Too Thin 4 year old Male German Shepherd

Question
Great caring answers, thanks.  Our Xavier is fed Fromm large breed gold and over that last 6 months switched to BlackGold made in Vienna, MO.  He gets 1/2 can adult over 2 1/2 cups dry and yogurt twice a day, and sometimes eggs, milk, some other goodies in the house.  He rarely finishes his meals and I leave the bowl out when I leave.  He is around 65 lb. and a skinny, skinny boy.  He is a shadow personality and lives with a 4 year old female GSD who is more dominate and perfect size, 75 lbs.  She doesn't finish his food (very often).  The Vet says add oil or more fatty canned food and agrees he should gain weight.  I want him happy and don't want to see all his bones.  They are wormed and on heartguard.  I add linatone liquid to their meals.  How about human vitamins??  He runs from 6-8pm at nite with me. He is very good with the goats and like to chase cats.  Any ideas on how to fatted the boy up?  Thanks!!!

Answer
Hi Linda,

I've been having a couple of frustrating computer issues and subsequently am set back here a lot. My apologies for the late reply.

Personally, I would not add any more vitamins and definitely not minerals to a kibble fed dog's meals. I don't like the addition of "oil", but  perhaps a more energy-dense food will help. Hwo many calories per cup are in this BlackGold product (I am not familiar with it). A food like Acana that packs a lot of energy into each cup and is both higher fat and very palatable, might tempt your dog to eat more. Could you cook fr him at least part of the time? Would it be possible to rotate brands for variety?

But I want to ask, was he always so thin, or has this been a recent development?  I would also try adding canned green tripe to the food occasionally as they all seem to love it so much.

Looking forward to helping more, Catherine