Putting weight on a Great Dane?

Changing foods can cause stomach upset. Pick a food and stay with it.

I have a picky eater too. I free feed so my guy can eat whenever he wants. His stools weren't runny, but were too soft, although formed. His vet said that his gut flora was out of balance. He had too many bad bacteria and not enough good bacteria. I've put him on Animal Essentials, a probiotic. It seems to have helped. It's taken months, but he's put on about 10 lbs now.

I know how you feel. My dog is the same. She was always so thin people would tell me she was abused, but I tried and tried to get her to eat, but she barely ate anything. I tried the tough love but she would go for days without eating. What has worked for my dog is a homemade diet. One, dogs naturally go for high moisture foods. My dog would never eat dry kibble. She would only eat it if it was soaked in warm water. A natural diet is 70% moisture, kibble is 10%. My dog would also not touch any high grain or high carbohydrate foods. Dog's can smell all that plant matter. If you are not already try Canidae Pure Sea, it's their lowest carb formula. I've tried every food out there and none of them really worked for my dog. I started doing a homemade raw diet, and she loved it at first but she got tired of it and stopped eating it. So now I do a homecooked diet. She loves it. I think its the smell of the cooked food. Although I do include a small amount of veggies as a fiber source, and sometimes she wont eat it if I use ones she doesn't like. Also she is not a fan of the organs so I grind all the meats up together to get her to eat them. (I use bone meal since I do home cooked) Home cooked is not as good as raw but raw isn't any good either if my dog wont eat it. Also my dog's appetite improved greatly after she turned 3 yrs. Her activity level dropped slightly and she started to fill out nicely. You can no longer see her ribs but she's still pretty lean. So it could be your dog just needs to hit maturity to fill out a little more. Still once in a while she will not want to eat, I just try to feed her as much variety as possible so she doesn't get bored. It works pretty well. Although I don't recommend switching too often if you are feeding commercial dog foods, dogs tend to get digestive upset when you do that. But with homemade I feed her something different everyday with no problems. Ya its a pain, but she's worth it.

I feel your pain, I have two AKC working blood hounds. I had the problem with one and not being picky just not interested in eating all that much. He loved to chew though. There was also a Lieutenant outside of Albuquerque NM that has a blood hound and had the same issue and i used the advise i was given. So whether you like it or not here goes.

I would buy all the expensive GOOD brands because my department would pay for it. My bloody wouldn't eat it. I added a 1/4 can to the dry and filled it to just the top of the food with water and he ate it every time (no gravy).

Needless to say 2 bags of old roy yes walmart were donated and rather than throw it out i would mix it in with the good stuff. A very long story short:

My two blood hounds and germanshepard that are certified working dogs as well my own little darling (healer cross) get dry old roy in the red bag and 1 large dog food can divided to the 4 and water to just under the food line. All will clean their bowels in minutes! They are all healthy and happy.

So, good luck if nothing else the water may help.

Before giving your dog the food, (Don't mix in cottage cheese or anything else. Maybe just add in wet food mixed well with dry food should suffice) stick your head in the bowl and act as if you're eating the food. make sounds and to show your dog you actually 'ate' it stick some in your mouth. and 'chew'. Your dog will think 'hey...... my owners eating out of MY BOOWWL.' And so most likley, it will gobble it up when you set the bowl down for it to eat.

IF THAT DOES NOT WORK:

My german shepard had a sensitive stomach. He couldn't quite eat dry food alone. We had to soften the dry food up by pouring hot water in it, letting it sit for a minute till the heat wouldn't bother our dog, and mixed it up a little with a spoon (or hands) and gave it to him. He absolutely l.o.v.e.d it. Your dog, too, may have a sensitive stomach. So try this ^U^.Also, dont actually eat the food XD

PS: I did this for my dog who was a picky eater-- (different dog) and he would eat. But.. I had to do it every time. Either that or hand feed him. Which is a nuisence but he ate. I mainly think it is because he was weaned improperly by the breeders we bought him from, but hey. He's eating :)

It doesn't suprise me that your dog is picky. All the danes I know are. Have you tried solid gold food yet? Its a very high quality food. The founder of Solid gold actually made the food in favor of her great danes. I have a VERY picky English springer spaniel/lab mix and an APBT mix that is allergic to most foods. I feed them Solid gold:Barking at the moon(high energy dog formula) My picky dog is happy with it and my dog with allergies does fine on it too. Also, if you free-feed, Stop right away. Most dogs that are free-fed are often more picky. Keep a feeding schedule. Leave food down for only 10 minutes at a time and if he doesn't eat it all and loses interest, take it away. He will eventually *hopefully* learn that he only gets a certain amount of time to finish eating or else his food will be taken away.

Really, thats a very good food, very high in Protein. Don't try to "fatten" him up. Danes are suppose to be thin. Large dogs like Danes need to stay lean because their hearts have to work harder to keep blood flowing to all that dog. Rice will cause bloat and thats dangerous. He/She will not be full grown until 2 years old. He/She may not get taller but it will fill out. Keep doing exactly what you're doing but loose the rice

I have a fussy puppy too.

She only ate a few pieces of kibble a day.

I used to hear 'a healthy dog wont starve themselves' all the time aswell, but she just wouldnt eat anymore!

So i moved her onto puppy trays, and she loved this.. for like a week. Then she didnt eat for two days, then she ate once..

Now shes on raw and is already getting bored of it.

But I dont think theres anything you can do to be honest.

Im sure hes healthy, hes just not big on food! Maybe try feeding once a day instead if you arent already.

Or try wet for one meal, dry for another.

Ask a vet? Good luck!

is it possible that he has a blockage? has the vet taken x-rays to check the gut?

I have no clue on this one, I have a picky eater myself. and She can skip a meal but with gravy will eat the meal, but she doens't like large kibble. is it possible even that there is a sore in the mouth? or something happened before this pickyness that could have caused the issues.

for my girl it was the stress of working away from home that started the latest food battle.

I have a friend who had great danes, she has a 3 year old boy who she has had trouble with eating, she even got to the point where she was trying to force feed him ( not a good idea in my eyes) i have have trouble with my oldest male bullmastiff he went through a phase of hardly eating turns out there was a girl in season in the area plus also i have a girl in season at home, he went down from 56kg to 48kg and he look like i was not feeding him.

Is your boy still entire? could there be a girl in season in your neighbour-hood? these thing could make him go off his food even more,

we have a stick rule in this house if the dogs turn their noses up at their food after 10 mins it is taken away, some dog just seam to eat enough to keep them alive but stick to it as you said, no dog will starve themselves , my advice stick with what you ar doing dont get into the habbit of trying to add food to get them to eat as that never seams to work and you end up with a fussy dog

Have you been to your vet? I would worry if he is that much under weight, and not wanting to eat much of anything that maybe there is an underlying condition.

Before switching the food again, or adding anything else I think an exam would be the best and most sensible approach, almost all illnesses start with slowing down of the appetite, followed by not eating at all. If this is his normal appetite, I would still consult the vet, maybe he is having trouble metabolizing certain vitamins and minerals that are keeping him from having an appetite and keeping his body using his food in the appropriate ways.