Will eggs help my dog gain weight

How to Get a Dog to Gain Weight in 6 Safe and Easy Steps

While obesity is a common problem for many dog breeds, insufficient weight can significantly affect many dogs. When a dog is underweight, it could be a sign of a more serious, underlying condition. Insufficient weight can also cause more serious conditions and greatly affect a dog's quality of life. Have you wondered how to get a dog to gain weight, especially if they look smaller for their size?

In this article, we'll cover some of the reasons why dogs may become underweight and we'll mention tips and tricks for how to get a dog to gain weight. Follow along with us to learn more about how insufficient weight can affect your dog and how to remedy the issue.

Why Do Dogs Become Underweight?

There are numerous reasons why dogs might lose an excessive amount of weight, including parasites and health conditions. Excessive stress, past trauma, old age, dietary restrictions, and dietary preferences can all play a role in a dog being underweight, as well.

Stress

Dogs experience stress in a very similar way to humans - they can even have nervous breakdowns if the stress goes on for too long. Stress often causes dogs to lose their appetite, leading to gradual weight loss that will eventually become evident around their abdomen.

Picky Eaters

Dogs can also be picky eaters, just like humans. Some dogs hate dry dog food, while others won't go near wet food. Some dogs are so picky that they'll only eat dog-safe human foods like beef, chicken, and certain vegetables. Dogs can also get sick of their regular food and refuse to eat it.

Try Different Foods

If your dog is picky, you're probably going to need to experiment a little bit. Dogs are very sensitive to smells and flavors, and if there's a hint of something in their food they don't like, they definitely won't eat it. Try buying small packages of many different foods and letting your dog sample.

Age

As dogs get older, they may experience tooth decay and other mouth diseases that make chewing difficult or even painful. If eating becomes a painful activity, a dog is likely to stop eating altogether. This can also increase their stress level, which will further prevent them from wanting to eat.

Sickness

Various health conditions can lead to a dog losing their appetite or prevent their bodies from absorbing the nutritional value of their food. Diabetes and thyroid disease can both prevent a dog from gaining weight. Parasites like intestinal worms can also prevent your dog from putting on pounds.

They Were Once Stray Or Subject to Cruelty

Sadly, many dogs who were adopted from shelters have mysterious and traumatic pasts. A dog who was once stray may not be used to eating on a regular schedule (or at all), which can cause them not to eat. Dogs who experienced trauma around mealtimes may also associate eating with pain or fear.

Past trauma can linger for a very long time and cause a huge build-up of stress. As we know, increased stress can lead to a dog being underweight on its own. When past trauma comes into the picture, a dog may be so stressed out that they can't eat at all.

Why Would You Want a Dog to Gain Weight?

An underweight dog is highly prone to developing numerous health conditions, namely diabetes. Lack of proper nutrition can lead to a decrease in blood sugar and low glucose levels, which weakens major organ functions. Getting an underweight dog to gain weight is essential for their overall health.

How to Get a Dog to Gain Weight

If your dog needs to gain weight, there are several safe and healthy ways to help them reach their goal. It's crucial that you don't just begin leaving large amounts of food out or feeding them excessive treats. Rapid weight gain and excess food are also unhealthy for dogs. Let's go over some healthy weight-gain tips for dogs.

Identify Why They're Underweight

Identifying the root of an issue is step number one in every problem-solving situation. If you don't know why your dog is underweight, you won't be able to help your dog gain weight in a healthy and effective way. It's recommended that you consult with your veterinarian about your dog's weight issue.

Help Reduce Their Stress

Reducing stress can dramatically improve a dog's overall quality of life in addition to helping them gain weight. Many dogs are prone to separation anxiety, stranger anxiety, and anxiety about other dogs. It's important to do your best to make life as comfortable and easy for your pup as possible.

However, it isn't always simple to eliminate your dog's stressors. Many people have to go to work every day, and you can't stop other dogs from walking by your house. If you and your dog are in need of some help reducing their stress, we highly recommend trying our CBD products for dogs.

