Dog Food for a Parson Russel aka Jack Russel only taller...?

Question

So I have a Parson Russel (same as a Jack Russel only taller). She is VERY hipper and uses a LOT of energy. Thankfully I started early trainer her how to control her energy. The key is to let her get out all her energy in positive games and training so that she knows where it is okay and where it is not. She runs laps in my yard all the time. It is soo funny! It is like the energy never stops but I cant lie I love how playful she is and the fact that she can play with dogs three times her size better than those her size due to her energy level.

My only issue now is I'm looking for some good dog food for her. I am on a budget so I cant pay for $50 bags of food but I am willing to pay an average amount. Due to the fact that she uses a lot of energy she has issues gaining weight. I feed her three times a day (Mid day just started a few weeks ago just not as much as the morning and night meals) plus treats for training. Yet her bones still show like she doesn't get any food. I understand that her bread is very thin but I'm a little worried about how thin she is. She has her times where she is at a good weight and even though she is thin her bones dont show like a dog that no one cares for. But if she gets too much play time (which I dont see ANYTHING wrong with) her bones start showing very sickly well.

Is there any food that will help her keep up with how much fat she burns?

Oh and one last important note she has a very weak stomach. She isn't that picky of eater but her stomach cant handle table food AT ALL or cheaply made food (not cheap food just the ones that are made with a lot of processed stuff). So for those of you wanting to feed her some table food to help her gain weight that wont work. I've already tried that a few times and I didn't like the after math at all. I felt soo bad for her :(

There is one dog food that I got from Walmart that she likes and helped her gain weight a little and didn't make her sick after eating it BUT then she couldn't go to the bathroom. So I had to stop using it. Now she is back to skin and bones with her puppy food.

It is like there is no happy place for her. If she can eat it, she cant gain weight and if she can gain weight with it she cant eat it since she gets sick.. Please help me!

Answer 1

Have you tried feeding a higher quality food? Anything you can get from Walmart is going to be crappy quality.

Not all pet food is made equally. A lot of it is full of corn, by-products, dyes, unhealthy preservatives, filler grains and all sorts of nasty stuff. A lot of pet food companies are perfectly happy to dump cheap leftovers in. Will it kill your dog? No, it has to be nutritionally complete and safe to even be marketed. Is it healthy? Not by a long shot.

Corn is a low quality ingredient you never want to see in your pet food. Corn and low quality grains are two of the biggest culprits when it comes to food allergies in our pets.

Thankfully, there are some excellent dog foods being made these days that include organic, human grade ingredients rather than trash not fit for human consumption.

Examples of low quality foods to avoid: Anything you can find in a grocery store will be low end, Purina, Iams, Eukanuba, Science Diet, Royal Canin, Pedigree, Kibbles n' Bits, Beneful, Ol'Roy.

Examples of high quality foods to look for: Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Canidae All Life Stages, Fromm Four Star, Merrick, GO Natural, Nature's Variety Prairie, Nature's Logic, Artemis Fresh Mix.

Although the high quality foods are more expensive, you're getting what you're paying for. Less filler material means more concentrated nutrients... this means you typically need to feed far less of the high quality food than you would of the low quality one. Which also means less p**p!

A great option is to go with an entirely grainless diet. Many of the high quality foods now put out grainless formulas. Some good grainless diet's include: Innova EVO, Wellness CORE, Blue Wilderness, Nature's Variety Instinct, Orijen, Fromm Surf & Turf, Now! and Sold Gold Barking At The Moon, Taste of the Wild.

Some of the high end foods can be found in common pet stores. Petsmart carries Blue Buffalo products (such as the excellent grain free diet Blue Wilderness). Petco carries Wellness and Solid Gold. If you can't find a food, most of the high quality food brands have websites with store locators on them.

Remember that foods should be switched gradually, especially when switching to a higher quality one, so as not to upset tummies.

Another option for feeding dogs is to feed raw. This is something that should be thoroughly researched before being attempted:

http://www.barfworld.com/

http://www.rawfed.com/

http://www.rawlearning.com/

http://www.wysong.net/controversies/rawm...

More on dog food:

http://www.dogfoodproject.com/index.php?...  (Learn how to determine the quality of your dog's food.)

http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_... (Dog food reviews. Anything with five or six stars is a great food.)

