Diana Is Thin

[sobesmom]

Diana came to us thin - 3-4 years ago as a foster. No biggie - most fosters are thin. Then, she decided, very soon, to stay here. We adopted her. Her choice - and we went along with it!

 

She's still THIN. And - even without the level of exercise she got at the track, still muscled. Her shoulders and hips stand out rock hard muscles. I don't know how~

 

But - she's still thin. Sometimes she looks thinner - so I "wormed" her a couple weeks ago. And upped her food - and added it a good amount of "people food" in between feedings.

 

She put up with the extra feed for a few days - then went back to what I've seen before when I tried to "fatten" her - she turns away from the food. She's had enough. She's NOT hungry. She KNOWS when enough is enough.

 

She still looks thin - and for a dog that's been in adoption for 3-4 YEARS, she's nearly puny. She still "LOOKS" like a racing dog.

 

She's healthy as a horse BTW. But - you can see several ribs. feel them all. And - see some backbone.

 

This girl just refuses to NOT look scrawny.

[DocsDoctor]

This sounds very like my Doc, I used to worry about him but now after nearly five years together I just envy him his metabolism! Sometimes he will look a little TOO skinny and then I find that adding a little extra protein - a raw egg, some cheap (fatty) raw beef mince, green tripe - to his diet is much more effective than upping his dry food ration or adding in extra carbs.

[Guest borzoix4]

Have you done a full thyroid panel on her?

Also what food are you feeding for the caloric value? Is she able to take a nap for an hour to hour and half after she eats?

[Guest cyndiandsaoirse]

My Saoirse is 12 now, came to us at 3 1/2 off a really good track career. She has always been totally ripped and at racing weight, no matter what. She will eat until full, and then stop.

We have noticed some loss of muscle definition now that she is starting to show her age. But, she's still more ripped than a lot of young greys we meet. I think it's genetic.

Don't worry about your baby. As long as she's healthy, her weight is fine. If she starts to lose weight (Saoirse always did a little when it would get cold), try and offer her breakfast as well as dinner. Saoirse recommends some oatmeal with a poached egg (see recipe below), her favorite. A meaty raw turkey neck as a treat will add some protein to her diet too- and keep her teeth pretty and white.

 

Saoirse's Oatmeal Brekkie

1/2 cup quick cooking oatmeal

1 egg

1/4 cup water

* Put oatmeal and water in bowl and stir, then crack egg on top. Microwave for 1 minute. Then, dump in dog dish and stir for a few minutes to cool. Saoirse says "I like it when mommy blows on it". Eat it up- yum!

[duncan41]

Reminds me of a friend's little girl. She was THIN! She was extremely happy,healthy, meticulously cared for, lived to be 13+ years old and went to the Bridge when her back legs finally gave out. She could have eaten as much as she wanted, but would walk away from her bowl when she had enough.

[Guest KennelMom]

some dogs, like people, are hard gainers. You can feed 'em more but they'll just poop it out or burn it off somehow. I used to hate taking Prajna places because he was SO skinny! He's put on more weight now that he's in the double digits, but he was always really thin, but well muscled. If she was skinny and had muscle wasting, I'd be concerned. Never hurts to make sure you have a recent blood panel. I will say that Hanna lost a lot of weight as a symptom of low thyroid (confirmed by full blood panel to MSU)

 

You need to get the fastjack tshirt that says: Greyhounds - not skinny, metabolically superior!

Edited December 7, 2010 by KennelMom

[TheFullHouse]

Bebe raced at 52lbs and now weighs 54. She will always be thin. I think it's just her metabolism to be honest. If I try and feed her more she refuses to eat the extra. My guess, she knows how much she needs and monitors herself.

[Guest Swifthounds]

What's the problem? As long as she's healthy, that's all that matters.

[queenwinniesmom]

I'm reading this thread with much interest, because everything sounds exactly like my Tess! It's as if she refuses to gain any weight, and we think she looks way too thin. We've had her to the vet at least twice for this, the last time a couple months ago. Bloodwork and stool samples are always normal. She came to us as a wild and crazy 18 month old foster, and she's now 6 years old. Each time at the vets, her weight had not changed (59 pounds), so the vet was not concerned, especially since she is active and well muscled. But it still bothers me---maybe I'm a little jealous! We tried giving her more food at each meal, and she ate it, but then occasionally she'd throw up. So now I'm giving her a 3rd meal in the evening, and she does fine with that. But still no weight gain. I think it's time to try some of the diet suggestions. Any other good stuff to try? She normally eats more than her 2 plumper sisters.

Like Kennelmom, I'm always slightly embarrassed to take her places for fear that people will think she is ill or I'm starving her! Yes, I think I've got 2 "easy keepers" (is that whay you call the ones who just gain effortlessly? Like me?), and 1 "hard gainer".

Calvin is somewhere in between. I don't think he's gained enough weight even though he eats like crazy, a lot of food. But he is obsessed with food, having just consumed an entire loaf of bread he stole off the kitchen table! He did have hookworms several months ago and was wormed again, even though he'd been wormed before he came to us. It might be that he needs another worm check.

 

Edited because I don't know how old my dog is! I said she was 5, and she is 6. Calvin is the baby at 5.

Edited December 7, 2010 by queenwinniesmom

[Guest bellenzo]

Mila is very thin, only 52 pounds. I decided to stop worrying about it. There are lots of people who eat like crazy but are super skinny.

[Guest kydie]

Gosh ,,I sure wish I was metabolically superior when my boy came to me he was 10 lbs. under racing weight ,,, took almost 2 years for him to gain 9 lbs,,, I too did as DocsDoctor suggested with added protein to meals, I also bought dehydrated tripe and gave as a between meal treat,,,, and still do,, our vet had me bring him in a few times a month,, just for weight checks,, he was pitifully thin,,,, but looks good now,, still at his race weight