My 44lb Staffy mix is underweight. How can I help her gain weight?

If he isn't the appropriate weight then there is likely an underlying cause for this. Most healthy pets should be able to remove all the vital nutrients from their food and use it for energy; however there are certain disease processes that can interfere with this, including intestinal parasites, malabsorption/maldigestion issues, certain endocrine disorders such as Addison's disease, and pancreas disorders like Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. So I think the first priority here is to get Peanut examined by your vet to determine if he is ind Ed underweight to begin with. We achieve this by determining his current body condition score, where 3/5 or 5/9 is considered ideal weight. Then determine if the pet needs specific testing to look for certain disease processes that would lead to the weight loss, such as decal examination, pancreas testing and so forth. And of course generally speaking you should be feeding your pet a high quality adult small breed formula, such as Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Evo or Natural Balance just to name a few. I hope Peanut turns out to be ok. Best wishes!

I would recommend having her body condition score figured out first to determine if she is indeed underweight. Some pets are just leaner than others but are not considered to be underweight at all. https://www.google.com/search?client=safari&hl=en-us&ei=3essWYH8BcWXjwT5u4agBg&q=canine+body+condition+score&oq=aaha+body+condition+score&gs_l=mobile-gws-serp.1.0.0i71k1l5.0.0.0.53939.1.1.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1..64.mobile-gws-serp..1.0.0.tM15jVEPrL8#imgrc=D5srd2kpWBMU1M: If she is considered to still be underweight then I would try to find out what is causing her weight loss and treating that directly. If there are loose stools then it's best to check her stools for intestinal parasites through your vet. If her stools are normal, then she may be going through a transient period of not gaining proper weight due to a previous illness. Increasing her current food amount can help. You can also try mixing in a high calorie puppy food for a few weeks. I wouldn't suggest this unless she is otherwise healthy and nothing else seems to help, because a consistent high calorie diet can do more harm (i.e. Pancreatitis) than good in some cases. Best of luck with your pet Layla.

First, I think it is important to determine Malia's ideal weight for her size. If your vet says she is underweight, then you may need to make some changes. But if she a good weight at 32 pounds, then eating a couple cups of food a day should be adequate for her weight. My 30 pound dog only eats about 1 cup per day. Don't forget that it is much healthier for a dog to be a little lean. If Malia is underweight, then you may need to look at foods that are more dense in calories. You can consider some of the super premium foods like Natural Balance, Wellness Core or Orijen which tend to have more bio-available calories in each cup. You may also consider The Honest Kitchen which is a dehydrated food and dense in calories. https://www.thehonestkitchen.com/ Good luck! I hope that was helpful. Thanks for using PetCoach.

Foods have very different calorie contents so it’s difficult to knownif 2 cups twice daily is enough since there are several different limited ingredient foods by Nutro. I calculate up to 1400 kCal per day for an active 45 lb dog - she might need more or less depending on her weight. You also might want to check in with your vet and see what they think her ideal body weight would be.

Some young, growing, active dogs require more calories then other dogs. If she feel she is lean then i would up the amount of food you are feeding or add in another meal per day. I typically recommend increasing the amount fed by 25%. You can spread this extra amount over the meals. You can also try supplementing some extra protein sources like chicken or ground turkey. You can also look up the calories (kcal) in her diets to figure out if she is getting enough. The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical School has a good site about determining how many calories a pet needs. If you google Ohio State pet calorie calculator it should come up. This will allow you to figure out her energy requirement (kcal/day) and compare this to what she is eating. Keep in mind that she still may need more then what you calculate if she is not gaining weight as every dog is different. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Well done on making such progress! Be sure to keep him dewormed monthly for at least 3 months and feed him up gradually, I would tend to feed at the feeding guideline for his actual weight plus 15-20%, reassessed every 14days in order to encourage gradual weight gain and strength whilst allowing his system to adjust. A probiotic/fiber supplement such as fortiflora can be helpful to promote healthy digestive balance also

Gentle feeding with a high quality, high calorie food such as royal canin gastrointestinal is very effective in regaining body weight and muscle mass. Ensure she is wormed regularly and monitor for any vomiting and diarrhea which may indicate bowel issues