How To Make A Rottweiler Puppy Gain Weight
A dog is a man’s best friend. Of course, no dog weighs the same. Depending on the breed, a dog may weigh anything from a few pounds to hundreds of pounds. Yet every different breed has a different ideal weight. There are many reasons why your dog may not be at that weight range. Not to worry, we have the solutions for those as well in this article.
How to tell if your Puppy is underweight
There are many ways to tell if your dog is underweight. Below are some of them. Note that recognizing these symptoms in your dog may help you save your dog from a debilitating disease, and perhaps even death. You should remember these points if you love your dog as much as it loves you. If your puppy has diarrhea this should be monitored closely.
Look at your dog from the side
If your dog has visible ribs from the side, it’s probably underweight and needs to gain weight. There is exception to this rule, however. Greyhounds, Italian Greyhounds, Whippets and certain other breeds are naturally very skinny and are fine even if their ribs are showing. With most breeds though, it is a telltale sign of being underweight and possibly emaciated. Many dog breeds have very heavy fur, some even having two coats of fur, making this method not the most thorough. This is why the next two methods are also used to determine whether a dog is underweight and needs to gain weight.
Birds eye view
First, stand at a position where you can see the Rottweiler puppies weight with a top down view. Next, see the dog’s waist to see if it protrudes or is tucked in. If the waist is too large, you may have an overweight dog that desperately needs exercise. If tucked down but not boney, the dog is probably in the ideal weight range. However, if its waist is too skinny your dog may need to gain weight for possibly being underweight. The easiest way to tell whether your dog is of the proper weight is the waist. If it looks like a ball recently, then it needs exercise. If the hip bones are protruding too far then the dog is too skinny. If the waist is shapely and tucked in moderately then the dog is of ideal weight.
Feel the ribs
We’ve already mentioned that the ribs are a great indicator. The last two points were about visual cues to figure out if your dog is underweight. This one is all about feeling whether your dog is too skinny to the touch. With heavily coated dogs this may be the only way to get an accurate reading of the weight as these dogs look way larger than they are. Upon feeling the ribs, the dog may have soft layers of fat and muscle on it. This is normal and natural for a dog to have and means it is healthy and of the right weight. If the ribs can be felt too easily then you almost certainly have an underweight dog that will need to gain weight soon.
Why being underweight is bad for your dog
As it is in humans, underweight dogs are quite unhealthy. Here are all the reasons why you should always keep an eye out on your dog and make sure it isn’t underweight.
As bad as being obese
In humans and animals alike, obesity gets a lot of media attention. Obesity can indeed be very bad no matter the species, and lead to many health problems. This does not mean, however, that being underweight is a good thing. On the contrary, an underweight dog may have the same number of physical complications, if not more. Just like being obese creates risk for diabetes and heart failure, being excessively thin and underweight can create risk of many debilitating symptoms and diseases.
Too cold
An underweight dog will often not be able to generate the body temperature required to survive the winter. Not having enough nutrition can be particularly brutal in colder areas. Their bodies may simply fail, even in the summer, to function, as they lack the necessary nutrients to grow and heal.
Anorexia is bad
Anorexia is a medical condition. It can happen in both humans and animals. It’s usually defined by a lack of appetite in its victim. Of course, humans alone are the species that get anorexia to fit in socially. Pets aren’t socially conscious about body weight and it plays no factor in them getting anorexic. Instead, it’s usually a lack of appetite that is to blame. Dogs, like most animals, detest change. They can lose their appetite if they feel threatened by a new environment, whether it’s due to moving from one place to another, or having a new member of the family to acclimatize to. It is common for dogs to lose interest in food as a result of stress and anxiety induced by changes to its environment. By rejecting food, the dog may be expressing its sadness, stress or even depression.
Why your dog may be underweight
There is not a singular reason to your dog being underweight. There are plenty of varied reasons why your dog may be thinner than most of its kind. Below are the reasons your dog may be underweight for.
Illness or injury
An injured of sick dog is less likely to eat. It’s an evolutionary concept, as sick dogs in history were not able to survive because there was no medical care in prehistoric times. This adverse reaction to food usually saved the pack trouble and they didn’t have to hunt for the sick dog’s food. That does not mean, however, that it’s a good thing now too. Your dog may not want to eat if it has an undiagnosed illness or is still nursing an injury. In either case I would suggest taking it to a vet and having it checked up. Worms can stunt your Rottweiler Puppies Growth so deworm your puppy regularly.
