[Dru N]

My 9 year old American Bulldog has a inoperable tumor and has been on prednisone for the past year. His appetite is extreme. We have been feeding him FreshPet Select for about a year now. He also gets a lot of snacks. He is still losing weight and rather than increase the FreshPet which is expensive, we would like to give him a high calorie dry food in addition to the FreshPet to keep his weight up.

He should be about 120 lbs. He’s lower than that now, probably closed to 105 to 110. The last time we tried to give him Blue Buffalo he got really bad gas. He also has a lot of skin allergies. Do you have any suggestions on a dry food that would be good?

[neezerfan]

I have a small dog that I rescued and I couldn’t get him to gain weight. I ended up buying Abady Granular food for him. I started adding it in to his food slowly because it’s high in fat and he did well with it. I don’t feed that solely, just add to his regular food. It’s almost 800 calories a cup. It’s never been reviewed on here but I am comfortable with the ingredients. I started adding in twice a day, then went down to once a day, now a few times a week. It did the trick! http://www.therobertabadydogfoodcoltd.com/Maint_Stress5.htm

[Akari_32]

Not sure what his allergies are to, but NutriSource Super Performance is extremely high calorie (529 per cup, I want to say?). It is chicken and grain based, though. NutriSource also makes grain free foods that have various protein sources, that are also high calorie (just not quite as high).

When I needed to get weight on my 11 year old lab mix, I used Wellness CORE puppy with really great results.

[Naturella]

All of the above are great responses, but one think I recently learned about are “satin balls” – you can look it up on Google but here is the recipe:

“Ingredients:

10 pounds hamburger meat [the cheapest kind]
1 lg. box of Total cereal
1 lg. box oatmeal
1 jar of wheat germ
1 1/4 cup veg oil
1 1/4 cup of unsulfured molasses
10 raw eggs AND shells
10 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
pinch of salt

Mix all ingredients together, much like you would a meatloaf.
Divide into 10 quart freezer bags and freeze.
Thaw as needed and feed raw!”

It is supposed to help with skin/coat and keep weight up and on really well. Also, you can use the Joint Gelatin or another oil (preferably flax seed and/or fish oil (but if fish oil mix it with another oil I would think) – they are more beneficial for their Omega fats content).

Good luck!

[DogFoodie]

Is your pup’s tumor benign?

I ask because if your dog has cancer, I’d probably switch to a home prepared, cooked diet.

[Case]

Another Recipe for Satin Balls:

Mix a pound of raw ground beef, an 8oz package of cream cheese, a jar of all-natural peanut butter, a dozen egg yolks, a 10oz package of wheat germ and a cup of flaked oats that have been soaked in heavy cream.

Form the mixture into balls and place in the freezer.

Feed the Satin Balls as treats or food supplements as desired.

[Author]

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