Best Dog Food for Weight Gain 2024

Although there have long been proponents of feeding dogs a diet that predominantly features raw meat, it’s only really become a mainstream option in recent years — thanks in no small part to products such as Open Farm’s freeze-dried beef patties.

These convenient patties allow parents to give their dogs a raw diet without regular trips to the butcher and packing their fridges full of various animal parts.

Take the beef recipe as an example. These are made up of a whopping 95% beef meat, organs and bone, leading to protein levels of 41% and fat levels of 38%. And with 64 calories in each patty, it’s easy to get your dog bulked up with a few of these in their bowl.

Perhaps best of all, Open Farm gets the thumbs-up from Dr Georgia Jeremiah, a pet nutrition expert and one of Wag!’s veterinary consultants.

“Open Farm dog food is formulated with high-quality ingredients and does not contain any artificial preservatives, flavors, or colors. The company also prioritizes the use of ethically sourced and humanely raised ingredients,” she says.

Now you can see why we recommend this as a good dog food to help gain weight. Flavors include beef, turkey, chicken and surf and turf.

You might think the answer for how to fatten up a dog is easy — just give them more food. It’s not that easy, however. Give them too much low-quality food and you could be filling your dog with meals that pass straight through them.

Choose fresh dog food and you can be assured your dog will be digesting more of their food. This is because it contains top-quality human-grade ingredients that have only been lightly cooked — not bulky, processed food that’s been cooked to smithereens.

We’re big fans of A Pup Above for this reason, but don’t just take our word for it.

“A Pup Above offers human-grade dry and fresh food options that are cooked at low temperatures to preserve nutrients,” says Dr Georgia Jeremiah. “Their recipes are formulated by veterinary nutritionists and contain no GMO ingredients, antibiotics, or growth hormones found in many vegetable and meat products.”

Plus, A Pup Above’s products are conducive to healthy weight gain. The protein levels are reassuringly high, especially compared to other fresh food companies. The mixture is also dense when it comes to calories, meaning your dog doesn’t need to eat loads to get the requisite amount. It’s available in chicken, beef, pork and turkey flavors.

As a general rule of thumb, dry dog food contains less protein and fat than wet, fresh, or raw dog food. However, there are some notable exceptions — Crave’s adult recipe is one of them.

You’ll spot some pretty impressive nutritional figures on the packaging. All four recipes — which each use real meat or fish as the first listed ingredient — have a minimum of 34% protein and the fat levels sit at 17%. This is very much high fat dog food with an ample amount of protein, too.

In addition to that, the calories hover at the 450 per cup mark, which is more than ideal for dogs in need of some serious sustenance. The fact that each recipe has a minimum of 2.5% Omega 6 fatty acids is helpful for healthy weight gain, too.

All of this comes from top-quality components, too. Try as you might, you won’t find any artificial flavors, colors or preservatives in the ingredient list. If your dog prefers dry food for whatever reason, we’d point you in the direction of Crave.

 Flavors include beef, chicken, lamb and white fish and salmon.

Don’t be fooled by the relatively low protein and fat percentages for Ziwi Peak’s wet dog food — usually just under 10% for protein and just above 5% for fat. These recipes are deserving of a place in our list of the best dog food for weight gain.

That’s because these are very much high calorie dog food. Each can contains around 500 calories, making it a great choice for canines in need of a few more pounds.

And these are good calories, too. The recipes contain 91% meat, organs and green-lipped mussels, the latter of which is a natural source of glucosamine and chondroitin for joint support.

Ziwi Peak is a company that really cares about the provenance of these ingredients, as well. This means protein sources will either be grass-fed, free-range or wild-caught in New Zealand. Let’s just say this sustainable approach puts a lot of other dog foods on the market to shame. 

There’s a good selection of flavors; tripe and lamb, venison, chicken, beef, mackerel and lamb, and lamb.

In general, puppy food is more geared towards weight gain than adult recipes. This is because young dogs are at a formative stage of life during which they’re growing quickly and need lots of protein to support this. Any new parent will be able to tell you that puppies burn an awful lot of energy as they explore the world.

As such, you won’t find it as difficult to find puppy food that’s rich in fat and protein. However, if you need inspiration, we’d point you toward Merrick’s Puppy Plate cans. The chicken recipe contains 395 calories per can, which makes it particularly rich and filling. The beef recipe isn’t far behind with 363.

Dr. Jeremiah says, “Merrick products are made with high-quality, whole food ingredients, and they use no artificial preservatives, colors, or flavors.”

What we really like about it, though, is that these calories come from real meat as the first listed ingredients, followed by broth, vegetables and fruits. Lower down on the ingredient list, you’ll find all the essential vitamins and minerals a growing dog could need, including DHA for healthy brain development.

This is how to put weight on a dog in a way that’s doing them good at the same time.

Treats and snacks are usually higher in calories than dog food, as it makes them a good incentive for dogs to learn tricks and commands.

Usually, vets advise that treats or snacks shouldn’t form more than 10% of your dog’s daily calorie intake. However, if you’re wondering how to put weight on a dog, offering a few more snacks throughout the day to boost this figure might be a good tactic.

Most dogs won’t have too much of a problem with being given a few more treats, especially if they’re part of the Nulo jerky range. These soft bites are made from real meat and a handful of other ingredients, and can be high in calories — the duck and plum option packs 46 calories into each four inches.

In addition to the limited selection of high-quality ingredients, they’ve been supplemented with probiotics to support digestive and immune health. And there’s not an artificial color, flavor or preservative to be seen in the mix, either. Choose from beef with coconut, duck with plum, chicken with apples, salmon with strawberries, or turkey with cranberries.