1 Year Old, And Still Skinny, Help!

[BacardiPup89]

I wasn't sure if I should post this here or in the food tread area.

 

So here goes, Bacardi will be a year old on November 11th. She is still very skinny and I can see her ribs, spine, and hip bones. She was treated for worms several weeks ago and also did an extra round for good measure. She is eating her Puppy food as normal but I have bumped her up to about 7 cups a day, (usually she eats 5 1/2)

 

I know that the greyhound is a lean and muscular dog. Their metabolism is normally high. Also, the fact that she is technically still a pup too may be a contributing factor. But, When will she "fill out"? I mean, she is so skinny and she doesn't have that muscle covering over her hips at all. I actually had someone yell at me in the park while walking her yesterday " your Shepherd is emaciated, feed it!" I didn't retort to this person, and was in shock that someone thought she was a skinny german shepherd. But, that's beside the point. When will she begin to look like everyone elses greys? Right now she just looks ill and all the others I have seen look lean/fit/muscular and healthy. She just looks down right skinny!

[Guest greybookends]

Ginny did not start to really fill out until she was almost 3. She is taller then the other hounds but she weighs less then they do. Until Ginny was 3 I fed her the same portion sizes as I weighed out for Bill at about 3 she looked real good and she actually stopped eating all the food I was feeding her. I scaled back her portions and she eats it and is maintaining her weight.

 

Bacardi is growing which means her metabolism is higher she is burning calories faster. You may need to increase her calories. I would at this point take her off of puppy food. I fed Ginny a raw diet so I cannot tell you how much kibble you need to be feeding, but just because she is not gaining weight does not mean there is something wrong with her. She just needs more calories. You will know when to start scaling back her portions.

[a_daerr]

Whoa, 7 cups! That seems like a lot. Truman is 14 months. He has about 5 cups of dry food supplemented with a ton of other stuff (cottage cheese, greek yogurt, chicken, oatmeal, rice, meatballs, homemade doggie cookies, knee bones, etc). We call him the dinosaur because you can still see all the bones in his spine, his ribs, and hip plates. I know he's eating well, so I'm not too worried. Larger breeds do take a longer time to fill out.

 

ETA: I feed the puppy version of Iams green bag (I think yellow bag?) and Nutro canned food (chicken and oatmeal for sensitive puppy)

Edited November 3, 2012 by a_daerr

[krissn333]

Pups that don't race are also tougher to get to fill out like our kids who race-they need to do LOTS of running and exercising to build that muscle. Good amounts of protein are a must. I'd recommend a raw diet if you're able. If not, a good grain-free kibble would be the next best thing. EVO red meat has been good for some pups I've known. My kids eat TOTW Pacific Stream.

[tbhounds]

Actually a high protein diet in a young large breed dogs is not recommended.

http://www.naturespetblog.com/2009/07/high-protein-large-breed-puppies.html--just a quick link to view. Too many skeletal complications. I would increase the caloric intake not the protein.

What is your hound eating -@ 1yr of age she may act it but, she's no longer a puppy.

[cleptogrey]

will post some pics of felix maturing, if i'm lucky. i never fed him puppy food, moderate amount of protien and fat= slow growing animal with healthy bones.

 

http://xa.yimg.com/k...me/DSCF7212.jpg i think this was 2008

he was 2 in this pic. i was unable to post his one year pic, go know...but as you see- ribs showing and more track than home weight. i wouldn't worry. he was in the low 70s then. since then- 3 years latter and lots of muscle since- 76-8#s. he ALWAYS goes up and down- i should be that lucky-. i wouldn't up the food, feed adult formular- you want slow growing bones, muscles ect. and as w/ truman- add in goodies. rice or cottage cheese has always been a favorite in my house. just make sure your dog tolerates the cottage cheese, some don't. btw- he's always (until now) eaten 4 cups, now we cut back by 1/4 cup. he's mature and have cut out the rice- unless he has an upset gut. very few treats, a kong a day and kibble w/ water. the last time he weighed in at 79#s and went on a diet.

Edited November 3, 2012 by cleptogrey

[cleptogrey]

http://xa.yimg.com/k...178256/name/n_a

 

finally, the 9 month shot- big difference between the two year shot and this, eh? still, he was eating 2 cups, 2xs a day w/ rice and some cottage cheese for flavor.

Edited November 3, 2012 by cleptogrey

[RedHead]

Woa....7 cups seems like a LOT. I wouldn't know though, it has been over 10 years since I have had a puppy, but I certainly never fed close to that. I agree with some of the posts above...I would ditch the puppy food and switch to a good adult food. You can supplement with some high quality protein sources if you like (cottage cheese, canned fish, meats, organs, etc) to help put on a bit of weight.

[krissn333]

Aren't they given a high protein diet as pups on greyhound farms?

[Guest greybookends]

Ginny was 7 weeks old when I got her and she went right into a raw diet. She is just fine no problems with a high protein diet. Like I said before she did not fill out until she was about 3.

 

I do not know what brand of food you are feeding but if you are feeding 7 cups it may be that you need to go to a higher grade of food. Generally the higher the grade the smaller the portions are and if you really think about it if you are feeding 7 cups a day then food is costing you a fortune so maybe go to a higher grade and it might cost more but you shouldn't have to feed as much and it should balance out. A few add ins couldn't hurt, some yogurt, cottage cheese maybe a few veggies if she'll eat things like green beans or carrots, sardines are usually a hit.

 

I would start with a new adult food of a higher grade first and go from there.

