Samoyed won't eat, how can I help him gain weight?

[SamoyedPrince]

I have a 2.5 year old sammie, he is gorgeous and I love him to bits. He is on the small side for a Samoyed though, and I've never been able to get him to gain weight.

Google (or more specifically the AKC) indicates he should be around 20-22kg. He stands at 22 inches at the shoulder but was only 16.3kg when I weighed him this morning. His bottom feels bony and you can feel his ribs/spine. Because of his fluffy coat though, it's impossible to see how skinny he is.

I have tried everything to get him to put some weight on:

• 4/5 different types of dry food, including working dog food for extra calories
• Several types of wet food and even frozen/raw food (end up with more waste as he leaves it and I end up throwing it away)
• Chicken/sardines and rice
• Adding gravy
• Serving it warm

He will wolf something down first time but then lose interest.

He's walked 2/3 times a day, usually about 2 hours in total, has endless energy, he's very playful, he seems bright, happy and healthy and the vets are happy with him (apart from the fact that he needs to gain weight). We've done blood/urine/poo tests to check if there is anything wrong and all came back negative.

He has peanut putter in a treat ball but won't always finish it. Will eat 1/2 treats then turn his nose up at any more.

Instinct tells me he's only eating what he needs but I find myself grateful for his fluffy coat thinking if people could see how skinny he was they'd judge me! Also, if he was to be poorly, he has no reserves :(

Any ideas as I'm tearing my hair out?!

He probably does not need to eat more. I own sled dogs. They are a working breed one of mine does not eat much. Unless your vet says he's under weight then don't worry. I see a lot of fat dogs and they are a working breed. Breed specifics say 16 kilo up over. My dogs won't eat until they have exercised. I take them on a walk then feed them an hour after it. Sometimes one of them does not eat. If he's healthy don't worry.

How often are you feeding him and do you give him treats?

Mine went through a phase of refusing meals - we got him to eat by picking a brand we knew he liked and that he got on with. We switched him to one meal per day (two meals was a waste) and he got fed at the same time each day.

If he didn't eat, food got removed after 20 minutes and he didn't get anything else until the next mealtime. I don't know if a system like this would work with a dog like that, but it might be worth a try?

I have a dog who is a complete snowflake with food, and will happily not eat for days if he doesn't fancy it. We have to rotate his food a lot (so currently he has 4 different types of wet food on the go, we only buy small bags of dry to mix it with, and each week he'll get a meal of eggs and kibble and pilchards and kibble).
For treats we use dried sprats or Treats2Sit4 dried meat so that he has nutritious rewards in addition. He wouldn't eat a normal dog biscuit if someone offers him, he just looks sadly at it

My dog is a picky eater and not food orientated unless it’s on someone else’s plate , having tried loads of different foods raw / wet / dried / home cooked we finally landed on the small Applaws tins in broth and he absolutely loves it , even with some kibble thrown in . We haven’t had a meal refused / unfinished for months now but it does work out quite expensive as they are designed for small dogs and ours is 15/16 kg .

What does your vet say? You should be able to easily palpate ribs so being able to feel them isn’t terrible in itself.

I wouldn’t try to fight fussiness with changing food because he’ll just expect something even better next time he refuses to eat. Picking up food and taking it away after 20 mins can help develop some urgency in eating.

I know how horrible a skinny dog who won’t eat can be. My boy was a string bean for ages and just wouldn’t eat. Not that you’d would know because he is so fluffy. He seemed to get over it when I stopped appearing to care - I stopped trying to get him to eat and just took the bowl away after 20 mins. He’s still very slim and when I bath him he looks frightful. My vet is happy though.

Thanks all.

Interesting about increasing the urgency of eating. He's funny because if we stay at my parents house he gets really excited at mealtimes (because their dogs are massive foodies and get excited) and scoffs his own food down then! I tend to leave it down all the time at home so maybe I need to take it up and teach him to eat at certain times. I did this when he was a pup and he just didn't eat for several days so I caved and left it down!

Don’t cave, don’t cave! Most dogs will not starve themselves to prove a point. After a few days he should learn that if he doesn’t eat now, he doesn’t eat just like if there are other dogs about he needs to eat up or they will.

Another thought. Have you tried putting kibble in toys? My boy hates it but a lot of dogs really enjoy working for their food.

I tend to leave it down all the time at home so maybe I need to take it up and teach him to eat at certain times.

Dogs aren't naturally free feeders in the same way that cats are - it also makes toileting harder as there's no routine to their day.

He won't starve himself. Pick a good quality food that you know he likes and stick with it. Personally, I don't feed a diet of just kibble as I imagine it would be very boring - I mix wet and dry together at each meal.

Decide when you want him to eat, feed him. If he chooses not to eat, that's fine, just take it up and wait until the next meal. No fuss, no stress, no drama. He gets set meals and if he chooses not to eat, then he can wait.

If your vet thinks he’s ok then don’t worry

However I have a sighthound, naturally skinny anyway,
They ended up very underweight because they wouldn’t eat - like yours would eat something once and then refuse it again.
I was so scared about them being underweight I tried everything, ruling out allergies, trying to understand likes and dislikes, or fill them up with treats, find new ways to serve their food and just being willing to give them anything they’d eat.

Eventually it was taking so much time and effort that I couldn’t handle it and just stopped

I serve one breakfast and one evening meal
If they don’t eat, they don’t eat, that’s fine.
If they do there are additional treats and chews.
They lost loooads of weight at first
People would stop me to ask if they were ok because they were so skinny. (I was obviously terrified and consulted vet and behaviourist first)
But after a few weeks they were eating every meal straight away and then we’ve not had a problem since.
Lovely weight now and never misses a meal.
Our behaviourist said they were just holding out for something better and as there was so many offers of food at treat from me all day and different meal combinations, they knew they weren’t going to starve.
Once it was apparent this was all that was available, they were happy to tuck in.

I have no advice but I would love to see a photo of your fluffy cloud beast. Pleeeeeease!