Higher Calorie Diets for Thin Dogs
Please visit our website or YouTube channel (www.bestfriendsvet.com or YouTube BFVCTV channel) for handouts and videos about nutrition and choosing a good pet food.
The following are formulas containing over 400 calories per cup from companies we like pretty well:
Eukanuba – Small Breed Adult formula
Iams – Adult Mini-chunks or Sporting 29/18 formulas
Purina ProPlan Selects
Purina ONE – BeyOnd chicken & oatmeal formula
Many grain-free diets have more calories per cup than regular pet foods. However, grain-free diets have recently been shown to cause heart failure in some dogs so we do not recommend them. We are much pickier about brands since the FDA released a list of companies whose foods have been linked to heart disease in June of 2019. Currently, there are only four companies that meet our standards for quality control and research. We are recommending that you not feed any brands other than these four, at least until someone figures out what is in the food that is damaging to the heart.
These four companies are Hill’s, makers of Science Diet foods; Royal Canin; Purina, specifically their Pro Plan line, which is available in pet stores; or Iams, which also makes Eukanuba diets.
You can also try adding some vegetable oil, Crisco or bacon grease to your dog’s food, to add fat calories. A tablespoon or two will add quite a few calories.