Underweight in dogs has a number of possible causes, such as neglect, intestinal disease and congenital deformities such as underbite preventing the dog from eating. No matter what the cause, being underweight is a life-threatening condition.
By far the most effective method of putting healthy muscle weight onto a dog is to supplement with high-energy human food.
Depending on how severely malnourished your dog is, it may take up to six weeks to get the dog up to its ideal weight. Resist the temptation to overfeed or go too fast with this program, as it will do more harm to the dog than good.
Instructions
1. Assess your dog, or get it assessed by a veterinary professional. If the dog is a new member of your family. it may have been abused or neglected by its previous owners. If the dog has been with you for quite a while, its weight loss may be due to an intestinal disease such as worms. If your dog has an intestinal disease, treat the disease before attempting to put weight on it.
2. If your dog is severely underweight (weighing half or less of its ideal weight), begin to increase his diet very slowly. Do not feed kibble or commercial canned dog food. Instead, mix 1/4 cup cooked white rice with 1/4 cup cooked cheap hamburger meat (the fattier the better), and feed this very slowly to your dog. Repeat five to six times a day. Remember to go very slowly--too much food at once is bad for starving dogs.
3. If your dog weighs less than three-quarters but more than half its ideal weight, try feeding three or four small meals a day. Alternate the rice and hamburger mixture above with plain full-fat yogurt, and macaroni and cheese. Start mixing a little kibble into your dog's food after the first week. Don't feed more than 3/4 cup total of this mixture at one time.
4. If your dog is mildly underweight (weighing three-quarters or more of its ideal weight), try feeding commercial canned dog food or puppy kibble mixed with 1/4 cup white rice two to three times daily. Supplement its diet with one or two satin balls (see Resources below) or a thoroughly cooked scrambled egg at each feeding.
5. Make sure your dog--no matter how underweight--gets plenty of fluids. An electrolyte drink or diluted powdered bouillon will help.
6. Once your dog is at his ideal weight, cut back on the amount of "people food" you give it with each meal. Continue to supplement with one to two satin balls a day. If this causes your dog to lose some of the weight it put on, increase the number of satin balls to three to four a day for two weeks, then try to cut back again. Continue experimenting until you find the ideal amount of food to maintain your dog's weight.
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