Former stray
Stray dogs don’t have the best of diets. In the concrete jungle they have been able to survive since they are excellent scavengers and survive off of trash. If you adopt a former stray dog, it may be a very big shock to it how its life changes overnight and may have difficulties in coping up with a massive change like that. This can manifest in the dog not eating as much as it needs to and becoming underweight.
Similarly, a dog that formerly had another owner may have difficulties with its food and diet because dogs, like most animals not named human, are notoriously bad at coping up with change in their environment.
Picky eaters
The simplest explanation for both dogs and humans being underweight is that they may simply be picky eaters. Picky dogs aren’t too common, after all we’re talking about the same species that usually eats actual trash, but they do exist. As a result of their eating habits, these dogs may not want to eat whatever you give them, and become underweight.
How to safely make your underweight dog gain weight
An underweight dog can be very unhealthy for itself. It can be quite difficult to get the dog back to an ideal weight depending on the reasons why it became underweight. However, there are very few things humans can’t do, and fattening up a dog is most certainly not one of them. With care and nutrition, these furry friends of ours can always become fully healthy at an idea weight again. As the owner of the underweight dog, you goal should not be to gain as much mass as possible, but instead to gain as much of lean muscle as possible and to get the right amount of nutrients. Here are some ways to you achieve your Rottweiler Puppy gaining weight.
Increasing number of meals
Easiest way to have your dog gain weight is by increasing the times it eats. Adding a single meal to their current schedule of food helps your underweight dog to gain considerable amount of weight. It’s a very easy way to increase your dog’s calorie intake. The meal size remains the same so your dog won’t get too full to finish the meal. Here are some dog foods that we recommend and other tips that may help you.
Make meals more calorie dense
Another easy way to make your dog intake more nutrition is by making their regular meals more calorie dense. This makes Rottweiler Puppy weight gaining easier and lets your dog gain weight without having to eat more than its accustomed to. This is especially useful for dogs that have a bad appetite and do not like to nor want to eat too much. This means you can start to put more meat, beans or more fatty content in your dog’s meals. Try moistening the dog food. Sometimes dogs will eat much more dog food if it’s soft. Also, after the dog has eaten as much as it wants or can eat, offer fresh boneless chicken or ground meat to top the dog off.
Fixing appetite
Your dog may not have the best appetite, as discussed in the previous point. In which case taking your dog to a vet might be the best idea as it lets you get medication and advice on fixing your dog’s appetite. Alternatively, you can try different high quality dog foods to see which your dog prefers.
Supplements to help your Rottie Puppy gain weight
First you should know how big a Rottweiler should be. You may also use supplements to increase your dog’s weight. There are many supplements in the market, so make sure to use only the supplements that are highly rated and recommended by many different publications. Powder Puppy formula is a good weight gainer. You can add this onto of the dry food or mix it in with moisten food.
Exercise Helps Rottweiler Puppies Gain Weight
One of the best ways to increase your dog’s appetite is by making it exercise. So don’t be afraid of burning calories on your underweight dog, take it on walks and do physical activities with it. This is not by any means condoning that your dog be forced to run when it can’t or won’t. This is simply a way to make sure that when your dog is willing and able, you take it out on walks.
Healthy snacks for your Rottweiler Puppy
Giving your dog healthy snacks can increase their appetite and make them take more calories and nutrition. You can try snacks like beef jerky, chicken bone and doggie treats available at most stores. Go ahead and treat your friend to a nice snack, it’s not like you have to be worried about your dog getting fat.
Satin balls help a Rottweiler puppy gain weight
An easy way to put some weight on your dog is by having the dog eat something dubbed satin balls. Invented in 1996, the satin ball is a ball of meat, eggs, oatmeal and other highly nutritious ingredients. It’s also very delicious to dogs, so even if your dog doesn’t have a big appetite it should still like the meal.
An underweight dog can be difficult to deal with. Yet, with proper handling, these dogs can be fattened up and made as healthy as a regularly sized dog. As is often the case, the health of the dog is the responsibility of the owner, and a responsible enough owner will always find a way to help out his best friend through difficult feeding habits. With enough discipline and hutzpah, it’s very possible to fatten up your furry friend and make him healthy and happy for a long time to come.