also see many very healthy ones. My store greatly advises grain free or at the very least corn free and encourages good exercise routines. Like I said, if you can feel the faint outline of the dog's ribcage, but can't visibly see the ribs, she's fine.


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## Shirleythebetta (Jan 9, 2012)

Yea my dogs run on the treadmill too. My little terrier runs 3 miles an hour. Pretty fast for a dog with little legs. It is sad to see people who think overfeeding is good but it is abuse.


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