Hello fellow Mastin lovers. My name is Maarten, I'm from Holland and tonight I'm picking up my first Mastin. It's a 3 year old male rescued from Spain. I've visited this dog a few times now and diceded to adopt him. I will post some pics later. The dog is currently underweight about 15 to 20 kg. Do you have any useful tips about feeding? What's the most sensible way to put some weight on this dog and get it in shape? Regular dogfood, raw meat, supplements of any kind?
Registered Member #8 Joined: Fri Oct 26 2007, 11:15AM Posts: 110
- Hi Maarten,
Nice to meet you here on Mastininfo. If he really is under 20kgs at this age, he is for sure not a Mastín. Yet, he could be a GREAT dog just the same !! I have these recommendations for you: * take your time; don't rush. * If you give him time to grow, then there is no risk of over-feeding. * First two or three days feed him the food he is used to. * After these days you start feeding him the same food but add one or two times a day one of those tins (kuipjes) you can buy with the veterinarian (especially for dogs that have to regain their strength and weight). * After one week you start giving him regular food. At that point your dog must have gained some weight already. * Very soon after he is used to his new regular food start to give him some meat or (preferably) tripe. But not every day and only once a day. * Don't forget to de-worm him regularly.
There seems to be a misunderstanding here; I meant that the dog is 15 to 20 kg below the weight it should be. Haha. He's about 80 cm at the shoulders and currently some 55 kg, his ribs and backbone are showing, also his hips and backlegs don't seem to have the ammount of muscle they should have.
I really think it's the real thing (a Mastin that is). I've been an admirer of this beautifull breed for some years now and I'm a regular reader on this very useful forum. Also, I'm not really a newbie at large dogs I've had a Leonberger male for 10 years and a st-bernard female for 2 years. It's just that I never had a full grown large dog that's underweight, so I'm seeking advice about getting this beautiful dog in shape again.
Anyway, thanks for the advice, it's about the same as I had in mind. I'll keep you informed.
Registered Member #8 Joined: Fri Oct 26 2007, 11:15AM Posts: 110
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Hi again,
haha ... I read a comma where there wasn't any (between "underweight" and "about")
With 80 cms your new family-member surely qualifies as a mastín Although 55 kgs are however a problematic low.
By the way: do you know that there is a Dutch mastín-website !? ( http://mastin-espanol.rasvereniging.org ). The pictures of your mastín (who probably has a name ?) will certainly be welcomed there
lots of luck for you and your mastín !!
.
[ Edited Tue Jul 27 2010, 02:22PM ] Frans Netherlands / Países Bajos
I don't want to be pushy, but you know that there is a Dutch mastín-website !? ( http://mastin-espanol.rasvereniging.org ). The pictures of your mastín (who probably has a name ?) will certainly be welcomed there
Yes actually I did know that. It's a nice and very informative site. And, since you ask, are you connected in any way to that site?
Registered Member #3 Joined: Thu Oct 25 2007, 01:07PM Posts: 64
My name is Maarten, I'm from Holland and tonight I'm picking up my first Mastin. It's a 3 year old male rescued from Spain. I've visited this dog a few times now and diceded to adopt him.
Hello Maarten,
I'd like to welcome you to the forum ,and also wanted to THANK YOU for adopting this Mastin. He is definitely underweight, please make sure you have your Veterinarian check him for internal and external parasites. You can start by feeding him three times a day small meals of a good dry food with added goodies, ( not all at once of course) like cottage cheese, cooked ground beef, rice, pasta, cooked Chicken (no bones) ,Tuna, Salmon, etc.
Looking forward to seeing pictures of your new boy. What are you going to name him ? Good luck !!
[ Edited Mon Jul 26 2010, 04:55PM ] Norma New Jersey USA
Welcome to 'mastininfo'... I am so happy to hear that you decided to ADOPT a mastin - unfortunately there are quite many unwanted mastines and mastin mixes, that need new homes - and not enough people to adopt them... When you say your mastin is underweight with about 15-20 kg, how much do you expect him to weigh? There are many different opinions about the ideal weight of the Spanish mastiff.
