8 mo male not a very big appetite

[Murphy's Mom]

Hi I am a newbie and have a question. We rescued a Rottie/Mix from a Shelter - long story short he found wondering very small on a local football field in Sept of 07, we adopted him in November. He has all the markings of a Rottie except a small white patch on his chest. My question is he only weighs about 42 pounds and does not seem to eat like a growing male dog. He is very active and gets regular exercise. He has been wormed twice since we got him and will be neutered next week. We put his food down in the morning and again at supper time, we do not let him graze. Sometimes he will eat right away and sometimes the only way to get him to eat it is putting it in his kong. He has been checked by the vet and he does not seemed too concerned as he has no symptoms of any illness. Am i just being paranoid or is there something else I should be looking at? We currently feed him Nutro Max puppy formula. Thanks for any suggestions. We lost our previous dog in October of cancer and sometimes I think I am just being paranoid something is wrong with this guy!

[gmo1379]

Hi and welcome, I'm pretty new here myself. I would recommend switching to another brand of dog food as Nutro Max has alot of fillers including corn (yuck). Since he's 8 months old you can feed him Innova (green bag). It's a very healthy dog food and perhaps he will have more of an appetite for it!

You can also add a tablespoon of yogurt (non-fat, plain) and he may just eat all of his food.

Sorry to hear about your previous dog but happy to hear of your new one!

Best of luck!

[brunie's mom]

If he is 8 months old and only 42 lbs, he is mixed with some smaller breed and he will never be a large dog...probably only 55-60 lbs.

I would also agree that you should change his food. Nutro Max is a poor quality food....full of corn and other fillers, very little meat. If you can only get Nutro products change him to the Nutro Ultra....it's a better quality food. Buy a couple of cans of canned food and add a tablespoon of canned food mixed into the dry, or add some yogurt, or scramble up and egg and add it, or half a tin of canned sardines(liquid included). There are many ways to enhance dog food and get your dog eating.
Read some of the threads on the Nutrition & Grooming forum for some suggestions of a better quality food.

Gina

[Murphy's Mom]

Thanks for the advice! I feel better and will switch his food right away. I never knew you could give yogurt to dogs. I will for sure try that.