Cocker Spaniel Not Gaining Weight

by Rebecca
(England )

My cocker is not gaining weight. We bought her from a farm where they breed dogs. They mated her at 6 months of age and she sadly had a litter of still born which resulted in them selling her!

We bought her after her sad loss - she was still baggy (milk bag), but her bag has now dried up.

However, she still hasn't gained weight. She's skin and bone and it breaks my heart to see her like that as she's a beautiful dog.

She eats the dog food that we just bought her to help build her up but that doesn't seem to help.

We have also wormed and given her a flea treatment.

Is there anything else we could do?

Reply from Pauline (Web Owner)

Hi Rebecca,

Poor thing - it sounds like she's not had a good start in life, doesn't it?

Thankfully, you came along and rescued her. Let's hope her life is now on track. Good for you for taking her in!

I'm not surprised her litter was stillborn! Six months is far too young for a bitch to be mated - she's still a pup herself at that age!

I would recommend that you take her to the vets (if you haven't already) to check that she's healthy and has recovered from having her stillborn puppies.

The vet will also be able to give here a supplement or some advice to help her to put on weight.

In the meanwhile, you're doing the right thing by feeding her quality dog food to ensure she's receiving all the nutrients her body needs. She should probably still be on puppy food as it will give her the extra protein she needs while she's growing into adulthood.

Before you go any further though, have you checked her for worms? It may be a good idea to worm her just to be on the safe side and then schedule that into her grooming routine ongoing.

To help your puppy put on a little more weight, you might want to supplement her diet with a little plain, boiled chicken or liver, or the occasional chopped egg mixed with plain boiled rice.

Once she's put on the required weight, you can pull back on the extra foods so that you don't end up with an overweight Cocker!

If you'd like to learn more about the ideal weight for a Cocker Spaniel and the recommended Cocker Spaniel diet, just follow the links.

Keep up the good work - I'm sure it won't be long before she's putting on weight.

Good luck to you both and please give her a hug from us!