I look forward to see photos of your mastin
Many greetings from Sally
Best regards/Saludos Sally, Denmark My heart is for the abandoned mastines - Mi corazón es para los mastines abandonadosThe greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated. Un país, una civilización se puede juzgar por la forma en que trata a sus animales (Mahatma Ghandi) En este mundo entero, una cosa solo existe que no la compra el dinero. El feliz meneo de la cola de un perro. (Josh Billings)
Registered Member #149 Joined: Sun Sep 07 2008, 07:49PM Posts: 134
Hi, I would suggest some vitamin supplements too, I have found that a giving dog food and the occasional raw meat meal helps the dogs gain a bit of weight (but making sure he is wormed well) . Also give him a natural yoghurt every day for a while its good for his tummy. Vitamins - one in Spain which has its for animals that have been sick , that are weak and it helps their defenses. It has to be injected and has vitamin B12,in it, called Catosal. Talk to your vet about a vitamin supplement, he sounds like he has had a rough time, and some extra help with vitamins should do him some good. If his ribs and backbone are showing he sounds like he is underweight. He probably needs some exercise aswell , not too much little by little to gain his strength poor baby. Makes me so angry that people haven't looked after him properly, sounds like he has fallen into good loving hands though. good luck.
Thank you all for all those great reactions and useful tips!
Last december my Leonberger past away at the respectable age of 10. I miss him so much. I wasn't really looking for a dog yet, allthough I knew I had to have a large friend like that again to complete my family at some time. I've admired the Mastin for a long time and I was searching for some info about the ME on the net. Just by coincedence I came across this add of a dutch foundation that rescued this young male in Spain. I called for info and decided to meet with this dog. Love at first sight, allthough I must say I was a bit shocked about how thin he was in real live. I hadn't seen that on the pictures in the add.
Last night I picked him up and brought him home. By the way, his name is Santos now. We took him and our little 3 year old mixbreed male to the woods to meet and hopefully even play. Well, I'm happy to say they went playing right away. That's when I noticed that Santos is a very social and happy dog. People and dogs were greeted with great enthousiasm. Also, I was a bit worried about his energy level, since he's underweight. Well Santos completely took that concern away. This dog has so much energy! Running like a horse, big jumps, just playfull puppy-like behaviour. (The foundation is not sure about his age, looking at his behaviour personally I think he's probably 2 years old and not 3 or 4 like they said at first.) I suppose he's not used to running freely and playing, so he had the time of his life.
As for his health; he's had a check up by the vet of the foundation last week, his blood has been checked, and he seems healthy apart from being underweight (I've measured him last night. 83 cm at the shoulders at 58 kg). This week I'll let my own vet take a look at him. His appetite seems ok. I hope and think that this dog is just fine but wasn't looked after properly in Spain.
To be continued.
btw, as you can see I placed a picture of him in my avatar.
Vets have called- another emergancy and Canela is going to give blood to save the life of another dog, this is now the 4th time she has donated her blood. I am so proud of her, and also proud to help other animals by letting the vet use our Canelas blood. They need dogs that weigh over 40 kilos to do transfusions.
Sally, I accidentally pressed the submit button twice on my comment about the stray Mastin. I thought it didn't go through and pressed twice. . I can't delete the extra comment , so can you remove it for me , Thanks !
hi Franz, are you referring to the last two posts on the forum ? I have put them in spanish cause its about two monografic shows here in Spain, I copied and pasted them, one was an email that came to me, and the other was to help a friend that has organized one in Asturias, because they haven't got it on the AEPME page yet. So I thought I would just open a couple of posts to let spanish mastin owners know incase they would like to go and compete or go and watch. At the mo, I haven't got time to translate, will try and do it later on ok. xx
Sally I wrote a thread on the heat wave nearly a year ago, to move it up to the forum box again I have written a bit more so people can see it and remind them. I will see if I can find any links on it if you can't find it ok. xxx
Tracey, you are right ... It is not very hot here in Denmark, so I just forget that it is different in other countries. I think you sent a link in Spanish about about heatwaves / golpe de calor last summer, didn't you? I will try to find it,,, Thanks for reminding me Tracey
Hi Sally, Its starting to really heat up here now , so I think its a good idea to put your warning article up about heatwaves / golpe de calor for the mastin owners to read and to remind them of. un beso Trace xxx
Hi Sally, Think its about time to put the warning again about heat with mastines,(golpes de calor) the weather is starting to warm up here lots! hugs Trace x
The best advice will probably be: learn to live with it ! Some mastines have it; others don't ... Is she "just moving the air" when she is snoring ?? Nothing can be done ... Does she also makes the floor vibrate ?? Then give her a mattress to lay on ...
