[Patrice M]

I have a 16 month old Standard Poodle (Jake). He has a ton of energy and very happy. He is the coolest dog in the world. (lol) Anyways, he has never been a big eater but he does eat. Some days he will eat 4 cups some days he wont eat at all. I have tried feeding him twice and three times a day but that didn’t seem to matter, so now I free feed him. He is 24 inches from the floor to the top of his shoulder and only weighs 39 pounds. The vet recommended Eukanuba High Performance food but I see here it is not rated very high. Can any one suggest a food to help put weight on my dog and still be a good healthy food. He also by the way has gas issues with some foods. He is eating blue buffalo puppy now and no gas (unless he eats the cat food) but we have been through several that either gave him runny stools or bad gas. I suppose if I could feed him cat food he would fatten up a bit but I’m sure that’s no good for him.

[Melissaandcrew]

Do his hip bones stick up? Ribs?

[Patrice M]

Yes you can feel all of them but I keep his hair on the longer side so if you were to look at him you may not see it but as soon as you pet him you can absolutely.

[cindy q]

I have a 8 mos old standard poodle who is not a big eater, I am switching her from Merrick grain free dry to Orijen and she seems to really like the Orijen she is picking that out of her bowl and letting the Merrick there.

[LexiDog]

Orijen is a wonderful food. You can also try topping it with some canned food.

[cindy q]

Amy A, I tried topping with canned and she dosen’t like canned. I thought most dogs love canned, but not mine.

[Patrice M]

Thank You I found a store nearby that sells Orijen. I will give that a try. Do you suggest the adult or the red adult?

[LexiDog]

I personally like the Regional Red. My girl is not too picky but my moms super picky shih tzu ate it. So it has to be good. 🙂

[Melissaandcrew]

Patrice..if the bones are all able to be felt I am guessing your boy should be around 55lbs though you can’t go just based on height..bone structure also comes into play but 55 is probably a good start.
I would use Abady granular. Almost 800 cals per cup he will gain. For poodles who wont gain weight I start with 1 cup dry am and pm mixed with 1/2c Abady then increase to 50 50 etc until he gaind the needed weight. I would also look out for addisons disease as some of the early signs are genrral malady as well as lack of appetite and weight issues. Standard poodles are one of the most affected breeds.

[cindy q]

The Regional Red is what I am feeding.

[Patrice M]

Thank you all for your help. I purchased the Orijen Adult dog food on Thursday. He really doesn’t care for it but I’m hoping it grows on him. He has eaten since Thursday approx. 5 cups. Picky little boy I have.

[Shasta220]

Also, have you checked for other problems? My boy gets picky as well, and occasionally when he decides to skip several meals, we have found a problem with him. Sometimes it’s as simple as diarrhea that a bit of fiber/probiotics help, and once we found out that he wouldn’t eat much because he had a bad tooth that was bugging him.

[Jackie B]

Some Spoos are naturally very lean dogs, and some are a little neurotic and have trouble gaining weight. I know that there is a supplement recipe online called Satin Balls that can help– some of my forum friends with show poodles use these before shows to put weight on their dogs. And one of my friends, her Spoo lost so much weight that the vet put him on a human antidepressant (can’t remember which one) which in dogs causes the dog to have more appetite.

My mother-in-law’s 10 year old standard has been bony his whole life– but healthy.

[Case]

I use this recipe for Satin Balls:

1 pound of raw ground beef
8oz package of cream cheese
1 jar of all-natural peanut butter
12 egg yolks
10oz package of wheat germ
a cup of flaked oats that have been soaked in heavy cream

Mix ingredients. Form the mixture into balls and freeze. Thaw and feed as treats or food supplements as desired.

My dog LOVES them. I roll them into small balls and use them for treats.

[Author]

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