CBD is a non-intoxicating plant compound with many therapeutic properties. To combat dog stress, we created our CBD Dog Treats + Stress & Anxiety Relief. They're packed with peanut butter and green apples to entice dogs' palates, then the CBD and other ingredients work to relieve dogs' stress.

CBD is naturally soothing and, through interacting with a dog's endocannabinoid system (ECS), promotes mental calmness and peace. Many of our customers give one of these treats to their dogs in the morning before leaving for work or before taking the dog on a trip to help them remain relaxed.

If your dog is too picky for the treat's flavor, we also offer CBD for dogs in tincture form that can be mixed into their food of preference. It's the same as the CBD oil we use in the treats, which is 100% organic, natural, gluten-free, and non-GMO. If you need help de-stressing your dog, CBD is a super effective tool.

Related: Organic Dog Food vs Non-Organic [In Depth Comparison]

Take it Slow

As we mentioned, you'll want to do your best to prevent your dog from gaining weight too quickly. You'll also want to be cautious of pressuring them into eating when they aren't up for it. Try giving them new foods one at a time, on different days, and monitor your dog's reaction to them as you go.

Simply buying a different brand isn't always the best option for every dog. If you feed them dry food, try adding water to it one day. Do your best to remain supportive and encouraging of your dog as they try new foods and not to get angry with them if they're resisting the process. It may be a long journey.

Choose Foods with Higher Calories

Rather than simply feeding your dog more food, try to look for foods with higher healthy calorie counts. Look for ingredients like healthy proteins and fats, but avoid unhealthy fats. Some healthy proteins for dogs are chicken, turkey, and peanut butter (the latter of which also contains healthy fat).

When searching for food with healthy fats, look for ingredients that are rich in omega fatty acids. Omega fatty acids are also amazing for a dog's overall health, namely their heart health. Eggs, hemp seeds, and quinoa are all good sources of omega fatty acids.

Safe Human Foods

Dog-safe human foods are a great way to help change up your dog's normal eating routine and introduce additional nutritional value into their diet. In addition to the foods in the last section, some healthy human foods to help your dog gain weight are:

• Eggs - Eggs are an awesome source of protein that most dogs love to gobble up. Try adding some scrambled eggs into their food to see if it entices them into eating, or serve it on its own.
• Salmon and Tuna - Both kinds of fish are excellent sources of healthy fat and protein. However, they should both be served completely cooked and unseasoned for the safety of your dog.
• Pumpkin - Pumpkin provides a healthy source of vitamins, minerals, and fiber for dogs. It also adds a fun new flavor to their diet! We use pumpkin in another kind of CBD dog treat we offer, Pumpkin Spice & Cinnamon + Joint and Mobility Support. Dogs LOVE them!
• Sweet Potatoes - Like pumpkins, sweet potatoes offer high nutritional value to a dog's diet. They should always be served cooked (boiled or baked), completely unseasoned, and in moderation. You'll find sweet potato in our last variety of CBD dog treats, Blueberry & Sweet Potato + Heart and Immune Care.

Increase Activity

As your dog begins eating more, they'll need to increase their activity to match their caloric intake. Don't push them too hard at first - if they're underweight, they're likely to be somewhat weak and fatigued. Start by going for longer than usual walks and increasing playtime activities like fetch.

When Should I Go to the Vet?

If you believe your dog is underweight, we recommend heading to the vet as soon as possible so that they can diagnose the issue. Remember, identifying the root of the issue is step number one. Your vet will be able to discern why your dog is underweight and over more tips for weight gain.

Final Thoughts - How to Get a Dog to Gain Weight

We all love our dogs so much, and when they're suffering, we want to do everything we can to help. While being underweight may not seem like a huge deal, it definitely can be when left untreated. Want to learn more? You can visit these helpful dog guides.

How to Fatten Up A Dog: 5 Tips for Weight Gain

All owners want their dogs to be at a healthy weight, but not all dogs are good eaters.