My beautifull mastin female sleeps with us inside the house. She snores like crazy!!! Does anybody have a sugestion or advice?? Its really funny but also imposible to sleep. Help!
My beautifull mastin female sleeps with us inside the house. She snores like crazy!!! Does anybody have a sugestion or advice?? Its really funny but also imposiible to sleep. Help!
I wonder if there is any difference in longetivity between mastines who work with / guard livestock for a living compared to those that are strictly show ring dogs or pets. Has anyone studied this? It seems to me, if a dog is allowed lots of room to safely roam and exercise, it can only assist in his living to a ripe old age. I wonder if having a 'mission' to protection some stock helps a mastine 'hang on' and live longer....? Not that competition in the ring isn't a 'mission' and I am sure there are dogs who live to show and parade before judges and are very happy, healthy dogs who live long lives.... Just pondering this...that's all... !
Do you suppose the foundation stock of today's breed when AEPME was formed, came out of a small gene pool and was there a lot of line-breeding going on? would that be the reason there are so many problems in the breed now?
I think health, temperament and workability should come first and conformation second priority. Breeders ought to goal for the "entire package" if you know what I mean..
Frans, as usual I did not express myself very well I am sure many mastines live more than 6-7 years, but many of the mastines I saw at shows - and many of the mastines who had great results in the shows - suddenly past away at the age 6-7... Quite too many... I am sure (hope) that breeders take things like overall health and longevity very serious and want to integrate these factors in their breeding-plans... I think it would be a great idea to publish "lineages" of mastines that reach a GOOD, ACCEPTABLE age instead of lineages of mastines that "produce" champions...
Sally, you say that dying at six, seven years of age is starting to become the norm. I really hope that's not correct. I also know that there are (several ? many ?) breeders -as well in Spain as outside Spain- that take things like overall health and longevity very serious and want to integrate these factors in their breeding-plans. Hmm ... maybe we should publish "lineages" of mastines that reach a GOOD, ACCEPTABLE age instead of lineages of mastines that "produce" champions. Shall we start with reviving the forum-topic on "life expectancy for mastines" ... ?
Frans, it may be a sad story behind the photo of me and Toro - the hard thing for me and my son was to loose him at such a young age... 6 years of age is not an acceptable life expectancy for a mastín. Unfortunately, Toro's untimely death is not unique. It's unfortunately not uncommon that Mastines die around age five, six seven years. That is actually quite before it approaches the norm. It's scary, especially because there just does not seem to be any interest in exploring why these Mastines had such a short lifetime.
MastinMel, yes I had a nice 'happy' birthday - NO, everthing did not went well, I crossed the line - and entered into the 'flock' of 'old people' If you ever go to Spain, and with your 'obvious passion' about the Mastín español, you really should visit Spain sometime (might give you quite a new opinion about the breed) ... it would be a very good idea to visit Gregorio, he is on my top list too... - but remember, there are many breeders/shepherds/owners in Spain that are very much 'worth a visit'
Sally, It is a very sad story behind the picture of you and Toro on the frontpage, but the picture as such is great. Not everyone who lost his (or her) mastín has a "last memento" like this.
Sorry this is late, Sally (haven't been here in a while) - hope you had a happy birthday and all went well! If I ever get to Spain Gregorio of Abelgas will be on top of the list of breeders to meet as I am quite impressed with his mastines!
[ Mastin Espanol International ]
Feeding an underweight Mastin.
Although 55 kgs are however a problematic low. 
I 
Carlos, will you put a photograph of Rufo at a show on mastininfo or mastingallery ? It would be very nice to see the winner 
Does she also makes the floor vibrate ?? Then give her a mattress to lay on ... 
