Keeping weight during the winter?

Question

I'm looking for a good weight keeper and suppliment for one of my TB's he's the hardest weight keeper in winter.

would any of these be good for him this winter?

he has had past colic issues so thats also a concern has anyone ever used these 2 products? my trainer told me about them and said i should use them, but i'm vary wary of these kind of supplements...

cool calories 100 - http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClass.a

spx?productclassid=3725

fat cat - http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClassDescription.aspx?productClassId=65&cmPreserveSource=true&cmPreserveCategory=true

thanks!

Answer 1

First things first, deworm your dog every 6 months...You may think that there'sno way my dog can get worms, but it's innevitable...

Second thing...If your dog is very active or hyper, ofcourse he's not going to be able to keep weight on...This is a good thing ! Very active dogs will live a longer, healthier life.. :-)

Please feed your dog 3 times a day with a very good quality puppy food...Puppy food offers more protein and fat than adult food...Please make sure that the food has a poultry based protein as the first ingredient...Fish protein added will also help as the omega fatty acids are balanced...

You say you have colic issues ?

That's why you need to feed him 3 times a day versus "free feeding" or just once a day...He has a very high metabolism that needs to be somewhat controlled...

Also...There are oil based supplements that you can add to his food that will not only give him a sleek coat, but help him retain weight...But please look at the ingredients carefully...There are a lot of supplements out there that use unnatural main ingredients that may appear effective, but really have no effect..

Cod liver oil added to a quality diet, has immesurable benifits.. :-)

Answer 2

I have honestly never used either of them. We do have an aged horse who can be difficult to keep weight on though. I feed haylage as opposed to hay - he gets as much of that as he will eat without wasting and a conditioning mix plus soaked sugar beet.

Edit> With this diet they don't actually need any supplements ( although they do get a dollop of oil in it) so it is way more cost effective.

Answer 3

I like a mixture of beet pulp, alfalfa pellets, and rice bran.

You don't have to use alfalfa pellets, they also come in grass or rye.

I have used cool calories.  It was allright, nothing bad to say about it, but I preferred the pellet and pulp mix.  It gave my horses something to 'fill' up their bellies.  The cool calories is just a 2 oz. scoop over other food.

The pulp is great for fiber

The alfalfa adds protein

The rice bran is for fat

This worked outstanding for me...without having to pay extra for supplements...

Answer 4

i had to re-read your question 3 times to understand why someone was talking about dogs . . . i still dont get it.... what am i missing?

my tb/qh was hard to keep wieght on as well(and as it turned out had leg health issues). . . we used 2 things, one natural and one liquid . . i'll go look it up later, i really cant remember the names but the liquid, it comes in a container that squeezes out exact mesurments. . . and is mainly for joins, i believe it's quata flex and the natural one was a green powder. . . those two together helped keep weight on, helped his muscles be less stiff in the winter, and made his coat look really good. it even dappled out.

Answer 5

i have a 26 yr old QH who is also very hard to keep weight on in the winter and this past winter i added about 1/4 cup wheat germ oil to his grain  every night and he didn't lose any weight and his coat was stunning...you can also try beet pulp

Answer 6

Platinum Performance. I'ts not a weight gain supplement, but it works like one. I'ts made to just be a great all around supplement. I started giving it to my mare about a year ago and she's gained so much weight that I had to cut back her feed! AND I only feed 1/2 the recommended dose of Platinum!

http://www.platinumperformance.com/anima...

Answer 7

I'm in California and if I have a horse who's starting to look a bit "ribby" or I've purchased some rack of bones,  I go out and buy a 50LB sack of A&M (Ground alfafa and molasses) (In the mid west they use beet pulp BUT I've been informed that you HAVE to add water to it or it will swell in a horse's belly causing colic), dump it into a tub or feeder in the horse's stall, then top it with some rolled barley corn that is mixed with corn oil and apple cider vinegar. (I feed a 3LB coffee can of the barley corn mixture once a day.) The horse will normally devour the first couple of bags of A&M, but then they will slack off as they get used to it (Never had an issue with colic or founder)...

I haven't fed oats or any mixed feed in decades, basically because I've had running horses and TBs I'm trying to keep quiet, so I feed the rolled barley corn mixture to them for weight, NOT heat.

I also give my horses a hot bran mash twice a week with the vinegar and corn oil (I can mix the barleycorn into it.).  I feed 1/2 a 3 LB coffee can of red wheat flakey bran and add enough water to it so that it looks like oatmeal in consistancy.

I make sure that they get 2 flakes of alfafa hay per feeding.

Answer 8

i volunteer at a barn that just got a very skinny TB... they use beet pulp to fatten them up and the TB is looking a lot better already

just make sure you soak the beet pulp enough

Answer 9

Try rice bran. It has a higher fat content than any other feed, and you can feed it to them in bulk without having to worry about colic. It is about the only thing I've found that can put and keep weight on my 18 year old TB mare. For weight gain, I have to feed 6lbs of it a day mixed with 6lbs of Senior.

A lot of people like to feed beet pulp. It helps too but it's main function is as a source of digestible fiber. So it's almost like giving them more forage, like grass hay, it's just more digestible. But it's not necessarily that high in fat. Beet pulp can actually be used as a source of fiber/roughage when no hay or grass is available.

Rice bran, on the other hand, contains a lot of calories from fat to put the weight on a horse. It has 1/3 more calories than beet pulp, by weight. (i.e. you'd have to feed 1.3 pounds of beet pulp to get the same calories as you'd get from 1 pound of rice bran). This is a big reason why I prefer it...it's more cost effective. However, rice bran can have a mineral imbalance, so if you feed more than about 2 pounds of it, you should make sure a horse's diet is supplemented with a mineral block and/or a complete feed (hence why I feed Senior as well--since your horse is younger I'd try Strategy or something like that instead instead although Senior would work too).

I've tried the fatcat...it's okay, it helps keep weight on once it's on but I don't think it works that well for gaining weight.  I also like rice bran because it fills up their stomach more, gives them something to digest, instead of just being a powdery supplement.