How can I help Tank?

Question

I have a Great Dane mix who we named Tank. He is about 1yr old. My husband and I adopted him on Aug 22, 2008 from an animal shelter. He is skinny to the point where we can see his ribs. This broke our hearts, so we decided to take care of him. The keepers told us that he eats normally and has regular bowel movements. But the only day he ate well is the day we brought him home. Since then he scarcely eats. When we took him to the vet, he told us that he is a 2 on a scale of 1-10 as far as weight. The vet also checked him for heart worms, and the test came out negative. Tank is very strong and full of energy, but the fact that he is not eating concerns us. A sales person at Petco told us that if we give him science diet puppy food it will fatten him up. And my neighbor said giving him by-product free food mixed with wet food will help fatten him up. Is there anything else i can do for him or any other advice anyone can give me to help my dog??

Answer 1

Maybe your not giving him the right food perhaps

Answer 2

Try giving him a good quality food like Orijens.  It's not really more than any food and is very good.  There are no byproducts in it, they use human grade food.  

They also make a large breed puppy food.  I think technically he's still a puppy, great danes keep growing until they are about 2 (not in height so much, but they keep filling out and bones grow dense).  

Don't use Iams food, or those kinds.  They use horrible ingredients that won't help your dog now.

If he's not into eating, try mixing up a bit of wet food into his meals.  This might make him a little more interested.

If he's still not eating he should see a vet.  There may be a medical reason he isn't eating.  

Good luck, I hope he fattens up!

Answer 3

I had this problem with many rescues who came to me,some times the stomach just skrinks.Here is what I did and it always worked.First start with a good dry food such as Canidae or Solid Gold.Get some brown rice cook enough to give you 3 cups a day=it stores for up to 3 days so you only have to cook a batch every 3 days.Then get some cheap gravy mix from your store,I paid like 50 cents a packet,then add one cup rice to one cup food 3 to four times a day put around 1 table spoon of gravy mix you just want to add a little water to spread it not make it mushy.I never lost on and always managed to put the weight on them.Good Luck Tilks Mom

Answer 4

you can take him to the vet for a complete blood panel for one. just checking for heartworms is nothing. there could be a hundred things wrong with him. you could get puppy food and mix it with adult food. a high protein diet will fatten him up blue buffalo makes one so does nutro.

Answer 5

If he was mine I would be doing everything.  Even cooking myself for him.  Just love him and try everything.  If you see a food he particularly likes then stick with that.  Find something he likes and stick with that.  There is some underlying reason he will not eat.  Good Luck!

Answer 6

Whenever our rescue group gets an emaciated dog in we feed a recipe called "Satin Balls."  The cheap hamburger encourages eating & puts some pounds on.

http://theherbs.info/Pets/satinball.html

I have a mastiff breed & he didn't really fill out until about 2-3 years old.  And for big dogs it is better to keep them lean for better health & joints, so don't go too overboard.

We continue to mix some yummy things in our dogs kibble (be sure you're feeding a high quality kibble, nothing from the grocery store with corn or wheat).  We mix in a raw egg, chicken broth, rice, left over meat & I'll even sometimes mix up a little gravy & then thin it with broth for the dogs.

Thank you for adopting this boy & best wishes!!!

Answer 7

try feeding him twice or three times a day. he'll be able to eat more.

Answer 8

Good for you for adopting a dane from a shelter!  The most important thing you can remember now is that even though he's "huge", he's still very much a puppy.  Dane pups can have serious nutrition based ortho problems if you're not careful (although he is nearing the end of the period where problems usually develop).

My dane was weaned onto Nutro, which is a half decent food I guess, but it was c**p for a dane pup.  The nutrients were totally wrong.  By 9 weeks, he was totally lame and couldn't take a single step.  I switched him to Eagle Pack Natural with supplements reccommended by the GreatDaneLady, and within 24 hours he was back on his feet trying to run with the big dogs.  My point is, nutrition matters more than you might realize.

Anything you can buy at a grocery store, or Walmart is c**p food.  This includes Purina, Science Diet, and Pedigree.

Good food choices include Eagle Pack Natural, Innova, Canidea (although some dogs don't do well since they changed their formula), or Chicken Soup.  All these brands, adult food only.  You should NEVER feed your dane puppy food of any brand.

Danes are supposed to be very lean until they fill out around 2-3 yrs old.  My dane is 14 months, 36" at the shoulder, and 133 lbs.  I'm guessing he'll eventually hit 170ish.  The last thing you want to do is pack weight onto him for no reason.  I'm not saying he should be emaciated, but you should easily be able to see the last rib on is side.  My guys brother is a lot skinnier than him, you can see every rib.  But he's just got a higher metabolism, and is very healthy.  Just seeing ribs is not a reason to panic.

If you put him on a good quality food, you should see him start to slowly gain some weight if he's too skinny.  Feed him a little bit more than they reccommend, then as he fills out, back it down to where he's maintaining. When my guy is being a picky eater, I give a little wet food on top of his kibble, and he can't get enough.  No harm there.

But it's normal for him to be a little unsteady in a new house, with a new family.  Let him get used to you.

But, make sure you don't coddle him.  He's got to know who's in charge, or he'll try to be.  He may be a big puppy, but he's going to get bigger and stronger.  Many danes end up in rescues because the owners didn't train enough and couldn't control them when they got too big for man-handling.  Owners restrain, masters train.  It's a good philosophy. And he'll love you more for making his place in your pack clear.

Good luck!

Answer 9

Find out what he was eating before and that should help. Otherwise try a good food like Science Diet, Iams, or Benefull, Puppy Chow too is good with extra calories I think.

Answer 10

Are you using the same dog food as the shelter? He may not like whatever food you're feeding him. To entice him a little you could mix it with wet food but just be careful because it can give him the runs.

Answer 11

The sales person at Petco recommended a totally crappy food to you.  Science Diet is one of the worst foods on the market.  

If you want to feed him a really good food, you might want to consider Orijen, Innova, Wellness, Solid Gold, Eagle Pack - all of them are really good foods.  They're more money initially, but they don't have any of the cheap fillers dogs can't digest and because they contain more nutrition, dogs eat less of them.

Part of the reason this dog is so skinny, may be not only because he wasn't eating good food, but also his age.  He's a large dog and at a year old, he's at an age where even a dog who's been well looked after is at that "lanky" stage where they just don't look really good.  

If you choose a good food and feed him well, give him time, he'll fill out.  It's healthier for him to put weight on slowly, especially because of his size.  You don't want to stress the joints on a dog his size and cause him to have a whole new set of problems!