BigGameHoundsmen.com

What's the best way to get a little extra weight on a dog when your running hard. Last week I had a male I used a bunch and he is looking awfully skinny. I was considering adding some canned food for awhile. He's the only dog that's been losing weight very bad that is.

I also have one dog that thins out pretty quik. What ever your feeding it just about double the amount on the days the dog aint hunted. The days you get back from hunting really lay the feed to the dog adding fat helps like fish oil to the food raw eggs any kind of grease. Table scraps and so on. Cook up anything you kill and feed it to them... Depends where your budget is if there is one, if you can afford to feed can food on top of dry food go for it...

Do not feed raw eggs to your dogs. The egg whites bind up vitamin D and your dog will become deficient if you do it to often. This is only for uncooked eggs. Cooked eggs are super fine.

Get a deer off of the hwy. and throw the whole thing in with the dog. If your dog is on a chain, watch out so it doesn't get tangled up and kept out of it's house for the night.

Dan, Thanks for adding about the Eggs, You dont want to over do Raw egg's. Some how I missed adding that. But Egg's Raw or Cooked is a huge benefit, Cooked eggs you can give often Raw no more then 3 times a week just one or two on there food for a week or two. I dont think my dogs would have the balls to come out of there house if I threw a dead deer in with them lol... I wouldnt throw that much Protien to my dogs Protien can be over done and cause lots of Health Problems...

I'm having trouble keeping weight on my dog in this cold weather so i started feeding him twice a day .Morning and evening. It helps .

Egg's arent good when used as the main Diet, The dog gets Vitamin A, Riboflavin, Folate, Vitamin B12, Iron, Selenium, and Fatty Acids threw raw eggs. The bad about feeding to much raw egg more as the main Diet is it Contains Enzyme inhibitors which can interfere with digestive problems in young pups and in older dogs... So Raw egg's can be huge just dont make your dog live off only raw eggs

Has been years since I fed my dogs raw meat. I would suggest a high quality brand of food, with a high fat content. You could have a warm broth to soak the feed in, most dogs love chicken broth & can give them a good appetite. In the thin dogs case, feed as much as he wants. The mentors I had all fed raw meat and lots of it, one of their beliefs was beaver or horse meat was two of the best feeds for hard hunting dogs in cold weather. And must say those were some very tuff hounds, so meat sure worked for them. Recall the time I told one of them I feared feeding deer meat, might make them run deer. He looked at me for a moment. Before saying you feed them beef & they don/t run cows, do they? Al
,

Most all of this has been talked about on here before but i will say it again. Some dogs are easy keepers some aren't,the ones that aren't need extra feed especially in cold weather. Feed warm moist feed twice a day if needed. Anything extra you add to the feed is a plus if it is useable to a dog. WORMS are a major factor in dogs that go down hill fast in cold weather especially tape worms, keep up on your worming in cold weather and hard hunting. One thing i have noticed over the years is that the guys that hunt the hardest and the most usually have dogs that look great all year round. No hips,ribs,or backbones showing on them. They are just rock solid and have no toenails. Dogs are like anything else in life, you get out of them what you put into them. One last thing is water, dogs need lots of water in cold dry weather.

I've tried all sorts of things to feed my dogs to help with the cost of feed and keep weight on them when they are hunting hard . GOOD HIGH QUALITY DOG FOOD is still the best way to keep a dog looking good . Now that being said I do supplement other food stuffs when it is available . I have a buddy that works at a cheese processing plant and he brings me 80 lb boxes of cheese . I feed about 4 parts cheese and 1 part dry dog food .Right now I'm feeding 5 dogs and I'm feeding 1 quart of dog food between all of them once a day .The cheese is scrap and doesn't cost anything . Cheapest I've ever fed dogs in my life and they look great and seem to be holding up better than ever .Only down side is if you over feed they will blow up and look like oprah in about a week . I 've fed raw meat in the past but then they always seem to want to stop at any kill you come across and eat and not hunt as hard .Also had a bird dog and when we fed him deer scraps he couldn't couldn't smell the birds as good as when he was on dog food so I've never fed deer .

Tod you are sure right on with dogs stopping at every bone pile when use to eating raw meat. Bought a female once took her a while to learn to eat commercial dog food. As I turned my dogs lose each day she would disappear. Stuck a tracking collar on her, found her a half mile from home picking thru a disgusting bone pile, food was setting in her kennel. Mark good points about deworming & lots of fresh water. However, I have found that some dogs just seem to have trouble keeping weight on when being hunted hard, even with the best of care & feed. There is a differ look to a dog that hunts himself thin & a dog that is thin from improper care & feed. Some in my experience are like some people, some thin people are very durable & healthy. Al

Cant say it any better than the way Mark said it. Andy

Since water was mentioned, how much water per day do you give in cold weather. When I say cold weather, I mean 0 or below nights and teens during the day. I feed about 3 to 4 cups of High standard with about a quart of water in the feed so they have to drink the water to get to the food. Water poured in a separate dish will freeze before 1 lick is taken. I've been doing this for many yrs without a problem but just checking out different options. I've got a lil female plott that hasn't had water for over a month, give her water with or without food and she just dumps it out without drinking. Went through the trouble of pouring a 20# concrete bowl and she grabs it with her teeth and throws it over. The bitch can eat snow..lol
Any comments on dogs relying on snow for water? I ask because I know a guy that doesn't give water to his dogs all winter.
I'm not a fan of throwing the dogs a deer carcass, saw too many sick dogs, problems with worms, problems with bones in the digestive system, problems with dogs dying of unknown causes, from guys that did that. On a side note, I heard that fresh meat should be froze for a few days to kill worms, true or not? idk...

Mondo
I have a buddy that in the winter that does the same thing with only giving his dogs snow. when he goes hunting with me it seems like his dogs are always stopping to eat snow while my dogs are still moving the track way ahead of his. Even though they get water from the snow i dont think that they get enough of it.

I'm not a fan of throwing the dogs a deer carcass, saw too many sick dogs, problems with worms, problems with bones in the digestive system, problems with dogs dying of unknown causes, from guys that did that. On a side note, I heard that fresh meat should be froze for a few days to kill worms, true or not? idk...[/quote]

Other good reasons why I learned to avoid feeding dogs raw meat. I have also known of dogs that ate meat while tied in gravel & hard to have surgery to remove the rocks from the digestive system. Freezing must kill the parasites from raw meat, other wise, most of the sled dogs would be dead from the raw fish they are fed. All I know about water is every thing I have read states how important it is to keep plenty of fresh water in front of the dogs at all times & especially in the cold or heat. Thought you folks would have heated pans for water. Here it is not often I have to worry about freezing water. Past week has been the exception, suppose to warm tomorrow, thanks goodness. Hopefully beginners will learn from these civil discussions. Al

Just a few comments that are only my opinion.
Just snow is not enough for a short haird dog and especially if fed dry dogfood.
You can have a bucket with a broth from warm soaked dog food and the dogs will drink more.
I know people who fed a lot of cheese and the dogs had teeth problems.
I would never feed deer with the hide on and prefer no bones. Like to feed deer trimmings.
The egg info was all news to me thanks.