I need to fatten my dog up

[MoonlightMojitos]

He is 9 years old but a small breed so plenty of life in him yet! Still bounds about like a puppy, playful, loves his walks. Over the last year he has been very slowly losing weight for no reason. He was a bit overwright so it was fine but it's now got to the point where he is underweight and does need to put some on especially as I'm worried about him getting cold over winter being so small. He's had full blood work at the vets which all came back clear so they can't find a reason for it (obvs very good news but still doesn't help!). I can't feed him any more than I am because unlike most dogs he just won't eat it! If I overfill his bowl he will eat half and just leave the rest once he's full (wish I could do that haha). I could give him more treats I suppose as he does eat those but I'm at work in the day so don't want to give him too many when I get home and he might just eat less dinner? I don't want to walk him less, he only goes out once a day.

Sorry for the essay! Any advice? There must be a different food I can try with more calories or something? Any one had a similar experience?

There are often "fillers" in dog foods, just there to bulk it up but little nutritional value.
My GSD was very underweight when I got him, the rescue had been feeding him double portions of kibble so I carried on with that for a while but stopped when I realized it wasn't helping him to gain weight. He was producing large amounts of poo so most was coming out the other end.
Changed him to Nutriment raw feeding which he loved from the beginning and I had to cut it down to maintenance amounts after a couple of months as he'd put on 3kg

I successfully fattened up a very skinny dog with a tin of sardines in oil every other day. They are so nice and smelly I don't know any dog who can resist.
Only problem is now ddog looks sadly dissppointed when he gets dinner without sardines...

What food is he currently on?

Thanks for the tips, I'll have a look and see if I can find something with more calories and think about supplementing with sardines! He's on James well beloved at the moment tabulah

If you want to stay on Kibble Millies Peak Performance has the highest fat content food on the market but still reasonable protein. You would not have to increase the quantity he is getting to increase the calorie amount.

peak performance

I found a fleece dog coat at night, and waterproof coat in bad weather, put pounds on my greyhound better than more food.

Our dog loves bone marrow. I get these from ocado.

Lots of fat in them and keeps him quiet for ages

JW does have a fair amount of fillers, you might want to look at a better food.

It's not a bad food in itself, just not amazing.

Tripe is very good too. Big bags of frozen available at P@H, just add to his food. Second the recommendation of raw food, you can buy easy blocks from many different suppliers/pet stores. Also add some coconut oil or salmon oil to his meals. Raw eggs also nutritious.

When our last girl was old and we were trying to keep weight on her, my son suggested a fleece on her in the house as well as a coat when she went out in cooler weather so she didn't burn calories keeping warm.