Well, it appears the Fromm's has made my dogs lose weight. It's ok for a few of them, but I have a bunch of shows coming up next weekend and one male who is just too thin. I kept increasing his food but it obviously didn't work, and now its down to the wire. Any suggestions for something that can put weight on one quickly? Someone told me the handlers will say macaroni and cheese, but that seems odd. If that is the answer, what kind and how much? He's a great eater, not picky at all and can eat a ton, but I'm thinking just changing food isn't going to make a difference quickly enough. And no lectures on proper show weight, please, I'm not trying to add bulk, I'm just trying to cover his ribs! TIA

I was also told any kind of pasta, especially mac and cheese or whatever you happen to eat that day, share with them. Not sure on the amounts though. Good luck with them!
Kim

Becky,

The macs-n-cheese makes sense to me....I have always heard pasta works wonders. I have feed macs-n-cheese a few times to my nursing girls with great results.

Good luck.

OK, so are you guys talking the cheap Kraft mac and cheese in a box or like nice homemade mac and cheese? Ick, I won't even let my kids eat the fake boxed stuff (although they love it). Could I just cook pasta and throw him a piece of cheese? ;-)

Guilty of serving the boxed stuff. My kids have preferred that over the homemade - figures. I am sure pasta and a piece of cheese will do the same.

I don't know if your food is grain free or not but if your dogs have trouble with wheat be careful with pasta, they may end up scratchy, shedding and a mess by then.

Box mac & cheese includes pasta, cheese seasoning, milk and butter.

Becky....Mac & Cheese is VERY fattening to use humans so it will be to your dog too! If you want to make nice homemade stuff go for it but the cheap box stuff will work just the same. You can also by Organic or Whole Grain pastas too to use if you are worried about quality.

Listen to your friend....Mac & Cheese, any kind will fatten up just about anything :o)

Becky....Mac & Cheese is VERY fattening to us humans so it will be to your dog too! If you want to make nice homemade stuff go for it but the cheap box stuff will work just the same. You can also by Organic or Whole Grain pastas too to use if you are worried about quality.

Listen to your friend....Mac & Cheese, any kind, will fatten up just about anything :o)

Canola Oil works great too.

1 tablespoon every night.

White rice should do the trick also... you can give as much of that as you want without fear of any loose stools.
Aloha,
Jackie

Hi Becky, If you go to the freezer section of your fav store, look for the Family Size Mac and Cheese. Also, we discovered the Stoffers Italian Lasagna in the freezer section. I may have spelled that wrong but it's very fattening and tastes great to us humans. I'm not sure how gasy it will make your dog you are trying to put weight on..it has sausage in it !!

I'm trying to keep weight on Lola who is nursing 13 pups so the Mac and Cheese Idea might just do the trick for the next 6 weeks.

Hi Becky,

You know that I have just recently been trough this :-).. If you don't mind adding supplements to your diet Show Stopper or Super 14 (horse supplement)can work wonders. I noticed a difference in weight within 2 weeks. You do have to be careful as you can have a little piggie on your hands before you know it.

Show Stopper works great for a skinny dog!

Annie's Mac & Cheese is organic and very good. Trader Joe's sells it with their name on it, or you can find it at Whole Foods.

Where do you get the Show Stopper.?

Kay

Many Handlers Use what they call Fat Balls.

5 pounds of gound beef
5 eggs
1 Box of Cereal
3 tsp of Wheat Germ
1 Jar of Peanut Butter
1 Jar of Cotte Chesse
5 TSP of Kayro Syrup.
3 cups of Regular Rice.

mix it all and them divided in portions and frezze the rest.

I always good to have cople rolls of paper towels and some tylan for the first days.

But it really Works.

Canadian list members can get ShowStopper through www.busydogventures.com

There is a list of retailers on the list as well.

So do you just feed this instead of dog food or with their regular dog food? Can't I just buy him ice cream? :-) I don't know, Mac and cheese is sounding good. . .

Yup Just this And They Love It.

Hi,

You can get Show Stopper at PetCo now for about $17. Another thing that will put on some weight is those balls, kind of like the fat balls, that are the "grow hair on an egg" concoction. A lot easier than the fat balls and not as many ingredients. But, I can attest that Show Stopper really works, and quickly.

When putting weight on a starving rescue, our vet recommended plain old lard. Makes sense - fat for fat, especially as fat is the best source of energy. No risk of itching or shedding, as with pasta, and excellent for coats. Just a good spoonful on the dog's normal ration twice a day works the trick.

I have heard about using the pasta, and I have had people tell me they feed it with tomato sauce. I would be a little worried about using too much fat or dairy - you don't want the food to start going right through him. Can you start to wean him back to his old food and add the pasta to the amount of food he usually gets?

This is going to sound sarcastic in writing but I really don't mean it to be. Why buy expensive dog food and then add a wheat product like pasta? We pay all that money for foods that use whole grains, or no grain (which I don't buy), and no corn gluten or wheat. Wouldn't it make more sense to bulk up with protein and fat? .....assuming stools are not loose. I understand why carbs work but wouldn't fat work better?

generally speaking when folks talk about adding pasta to put weight on a dog they are typically talking about just plain pasta (no sauce, no cheese, etc :-)

I would be a little worried about adding a sudden load of fat to a dog's diet. My first choice wouldn't be mac and cheese.

I've had clients who feed raw who just couldn't keep their dogs at an ideal weight and they did find that adding carbs can put on the weight.

Personally I would just cook up plain pasta and add some to the regular meals.

As an aside though, if you cannot keep your dogs in the weight/condition that you want then it may be time to re-evaluate the food. You should be able to increase their regular food to get the weight where you want it. Might also try mixing in canned food to the kibble.

Well, I am reevaluating the food, as this was the first time I have tried the Fromm's, I had ten bags delivered about 6 weeks ago. Other than no one having any extra fat they look really good, so I am a bit torn about going off it. I just wish they had a performance formula. I went to the grocery store today looking for fattening things and reading labels--I had no idea how fattening mac and cheese was! 34 g of fat per cup. Wow. I ended up just buying some 27% fat ground beef, eggs, and peanut butter, and gave him a bit of that for lunch, I did have a hard time justifying adding a bunch of junk when I was feeding such good food. I also bought a bag of Evo and will use that this week, it is the highest fat food I could find. He seems to have an iron-clad digestive system and has never had loose stools or any allergy issues, we'll certainly test that tonight. =:-O Thanks to everyone for their help.

Nature's Farmacy has a product called "Gain and Shine"
Works wonders!

fat balls work great I use to have a picky Akita that I showed and he had to have thos fat balls 3 to 4 days before every show it really works

Pnacur him for 5 days

I would never use large amounts of oil or fat to bulk up a dog fast. I use small amounts daily for the long term. Slow and steady wins the race......

PS

It does make perfect sense to me that if you were trying to gain weight fast, carbs would be the ticket. But I personally would not feed wheat for the long term.

I was always told to sprinkle boxed/dried instant potato mix on top of dog food. You can wet it down a bit.