Answer 2

Hi roxy, by the time she is 2-3 years her weight will stabilise.  She is still a growing girl.  the more variety you can introdue to her diet - the more easily her intestines will be able to cope with different foods.  You just add a very small amount of something new to her normal food.  You cant keep her on puppy food forever.  Because it is giving her more energy, so it can be a bad cycle - the more she gets of the high energy puppy food, the more high energy she gets.

What about rice, pasta, veges, - mixed in with the puppy food??

Fattening food - peanut butter mixed with cottage cheese - bild up to a big spoonful a day should help.  But remember, when she matures she could start to put wieght on easily.

Buy the book Dummies guide to the Jack russell - it will be a great help.

Denise

Answer 3

What is her age?? My lab mix is very large (tall) and thin for a lab in general and he is also very hyper and playful, he always looked so skinny to me with his bones always showing but he never would gain weight for over a year, he is now a little over a year old and is starting to fill out a little, so if she is still a puppy she just might need to start to fill out first... if it helps we use ol roy.

Answer 4

I am a registered JRTCA breeder and I think I can help you with your dog.  She may have worms, even if you can't see them.  This is one of the reasons a dog has trouble processing their food, losing weight, and being fussy.  

First I would buy a wormer (not expensive) from the pet store.  Safeguard is a very good one, or you can get pyrantel pamoate. Worm her 2 times - 2 weeks apart.

As for the dogfood, there is a very good dog food called Eagle pack  It is quite expensive, but there is good news.  They made a dogfood sold in feed stores called Prism. It is exactly the same thing (the representative for Eagle told me)  It is about $26 for 40lb.  Get the Orange bag it is their Performance formula, or get puppy formula. Increase her intake and reduce her activity.  I would feed her 3/4 Cup twice a day. and even a lunch just until the weight comes on her.

Feel free to email me if you have any questions.

I have also included a link to the JRTCAs website.  The Parson actually came from the terriers registered at the JRTCA.  

The Jack Russell standard is from 10 inches at the shoulder to 15 inches.

The Parson standard is from 12 inches to 15 inches.  Most Jack Russell are around 13 inches tall

Answer 5

Home made dog food is much healthier.

Here's the one I use but there's many other good ones too just google it.

http://www.sallysdogfood.com/

Answer 6

Here's some weight-gain recipes for dogs: http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/HEALTH/...  Yes, they do have 'people' food in them, but do note that in almost all cases the meat is uncooked and other ingredients are not highly processed.  Raw meat is very digestible to dogs, and uncooked people food of the type that is listed here probably will not cause your dog issues if you introduce it slowly to her diet.  

A raw diet may be one way to go with her.  I'm not incredibly educated on the subject, though I do know a few people who feed raw and their dogs look great.  My dog trainer now feeds one of her dogs, who had problems keeping weight on, raw foods, and the dog has not had a problem maintaining weight since.  Do some research of your own and decide if this is something you would like to try, there are several great websites out there, as well as some books on the subject.  If you have slaughter houses nearby, you can generally feed a raw diet more cheaply than most kibbles.  

If you're sticking with kibble, in the grain-free department, I would check out Solid Gold Barking at the Moon.  It is a grain-free food, and is fairly high-calorie, and compared to the other grain-free high-end foods, it's quite affordable (at least where I live it is about 2/3 the price of other grain-frees).  If you can spend a little more, Innova EVO Small Bites is a great food, very high density, and it is coated with probiotic bacteria that help with digestion.  It's been a god-send for my little Boston who can't tolerate any grains and has in general a sensitive stomach.  Orijen is also a really great food, but harder to find than the Solid Gold and Evo, and also higher in price.  

If you're looking for something a little lower in price than the Barking at the Moon, check out some grain-containing high-end foods, like the regular Innova Small Bites, which is not grain-free but does not use processed ingredients or fillers.  Wellness also makes an excellent line, including a couple of foods specifically made for sensitive stomachs and food allergies.  Canidae is coming out with some limited-ingredient formulas and grain-free foods this fall that may be worth a look.  They generally have some of the better prices in the high-end dog food market.  

Good luck!  

Answer 7

Look for homemade dog food recipes on the net.

And buy all the ingredients. It'll last a lot longer than dog food from the supermarket, and home-made will also make it live longer.

Also it's healthier than all the junk they put in shop bought dog food.

:) Also it'll save you around $1000 a year!