The popularity of bulldogs in North America has skyrocketed over the last ten years with French Bulldogs now being the second most popular breed and English Bulldogs being the fifth most popular dog breed in the USA.
With there being so many first-time bulldog owners out there right now, we are constantly seeing a wide range of questions being asked about bulldogs from the community.
There has been a drastic rise in the number of questions being asked about skinny bulldogs recently with a number of bulldog owners actually being worried about their dogs due to them rapidly dropping weight.
As we have noticed so many people reaching out about their bulldog being skinny, we have decided to publish our own article answering the commonly asked questions that we have seen people asking time and time again.
Our hope is that we are going to be able to help our readers safely get their bulldogs to put weight back on and get them back to a healthy weight.
As we are covering a range of different questions we see from bulldog owners about their dogs being skinny, we have added our table of contents below.
It should make it simple to skip to specific sections of the article to save our readers time while still offering you the information that you require.
Can Bulldogs Get Skinny?
Just like all animals, bulldogs are able to lose weight and become skinny if they are not receiving enough net calories from their food to maintain their weight.
Net calories are the number of calories left over after deducing the calories from exercise and normal bodily functions from the calories that your bulldog takes in each day from its food.
Although it is more common with French bulldogs than with English bulldogs due to French bulldogs usually being more active, people new to owning the breed can be shocked by how quickly their bulldog can actually drop weight.
This is why it is important to try and offset any large calorie burns due to exercise with extra meals or some tasty dog treats.
Both options for getting the calorie deficit into your bulldog can work well to prevent them from becoming skinny. It is usually easier to get your bulldog to take on additional calories via treats than an additional main meal though.
If your bulldog is already skinny and still losing weight then we would highly recommend that you also start to apply a doggy weight gainer to their main meals and treats if possible to help them gain weight quickly.
Why Is My Bulldog Skinny?
The most common reason that a bulldog will be skinny is due to having a calorie deficit between the number of calories your bulldog eats each day and the number of calories your bulldog burns each day.
There are also a number of health issues that do tend to be rare in bulldogs but they can cause your bulldog to drop weight quickly.
If you do suspect that your bulldog is losing weight due to any health issues then we would highly recommend that you book a video call with a vet.
You will often find that a video call with a veterinarian is cheaper than actually taking your bulldog to the local vet surgery while you still get the exact same information on why your bulldog is losing weight quickly.
The vet will be able to better advise you on specific health problems that may be making your bulldog skinny and offer you the best treatment possible for moving forward.
As we touched on though, the health issues that can cause bulldogs to lose weight and be skinny do tend to be rare so the most common issue is usually a bulldog exercising more than its daily calorie intake is replacing so using a doggy weight gainer or supplementing your bulldog’s diet with tasty dog treats can be a good idea to top up their calorie intake.
How Do I Know If My Bulldog Is Underweight?
A fully grown male English bulldog should be around 50 pounds with a female being around 40 pounds. A fully grown male French bulldog should be around 24 pounds with a female being around 20 pounds.
There are various growth charts available online going over the expected weight for puppy and juvenile dogs at various age brackets too. This allows you to quickly and easily tell if your bulldog is underweight or not relative to its age.
There is usually a plus or minus allowance of ten percent of the expected weight to allow for differences in activity levels and food intake while still considering the bulldog to be of a healthy weight for its age too.
If your bulldog is drastically underweight compared to what you were expecting then seeking advice from a veterinarian is highly recommended.
Not all causes of your bulldog being skinny can be fixed by simply giving your dog more calories each day so it is important that you get a vets advice on any potentially serious health problems that is causing your bulldog to be skinny as soon as possible.
As with most things, the sooner you catch a potential health problem in your bulldog, the more chance you have of being able to fix it.
How Can I Fatten Up My Skinny Bulldog Safley?
We would never recommend that you restrict the exercise available to your bulldog to preserve calories so the easiest way to get your bulldog to put weight on safely is to increase its daily calorie intake.
There are a number of different options available for this that you are able to use to your advantage with each working in a slightly different way to each other.
Use A Doggy Weight Gainer To Fattern Up A Skinny Bulldog!
The easiest way to fatten up a skinny bulldog safely is to use a doggy weight gainer as you are able to add the supplement to your bulldogs current meals and treats.
This reduces the chances of having any issues with your bulldog not liking the taste of any new foods you try to integrate into its diet while easily allowing you to sneak in additional calories to help your dog gain weight.
Fatten Up A Skinny Bulldog With Custom Made Dog Food!
A large number of dog owners are choosing to switch their dog over to a custom made dog food rather than a standard off the shelf commercial dog food.
These can be an excellent option for improving the overall nutritional profile of your dog’s diet while also being able to be used to increase your dog’s daily calorie intake to help it up weight on.
Fatten Up A Skinny Bulldog Using Commercial Dog Food!
You are able to use a high-quality commercial dog food to help your bulldog put weight on if it is skinny.
This can work in two ways by helping to ensure that your bulldog will eat all of its meals due to the better taste of the food helping to get more calories into your dog while also allowing you to feed your dog larger portions as most dogs love the taste of these higher quality ingredient dog foods.
Use Tastey Treats To Get Your Skinny Bulldog To Gain Weight!
The majority of people only use tasty high-quality dog treats as a way to train their dog to do tricks or encourage positive behavior but most dogs love them and will happily eat them whenever they can.
This presents another quick, easy, and cheap way to get additional calories into your pet bulldogs diet to help it gain weight safely if it is skinny.
How Many Additional Calories A Day Should A Skinny Bulldog Have?
The general rule of thumb is that you should give a skinny bulldog up to 20% more calories per day to let it safely gain weight without risking any health issues.
There are some specific situations for serious problems where your veterinarian may advise you to increase those to 30% or even 40% of their normal calories but these are rare.
One mistake that we see people make time and time again when they are trying to help any dog gain weight is that they will use the food portion guides on the size of their dog food packaging and use their dog’s current weight to workout portion size.
You should always work out what the healthy weight of your dog is and then add the additional calories to that size of a portion.
Some bulldogs can end up so skinny that if you use their current, skinny weight to workout portion size via the guides on dog food packaging and then add 20% to it, you may still be beneath the minimin recommended calories for your dog so it won’t gain anyway.
We know that it takes a couple of extra minutes to work out but it can be the difference between helping your dog gain weight or your dog staying skinny.
Conclusion
That brings our article going over how to help a skinny bulldog gain weight to an end. We hope that we have been able to help our readers better understand how they are able to help a skinny bulldog as well as the various ways that you are able to get additional calories into your pet and help it gain weight in a healthy, safe way.
