Ideas for bulking up Guinness. . .

[Doxherding Karen]

I need a dog food for 13-year-old yipping, nervous, always-shivering 6.4 pound wiener dogs who are missing teeth and don't eat more than 1/4 cup at a time!

Science Diet used to make a Ultra High Stress Diet for sentry dogs, combat dogs and drug sniffing dogs, but I don't think they still make it or it can be gotten in a small size.  My mom, rest her soul, used to get the big 25 pound buckets for her.  So I'm looking for something that's high calorie.

Karen

[Teresa]

Search under Performance Dog Foods. Solid Gold's Beef and Barley is one. You can get it in different size bags, as low as 4 lbs. Other brands also came up in my search. All of the foods have more calories to make up for the energy burned.

http://pets.become.com/pet-food/performance-dog-food

[doxiedoodad]

Hey Karen,
Now I don't know nothing 'bout herding no doxies, but I have some tooferless tips.  My sweet (dead)
Norman, a bassett, came to me in his golden years with serious gum disease and few teeth.  The previous owner fed stormin' Norm on cheap wet dog food and table scraps.  O'course old owner had dentures herself, I guess bad oral habits are contagious. 
Anyhoo, vet cleared up infection and that helped breath.  And then yours truly got busy in the kitchen.  I headed to the kitchen after  bouts of Norm's accidental 'trots from trial by error kibble. 
So I came up with "miller's muffins" the vet loved it . . uh the nutritional content that is.

here's the family recipe,

fry up some ground turkey and a couple eggs use a little olive oil in a nonstick pan
make some overcooked rice
then in the processor, grate carrots and sweet potatoes (with peels) and a couple of beef jerkies (for smell) add half of an overripe banana
mix this mess with the rice, turkey and egg
spoon the stuff into pam'ed muffin trays and cook till toothpick comes clean or top is brown
let the muffins cool and put into baggies and freeze

I know it sounds like a lot but I made big batches and would throw 30-40 in a box and put it in the deep freeze.  At first Norm acted aloof and sniffed so I added a little beef drippings the first meal then some juice left over from canned salmon the next meal.  He was sold
Norm's coat and breath was beautiful.
later on I added some vitamin B drops from the health food store to calm Norm's nerves.  (grand-nephews would be a little noisy and ornery)
I thought it worked, Vet said it was old basset nerve deafness
What does he know?

David

[doxiedoodad]

Sorry folks
I meant to post a picture of Norm with our recipe
it was taken a few months before he died
My sister took the picture and suprised me with it after he passed on
A good dog who lived a good life

Doxiedoodad

[papbouv]

There is the old stand by Nutri - Cal it comes in a toothpaste tube just put about a inch on your finger let the dog lick it off they have one out for SR. dogs too. Use to give it to Gizmo she was always a poor eater that was my almost 15 year old Papillon. Nutri -Cal has been around for years & years, must be good stuff.
Papbouv

[Doxherding Karen]

Thanks for the input!  I just ordered two tubes of Nutri-Cal.  The recipe sounds great, but pretty complicated.  I will think about it.  Because I am an observant Jew, any meat I use would have to be kosher in order for me to cook/bake it, so at $!.69 a pound, the going rate for turkey, it would be pretty pricy.  (Of course, money is no object, if it works, but it would help to know!!)

So for now I'll use the Nutri-Cal and try feeding twice a day.  Guinness is such a SLLLOOOOOOWWWWW eater - if he isn't supervised, Merlin will jump up on the bed and finish his food for him.  "You snooze, you lose" is the Herd's motto!

And Norman-Angel is one stunning basset!  Do you watch youtube.com?  I have several basset favorite sites!  I have had two in my life.  They're like dachshunds on steroids!!!!  LOL!

Karen

[David C.]

...on the other hand, he's made it to the ripe age of 13 as a 6.4 pound dachshund, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I've tried to bulk Zeke up, but he just won't gain weight.   Zora, on the other, just looks at food the wrong way and she turns into a blimp.

[TerriL]

   I think that Zora and I are related.   

[Kathleen]

Karen, I've had really good luck with the Merrick brand of canned food.  I bought some as an add in to my regular kibble (I have a picky eater) and with 1/3 can each per day for a week, all three of my dachsies gained about 1/2 pound each!  Only one needed it, so I had to cut waaay back on the amount I was giving them to about a teaspoon each.  It must be a super high calorie canned because I've never had that happen with any other canned food.

[Doxherding Karen]

...on the other hand, he's made it to the ripe age of 13 as a 6.4 pound dachshund, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

I've tried to bulk Zeke up, but he just won't gain weight.   Zora, on the other, just looks at food the wrong way and she turns into a blimp.

I know what you mean, David, but Guinness looks like a refugee from Darfur, for pity's sake!  How much can one doxherder take before she succumbs to chocolate-coated Pupperoni treats???!!

Karen

On the other hand, Rhoda Morgenstern said it best, "I don't know why I bother to put chodolate in my mouth.  I should just apply it directly to my hips." :crazyeyes:

[papbouv]

Since he is missing teeth I would consider feeding him 3 times a day even if it is 1/8 of a cup each time the Nutri-Cal is also a appetite enhancers suppose to make them hungry?
Papbouv

[Doxherding Karen]

I've already ordered two tubes of Nutri-Cal and I started feedin him again in the evening.  I put him in the bathroom with me while I took a shower.  That way I could keep an eye on him and he could eat without any "help" from his herd-mates.

Meanwhile back at the ranch. . .

Another bunny has joined the Herd!  It turns out to be a girl.  Prior to gender identification, Mazal was thought to be a boy, but subsequent personal and up-close examination ("I BEG YOUR PARDON!  THOSE ARE MY PRIVATE PARTS YOU'RE OOGLING!!!") revealed her true nature.  So we are calling her Mona Lisa.  She's about five years old and a real cutie!

Here's a close-up. . .


AND - OMG!  She's multiplying!!!!!!!!

[Delia and girls]

What an unusual problem for a doxie owner! Sorry, I don't have any idea how help you. I have the opposite (and more common) problem. Am trying soooo hard to get at least 1/2 pound off my two. I agree with you, the Nutri Cal sounds like an easy fix. Let us know how it works.

[Doxherding Karen]

Try "The Green Bean DIet."

This was recommended by Leslie Ingrahm of Almost Home Doxie Rescue.  Feed 1/4 cup of dog food and 1/4 (or more is needed) of green beans.  I used the frozen french style for Roscoe.  He dropped from 22 pounds to a svelte 16pounds - just his right weight!

The green beans provide a feeling of fullness without adding calories.  Like salad for humans (minus the dressing!).

Works like a charm!!!

[Delia and girls]

I've fed green beans all their lives. The problem started when I changed foods a couple months ago. I knew the new food was more calories, but tried it anyway. When I noticed how fast they put it on, I went back to their original food. I've been putting more beans and less kibble but I suspect dad is feeding them more kibble than me, even though he denies it. I can't believe they are not dropping with the little I've been giving them. I'm sure their metabolism isn't helping either, since they're 8 years old.

[Doxherding Karen]

. . .I suspect dad is feeding them more kibble than me, even though he denies it.

Hmmmpf. . . Husbands!  What can you do?

Hey, wait, didn't I just say that?

[Roberta]

Our nannie does it as she never puts her glassed on to read da side of da cup heheh
OLlie and Amy