If youve got an underweight dog, it can be stressful to get her to gain weight. People can be quite quick to judge, even if you are doing your best to get your dogs weight back up.

Call your vet if youre really struggling to get your dog to gain weight. Dogs that continue losing weight despite eating food, or experience a sudden change of appetite, need to see a medical professional quickly.

Read on to learn five ways to fatten up a skinny dog!

• Its important that your dogs body weight remains in the healthy zone. While some dogs may be slightly heavier or lighter than other members of their breed, you can consult a body condition chart to ensure your pup is in the correct weight range.
• There are several reasons your dog may have trouble maintaining a healthy body weight. This includes things like general pickiness, stress, and illness.
• Be sure to consult your vet if your dog is underweight. Your vet can not only help ensure your dog isnt battling an illness, he or she can help guide your efforts to pack some pounds on your pooch.

Reasons a Dog May Have Trouble Maintaining a Healthy Body Weight

There are a variety of reasons why owners might want to learn how to fatten up a dog, and why a pooch may have trouble putting on weight, including:

Picky Eaters. Some dogs are just plain picky about what they eat these dogs want the good stuff and are willing to hold out for it!

Sick or in Pain. Illness, pain, and/or stomach issues can also cause dogs to eat less than their owners would like.If your dog skips a meal or two because of a stomach bug, you might not need to panic. But if your dog is chronically turning up food, then it might be time to visit the vet.

If your dog is normally a voracious eater and suddenly isnt interested in food, get in to the vet as soon as you can.

In the nearly two years Ive owned my dog Barley, hes only turned up his nose at his breakfast once. I took him to the vet, and it turned out he had a raging infection from a small cut on his leg. If Id ignored it and gone to work, things might have taken a turn for the worse.

Stressed. When dogs are stressed or depressed, they may pass up on food. People can be the same way!If your dog wont eat after a stressful event or doesnt eat when shes alone, this might be the culprit.

Whatever the cause of your dogs dinner distress, we want to help our underweight dogs get to a healthy weight.

How Do I Know If My Dog Is a Healthy Weight?

When trying to determine a healthy weight for your dog, your veterinarians office is always a good place to start. Different breeds may have a naturally slimmer or stockier look, and your vet can help make sure you create appropriate weight goals for your canine.

Dont forget that normal might not be healthy for many breeds. Its not uncommon to see pugs, Labs, and Chihuahuas that look like small hippos but that doesnt mean its healthy.

This reminder goes both ways: a healthy greyhound will be quite boney! Its not unusual to see several ribs and even hip bones on a healthy greyhound, while a similar level of bonyness in most other breeds would be concerning.

In general, you should be able to see a narrowing around your dogs waist. Most dog breeds should also have faint ribcage outlines visible.

Finally, you might see some differences in your dogs weight based off of activity level. When my border collie is at competition weight for agility, herding, and canicross, hes very lean and muscular. I let him gain a bit of weight early in the winter when hes in his off season. He stays fit and healthy, but he doesnt have to be ultra-trim year-round!

This simple graphic from Purina can help you decide if your dog is over- or underweight.

I just helped my foster dog, Naomi, gain some serious weight. When she first came into my home, you could see seven ribs and her hip bones poked above her back!

She had no muscle tone, tired easily, and worst of all, would not touch her kibble for breakfast or dinner. After at least three days of trying to coax her to eat, I was at my wits end. I felt like a failure of a foster parent, and was legitimately worried that Naomi might waste away.

Was I being played by a foodie dog? Not in this case! Naomis reluctance to eat was probably based in some pretty serious stress about her recent life changes paired with an upset stomach from switching foods.

How to Fatten Up A Dog: 5 Tips for Getting Weight On

A combination of these solutions ended up being what got Naomi to a healthy weight in just a few weeks!

For Naomi, the biggest problem was stress. Before I brought her home as a foster, shed had quite the month.

Her owner left Florida, drove to Colorado, lived in his car with her for a few weeks, then left her at the shelter when it all got to be too much.

