Dog not eating enough to put on weight

Question
Pointer,16 months-male. Started at 8 months. He is not gaining weight and eating enough to put on weight.  Tried 3 brands of food so far and same can food to mix with it. Also tried raw diet.  Feed 2x's a day 1& 1/2cups each feeding. Eat fine one day, skip a meal the next. Left bowl out till he ate it.  Next tried different things to mix in it. ex. cottage cheese, can tuna fish, yogurt, broth, etc. Now I am starting third week of putting out 2cups of dry food only, leaving out for 20 minutes 2x's a day and trying for the same time and he still will eat both meal one day and skip one the next day. Any suggestions? He is 20 pounds underwieght. Do I need patients with new method?  Do not want to change dog food again. It is at least 18% fat. Force feeding doesn't work. Might try to increase food for one feeding and omiting the second feeding.

Answer
Hi Michelle,  You don't want a food high in fat as much as high in protein.  Pointers are very hyper and will just burn off the fat.  The protein will go to muscle.  He is still a puppy and should be on puppy food until he is 2 years old.  I wouldn't give him any canned or raw foods as they just end up going right through them.  Also try to feed him when it is cool.  When it is hot, they won't eat as much either.  Another thing to consider is that a lot of sporting breeds have thyroid problems which will also keep their weight down.  Try getting him back on puppy food for a month and  also making sure he doesn't exercise too much.  Some dogs need to be kept in a smaller area to not pace off their weight.  We have a shepherd like that.  You give her a large space and she'll pace off her weight real fast.  If after a month his weight doesn't go up, then get some blood work done to make sure he has nothing medical going on.  Hope this helps,

Dawn