How Much Weight Did Your Grey Gain After Adoption?

[Guest Krisi]

When we adopted our grey girl last December she weighed 63 pounds (61 lbs was her racing weight). At her visit to the vet for a routine vaccination, she weighed 69 lbs! Briefly, she is an active girl, walking at least 2+ miles daily and running with me 5 miles a week (I run, she trots). We are feeding her 3 to 3.5 cups a day of dry food. Moreover, you can still see a few ribs. (Her foster mom told us last month that she could probably gain a few pounds.) To me, she looks to be in excellent shape. Assuming the scale is correct, could she really have gained 5+ pounds while in retirement and still not look fat? Just curious to see if anyone else has seen this amount of weight gain in an otherwise fit grey. Thanks!

[Guest vulferius]

It is possible that her weight gain is healthy. Generally speaking greyhounds will put on a couple pounds when they ease into retirement but often their ideal weight will be the same or less than their racing weight by the end of the first year. Muscle is more dense than fat and as they retire and add a healthy layer of fat they are generally losing muscle mass as well (training and racing are VERY high energy activities) so we expect weigh not to fluctuate much.

 

I made this contribution to another thread and I feel that it is worth repeating here:

 

Greyhounds have such a dramatic tuck and often will carry the bulk of their extra weight there so even an overweight greyhound will often have a "good tuck." I also think judging a proper weight by looking at how pronounced the ribs are is misleading, I had a barrel-chested boy that could have been twenty pounds overweight and you would still have good rib visibility. With my adopters I encourage them to monitor weight by the top of the hip bones (it is more accurate than judging by the ribs but is by no means accurate in all instances). I like to see the hip bones peaking, if the hind end is too rounded and generally lacks definition the dog is likely overweight. When there are hip dimples instead of peaks the dog in question is likely to be severely overweight.

 

There is no definitive answer to your question without seeing your dog. Pictures are helpful but can be deceptive as well. Ultimately I would guess that her weight is probably okay but I would say that she almost certainly shouldn't put on any more weight. If she continues to gain weight you might have her thyroid levels checked, unexplained weight gain may be due to low thyroid levels. I've seen dogs eating next to nothing gain weight because of a thyroid imbalance.

 

-Jeff

[JohnF]

Yes. Mine weighs 31 kilos now, she was 29 when I got her. They'll tend to plateau at their new weight provided that you keep a reasonable routine. My Peggy is back on lead walking only for a few weeks due to a tail injury and I have cut her food back by about a quarter. A different metabolism occurs in running that normal walking doesn't it? As long as you can see the shadow of some ribs and feel them easily you're not doing bad.

[Guest krystolla]

Hack is about two pounds over his racing weight now. He actually dropped below it at first because of the loss of muscle mass, but then sort of "smoothed out" and gained a few pounds again. Lost three, gained five IIRC. According to my vet he's at a good weight now, although not as fit as he used to be a a professional athlete. Well, he IS retired.

[Guest kydie]

My big boy raced at 79 lbs,, came to me at 69lbs,,, so yes,,, he gained 11 lbs in 2 years,,, and he needed too, he was nothing but bones when he came here,,, we fixed that

[Guest Bang_o_rama]

Maybe 2-3 lbs, if memory serves. Bang has been holding at 65 lbs for months. She just turned 3 and we gotcha-ed her first weekend of Sept, 2009.

 

~D~

Edited July 24, 2010 by Bang_o_rama

[RobinM]

 

Ollie raced @ 84, I got him at 70 and now he is 92. Ribs show, he is a BIG boy! Beau raced at 63 and he is 64- it depends on the dog!

 

 

[Trudy]

neither gained anything.

[Guest scfilby]

Cy is at 5 lbs and Mickey is at 3 lbs over their racing weights.

[Guest Vers]

Simba is the second largest grey I've seen, and his records have him racing at 78 pounds I can't imagine how boney he was at that weight. He came home to me at 98 pounds. He looks good -- a couple ribs and hipbones showing -- right around 88-90 pounds, where he is now.

 

Stella raced at 57 pounds, has gained less than two pounds since she came home last November, and I'm trying to get just one or two more pounds on her since she still shows a lot of rib and spine.

