How to Help a Retired Racing Greyhound Dog Gain Weight

By FaithAllen

Instructions

Things You’ll Need:

Dog treats
Quality dog food

Step 1:
Purchase high-quality dog food. When a dog is underweight, he has been deprived of the nutrition he needs to be healthy. While high-quality dog food is more expensive, feeding your dog higher-quality food is an investment in your dog's health. You do not want your dog gaining nothing but fat from unhealthy food: You want your dog to build back muscle and nourish his body with the nutrients it needs.
Step 2:
Provide your greyhound with slightly more food than the dog food bag recommends. Each dog food bag provides a table of how much food to feed dogs based upon their weight. Feed your dog about 25 to 33% more food than the bag recommends. For example, if the food bag says to feed your dog 3 cups of food a day, feed him 4 cups instead.
Step 3:
Feed your greyhound at least twice a day. Most greyhounds are accustomed to being fed twice a day, and spacing out the feedings helps provide the dog with a regular intake of nutrients.
Step 4:
Give your greyhound healthy treats. An underweight greyhound can use the extra calories and will thoroughly enjoy a moderate intake of treats. You can combine giving treats with training the dog, such as giving her a treat each time she enters her crate on command.
Step 5:
Monitor your greyhound's progress. A greyhound at a healthy weight should have prominent hipbones and a prominent spine with only three ribs showing. If you can see more than three ribs, then your greyhound is still underweight.
Step 6:
Reduce portion size as the greyhound approaches a healthy body weight, staying slightly above the recommended portion size until the dog reaches a healthy weight.

Tips & Warnings

Some greyhounds have a high metabolism and will need to eat a larger portion than is recommended on the dog food bag.
Do not over-feed your greyhound. Feeding him too large of a portion at one time will cause him to have diarrhea.
Being overweight is taxing on a greyhound's body. Err on the side of keeping your greyhound slightly underweight instead of overweight.

Photo/Video Credit

Faith Allen

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