Naomi spent a few days at the shelter before being marked for behavioral euthanasia due to her aggression towards other dogs. I stepped in and took her. With that level of upheaval, is it any wonder she wasnt interested in food?

1. Shell Eat When Shes Hungry

This is what I kept hearing, and its true your dog will eat when shes truly hungry.

If your dog skips a meal or two or is having a hard time adjusting to a new situation, she might start eating when things settle down.

Just keep offering food in different forms. Shell eat when shes ready and this might take a while! Be patient and keep trying!

While this is true, that doesnt mean just wait it out. Try to address your dogs underlying concerns, such as physical health or stress level. This will often help bring your pups appetite back more quickly.

2. Shell Eat When Shes Healthier

If your dog has a change in eating habits that persists beyond a few days, see a vet.If the change is particularly sudden or extreme (like with my dog Barley), dont wait. Just go in to see the vet and get a professional opinion.

Loss of appetite and weight loss are both potential signs of serious medical conditions.

Take your dog to the vet to rule out any underlying health conditions that may be causing her lack of eating.

In Naomis case, her loss of appetite was paired with diarrhea and vomiting. Thats a major red flag! Naomis eating issues turned out to be stress-related (see below), but we still took her to the vet to be sure.

The vet prescribed some probiotics and suggested a few foods that would be easy on Naomis stomach once she started eating again.

3. Shell Eat If The Food Is Yummier

As a dog sitter, I frequently care for dogs that seem uninterested in their food. Some dogs just dont eat well when their owners leave they miss them! However, dogs will have a hard time turning their noses up at truly drool-worthy dinners.

If your dog wont eat when shes left alone, it could be related to separation anxiety. While skipping a meal or two probably wont hurt your dog, its unwise to leave this separation anxiety untreated. Get help from a separation anxiety specialist to make your dog feel better.

Try making dogs dinner better by drizzling tuna, olive oil, or egg over the kibble. Just be sure not to create a picky eater by spoiling your dog too much!

Other times, condiments wont cut it and youll have to change the entire entree with a new brand of dog food. Some dogs will only be interested in eating higher quality dog food and why not?

They probably deserve it! Be careful, though the most expensive food could still be gross to your dog!

Something as simple as adding tuna or switching to a new brand of food can work wonders when it comes to fattening up a skin-and-bones dog.

If your dog is really struggling to pack on the pounds, dont worry about creating a picky eater. Just feed her what shell eat to get her healthy. You can always wean her off of the ultra-tasty food later.

With Naomi, we tried about five different types of food with different protein sources. Nothing was working, except for treats. She wouldnt eat her food but would take treats gladly.

Eventually I realized that the problem wasnt the taste it was that the treats were hand-delivered.

4. Shell Eat When Shes Less Stressed

Some dogs will refuse to eat when theyre stressed out.Dont think of this as being disobedient or wilful. Rather, think of this as your dogs way of letting you know that shes really struggling to deal with life right now.

Some of my formerly picky dog-sitting clients eat dinner now that they know me and feel safe with me when their owner is gone. It just took a bit of getting used to me. Many dogs with separation anxiety wont eat when theyre alone. Some dogs will skip meals after the Fourth of July from fear of fireworks.New shelter and rescue dogs often skip meals due to the big changes in their lives.

In the case of Naomis eating issues, stress was the root problem. Naomi had just experienced a massive upheaval prior to us taking her home from the animal rescue she was confused and scared. As she settled into our home, her appetite returned.This took nearly two weeks!

While refusing food due to situational stress is fairly normal in dogs, if your dog frequently stops eating due to stress, take her to a vet. She might be anxious due to a medical issue or something awry in her environment.

There are lots of ways to help reduce stress for your dog. The first step should be to remove whatever is stressing your dog out, if possible. This might mean skipping town during the annual fireworks display, or putting on a white noise generator during thunderstorms. You can leave dogs with separation anxiety with a sitter.

In short, you have to remove the source of stress as the first step.