 

Completely agree that it depends on the hound.

[GeorgeofNE]

George has lost weight. I attribute that to his muscles shrinking a bit. Just had him at the vet today; he weighs 65 pounds.

[Guest luckydog]

Hazel weighs in at her racing weight. We free-feed her Bil-Jac--it probably averages out to 3 cups/day.

[PrairieProf]

None. Beth was at a good weight when I got her and I've carefully kept it in line since. She averages about two pounds above her racing weight as listed online.

[cacky]

I thought the rule was no more that 10 lbs over their racing weight. All three of my pups ran from 75-79 lbs and all pups now are at 83-92 lbs. We didn't know anything at first so when we first got red he ate with the german shepard and ballooned over 105lbs, I thought the vet was going to take my head off. Thats when she explained the 4-5 ribs showing and the 10 lbs limit. All my pups are on raw/semi raw no kibbles and for the last 3 years have kept the same weight.

[DevilDog]

Roscoe raced at 77 lbs and that's about what he weighed when I adopted him. He's a very stocky greyhound, and I've never seen ribs or hip points on him that I can remember. He went up to 83 lbs with in that first year, and that's where I tried to maintain it. Now finishing off his second year with me, he's up to 92. He has wayyy too much weight on him. I've been struggling to get his weight back down, but it looks like he has a thyroid problem and just started medication. In a perfect world I'd love to see him around 82. Ah-hahaha.

 

Sage raced at 62, and I adopted her 3 months ago at 52 lbs. She was VERY thin. All ribs very visible, hip points high and definitely pointy! She's a tiny thing and will always be very lean. I've got her up to 59 lbs now, and I the goal is 62.. I think her racing weight is probably her ideal.

[tydyelady]

We have a LARGE grey also - Opie raced at 88 lbs. He now weighs 94-95 lbs, so 6-7 lbs gain. I think he is perfect like this, still has nice tuck, 3 ribs, and hipbones showing.

[Guest missecho]

1 pound.

[Guest Rogersmom]

Roger had gained 66 pounds since I got him . He weighed 11 pounds and is now 77 pounds. I am just being silly. He was a 7 1/2 week old puppy and now is turning 2 years old this Thursday, July 29, 2010. Happy Birthday my silly PuppyBoy!

[kudzu]

None.

[Sambuca]

Bu came to me at 70#. He went up to 75# then down to 68#. He is now up to 83# and could probably gain another pound or 2. Bu has a very sensitive belly and high metabolism, so it was very hard for him to gain weight and we thought he had other issues. So, yea, Bu gained a lot.

[Guest RocketDog]

Both of mine weigh less than they did when they were active racers. Rocket raced anywhere between 77 and 82lbs according to his records, and he maintained at right around 80lbs when he was doing a lot of LGRA sprints with us. He has lost a good 5lbs of muscle in the last year due to injuries taking him away from his beloved 'bunny' and weighed in at 75lbs when he was last at the vet's office. Cass raced at 55-56lbs and was spayed at 46lbs - she did not eat well in foster care. She weighed between 49-52lbs when we were active with sprinting, but when Rocket hurt himself she lost her sprint practices too, and weighed 55lbs at her annual checkup this May. She's a pound or three over where I'd really like her to be, and I'll be watching her meals a little closer to get her trimmer.

[Guest Fasave]

Ave raced at 67 and I think a good weight for him is 72-73. I maintained that for several years but now that he's senior, we struggle. He's been as high as 80 (Yikes) and is now around 76. Greyhound Data says Thunder raced at 64 but I think that is an error. He is 1/2" taller than Ave and stockier (bigger bones). I'm not sure what his weight is right now but he could lose a pound or two. He's been with me 9 months and we're still trying to figure things out.

[Guest greytmiles]

Miles came to me super skinny at 73# (also listed as his racing weight, but frankly I can't really imagine that) and 7 months later he's at 87#. He's a big tall boy - 31" at the shoulder, but I'd still like to see him holding steady at ~83#. He looks a little 'chunky' to me now, and I recently looked at some pics from the early days and can REALLY see the difference.

 

Time to cut back on the peanut butter and step up on the free-run time!

 

Erin