Help me build up (plump?) my wee whippet a bit?

[bochead]

Our whippet has lost a bit of weight/muscle tone over the winter. She eats either bog standard Lidls or Greyhound food + a tin of sardines on Sunday. She usually has a nice lamb/beef bone on the go too. Being a whippet she' not one for long treks in grotty weather, preferring to spend time curled up learning phonics with DS.

She's healthy. She gets about 1.5 hours a day walks + 30 mins free running off lead.

Now spring is here our daily walks and weekend excursions get longer until in summer we spend whole days in the park/on country hikes, at the beach etc.

What do other peeps do to get their dogs in condition? Looking for a few tips?

Has she had a check up? Is there a reason for the weight loss?

To be honest, the exercise you're currently doing sounds fine, and should be enough for a good level of fitness. I'd definitely distinguish between muscle loss and weight loss - not at all the same thing. If she's recently lost weight (ribs and hips more prominent) with no change in diet, then I'd get her to the vet pronto for a check up. I'm assuming her worming is up to date? What age is she? Some older dogs do lose weight, or are harder to keep weight on.

I would have a look at the ingredients in the food you are currently using and think about maybe changing diet? When our lovely old boy was ill last year and lost a lot of weight, I got packs of frozen chicken breast from supermarket, and cooked them in the slow cooker with some water - just throw them in and leave them for a few hours. He got one or two a day extra to help him with his recovery as well as his normal food, and we still give him extra chicken now as an occasional supplement.

If you wanted to build up her fitness even more, how about running? DH goes running with one of our greys - they both enjoy it, or there's cycling as well. You could also consider lure coursing? V popular for terriers, whippies and other pointies.

If your dog is tolerant to dairy, another treat to help build them up is pour about an eighth of a pack (big economy plastic bags) of porridge oats into a bowl, add a large tin of evaporated milk and leave to soak. Then add a pack of turkey or chicken mince (raw), a pack of full fat cream cheese and one or two eggs. Add a generous dollop of wheatgerm and optional slug of maple syrup. Beat thoroughly to combine and feed balls of the mix as a snack and supplement to meals. Ours love it and it's a great way of adding weight and helping coats to shine.

She's 4 (be 5 in August) so becoming a lady rather than a girl iykim. Does this make much difference? She has no allergies or intolerances.

It's just the lack of excercise she had this winter showing more than usual this year, rather than she's got worms or anything serious. More not at peak fitness than ill iykwim. This is the opinion of the vet, (they help me clip her nails every so often so I asked). The weight loss has happened gradually over the winter as her excercise levels have reduced in the chilly weather.

My last dog was strictly cooked chicken and rice on vets orders as he was kicked so badly before I got him it messed up his tummy for life, so I'm not as aware of all the dietry options open to me as I should be

My dogs are working collies, so need a high energy high quality food to meet their exercise levels. I feed Burns active (a working dog food). It keeps them and their coats in lovely condition. I also feed to requirement rather than a set measure i.e. in cold weather they get more. You cold try feeding her something like that until she is back into condition.

I'd second having a look at the food you're giving her, I'm not familiar with the greyhound food but I suspect that Lidls isn't great. For example I'd run out of dog food a couple of weeks ago and had a look at Tesco's premium food and was shocked how low in protein it was about 2% I think. Also a lot of wet food is water.

My Lurcher has is on Fish for Dogs which he loves, it's expensive though one of the better ones.

I've also found that he can loose weight very quickly I guess it's because there's not a lot of them in the first place.

Burgess greyhound food is her normal (Lidls dry food tends to be just for a few days between delivery of the 15K sacks of Burgess). Had a look and realised it does have quite a low protein content (17%).

It's time to order a new sack, so I'll do a bit of research on brands. Thanks.

I suspect DS will enjoy making doggy meatballs as a treat for her this weekend. Can you freeze and defrost them OK?

Yes, make up the mix and put in the fridge to stiffen after mixing. Then put your dollops into freezer bags. If you had greaseproof paper you could form them into little patties and interleave them with that to help keep them separate. Though I don't - just put a few balls into a small freezer bag and do them in little batches like that. I use the small size freezer bag from the Lakeland Pickabag - just right.

Our three love them as a treat/supplement so I can just take out a bag if I want to and don't mind if the balls are a funny shape etc.

Absolutely nothing wrong with feeding a good dry kibble, but I wouldn't be that fussed about the greyhound one. Burns is excellent, as is James Wellbeloved. I'd also be giving her small, high calorie treats such as cheese, and some liver (though cautiously with liver as results at other end can be, ahem, explosive!!). Possibly if you are happy with the food you are using, substitute a few meals here and there with things like oily fish, scrambled eggs, even a dollop of oil - all these will help coat, condition and I think also it's important for them to enjoy a variety of food, both nutritionally and simply for a change.