Depending on what specifically stresses your dog out, that might be all you need to do. Otherwise, work with a trainer to create a plan for reducing stress in your dogs life. Products like Adaptil diffusers, Thundershirts, and anti-anxiety medications can also help. For a more detailed example, check out our article on working with dogs that dont like fireworks.

5. Shell Eat When You Help Her

Some nervous dogs need extra encouragement at mealtime!When I eventually noticed that the only food Naomi ate was the food I handed to her, I decided to try hand-feeding her dinner.

After four days of not eating and a lot of desperate phone calls with the rescue and vet, we got Naomi to eat a meal.

I took a handful of kibble and offered it to her. I praised her just for showing interest. She took a tentative mouthful, and I praised her more. She spat most of it out, but I was onto something!

We kept trying this throughout the night. Eventually I coaxed her into eating a full cup of food simply by giving her lots of verbal praise for showing interest in food. I literally just told her she was a good dog when she ate. This may sound bogus, but it ended up being the game changer for Naomi!

Go ahead and give this a try with your picky pooch. You might find that just being supportive of your dog is more helpful than drizzling bacon grease all over the kibble!

It might sound crazy, but playing games with your pups food is another way to get her interested in eating! Treat-based training and puzzle toys can sometimes help pique a picky pups interest in food. This phenomenon is known as contrafreeloading, where animals actually prefer to work for their food. Give it a shot, it cant hurt!

Bulk Up Dog Bonus Tip: Try High-Calorie Treats and Food

Some dogs wont eat meals, you may be able to entice them to eat with special, high-value treats. This is a good way to get calories in while youre working on figuring out how to get your dog to eat a full meal.

We gave Naomi lots of hot dog, cheese, and stuffed Kongs to get her some calories and put some fat on her. I highly recommend trying to get some (heck, really any) food into an underweight dog while you address the long-term problem.

We did not end up spoiling Naomi into a picky eater who would only eat bratwurst and gruyere, since her problem was anxiety based and not due to pickiness.

There are also specific high-caloric dog foods designed to help skinny dogs gain weight experimenting with those specialty dog foodscan help your pooch bulk up fast.

Pet-Care Pro Tip

It only takes about five days without food for a dog to become cachexic (begin wasting away). At this point, it will usually become necessary for your vet to insert a feeding tube to help her return to good health.

So, take food refusal seriously and seek veterinary attention if your dog goes more than a day or two without eating.

Best Dog Foods to Help Dogs Gain Weight

Once your dog is eating again, getting the right food into her bowl (or better yet, puzzle toy) will help make weight gain smooth and easy.

Talk to your vet during this process. If your dog has been chronically malnourished or has a sensitive stomach, your vet might want you to skip the bulky foods in favor of an alternative thats easier on the stomach.

We have a whole article on different foods that help your dog gain weight, but here are a few highlights here:

• Bully Max High-Performance Food: This high-protein, high-fat food has premium ingredients and a premium price tag. Its marketed for bully breeds but is fine for any dog breed.
• Elite K9 Maximum Bully All Stages Dog Food: This brand also markets heavily towards bully breeds, but Elite K9 will help any dog gain muscle and weight. This brand also provides oatmeal and pumpkin in its food, helping soothe digestive systems.
• Natures Logic Canine Meal Feast: This meat-based food also comes with a variety of probiotics and enzymes to help keep your pups stomach calm while she gains weight. It comes in a variety of flavors and protein sources, making it a good choice for dogs with allergies.
• Blue Buffalo Life Protection Adult Food: This food is formulated with Glucosamine and Omega 3 and 6 acids to help protect your dogs skin, coat, and joints. It contains far more brown rice than other foods on this list, but is a great choice for dogs with skin or joint issues.

If your dog really needs to gain weight, help her do it!

If your dog is eating food but not gaining weight, its time to see a vet. Increased or steady appetite paired with weight loss can be a sign of serious health conditions.

Have you ever had an underweight dog? How did you get your dog up to an appropriate weight? Share your tips in the comments!