[BacardiPup89]

She was on Pedigree puppy food, then I switched her to Innova puppy food, she didn't have a good reaction to it so I put her back on the Pedigree. She seems to do really well on the Pedigree (in reference to her tummy)

I do add in Cottage Cheese with her meals along with the Coconut oil. I haven't thought about adding rice or veggies yet.

Edited November 4, 2012 by BacardiPup89

[RedHead]

At the expense of sounding like a "food snob" I would suggest you try a better quality food. The top ingredients for Pedigree puppy are:

 

GROUND WHOLE CORN, POULTRY BY-PRODUCT MEAL, BREWERS RICE, CORN GLUTEN MEAL (SOURCE OF LUTEIN), ANIMAL FAT (PRESERVED WITH BHA / CITRIC ACID), GROUND WHOLE WHEAT, NATURAL FLAVOR, BREWERS DRIED YEAST, SALT, VEGETABLE OIL

 

 

If Innova didn't work for you there are plenty of other foods, even grocery store brands (like Iams, Purina) that would top this. You will feed a lot less, and hopefully she will start to fill out. If you are adding extras, I would try to stick to protein sources, it will benefit her more than adding rice and veggies to a food that already has a lot.

[BacardiPup89]

I was thinking of switching her to Iams. So, I should be adding, Chicken, Beef, Lamb? stuff like that? I was thinking of maybe adding in some Beetpulp. I used it on my horses and they always seemed to pick up more weight with it.

[cleptogrey]

iams has beet pulp already- that's why there are such good results. all of the iams have chicken meal from what i remember reading. lamb and rice is good for sensitive systems as well as beef. what ever she thrives on and what ever is in stock locally.

 

i just changed over to blue seal lamb and rice crunchies- similar recipe to the old nutro natural lamb and rice and it has beet pulp. i found out in 2 weeks of feeding that i has more calories so i needed to decrease in portions. check out the caloric content in each, compare and see what your local feed store carries.

 

it seems like kirland is really great for many greys

lots of people like purina pro-plan

tons of people have success w/ iams. my welsh terrier was on it for a decade and did really well- go for convience and quality and what you can afford.

 

as to additives- be careful, you are changing foods. i would only add white rice.

Edited November 4, 2012 by cleptogrey

[JJNg]

At the expense of sounding like a "food snob" I would suggest you try a better quality food.

 

I don't think it's 'sounding like a food snob' at all when the dog isn't thriving on the current diet. I'd agree with the suggestion to switch to a better quality food.

 

I was thinking of switching her to Iams. So, I should be adding, Chicken, Beef, Lamb? stuff like that? I was thinking of maybe adding in some Beetpulp. I used it on my horses and they always seemed to pick up more weight with it.

 

Personally, I would switch to a higher quality, higher calorie food and just increase the number of calories by a little and see how she does. Unless the dog won't eat more dog food, I don't see any reason to add in other foods like meat or eggs, etc. Putting weight on a dog is more about the calories, and you get more, balanced calories by just increasing the kibble vs. adding fresh food (or canned food) which contains a lot more water for the same volume.

 

I wouldn't add beet pulp. While it is a good source of fiber and has benefits (ie. firm stools), it doesn't provide much in terms of calories for dogs. Horses are a different matter and can actually digest and get a significant amount of calories from beet pulp because they are herbivores. Here's an article with more info about beet pulp.

 

I was curious about the caloric content of the foods discussed, so I looked it up. Here's what I found:

 

Pedigree Puppy 305 kcal/cup

Pedigree Adult 335 kcal/cup

 

I find this a little odd since most brands make their puppy formulas higher calorie than the adult formula.

 

Iams Adult Chunks 367 kcal/cup

Iams Adult MiniChunks 418.25 kcal/cup

 

Iams Large Breed Puppy 399.52 kcal/cup

Iams Puppy Original 425.45 kcal/cup

 

Based on this, if you switch to one of the Iams Puppy formulas, a little over 5 cups would give you the same number of calories she's getting from 7 cups of the Pedigree Puppy. I'd probably just start her on 6 cups of the Iams and see how her weight and body condition responds.

[greysmom]

Our greyhound puppy just turned 1 in September and she is super skinny too. I have to opposite problem with her however. She is NOT food motivated and very picky (she really doesn't like kibble at all), and we struggle to get her to eat 2 cups of kibble (plus canned food) a day. I've tried switching kibbles to try and find one she likes with no results. She doesn't really like anything any better than the Nutra Nuggets everybody else is getting so we're sticking with that. I started using Beneful Prepared Meals a few months ago and that has finally helped get her to eat regularly, at least. A cup of kibble and a half-3/4 of a Beneful is about the max I can get her to eat at any one meal.

 

Our vet (a good, greyhound-savvy vet) isn't overly concerned. She says that most greyhounds don't really "fill out" until around 18 months. Lilly still is growing (she *very* tall and long), and she has a good energy level, and can playplayplay all day.

 

In your case, I would try switching to a higher calorie food as suggested above.

[GeorgeofNE]

Seven cups is a HUGE amount of food, but Pedigree isn't a particularly "good" food either. I agree with switching her to a higher quality adult food. And she may never look like a retired racer. She's just never going to have the same lifestyle, but that's OK,

[Scooby172]

Both my greyhound puppies have taken a long time to fill out. Bella finally topped out at 58 pounds when she was around 2, prior to that she was long and lean. People always commented that she was too skinny, it just takes time. Jack my current puppy is all of 42 pounds at 10 months old. Jack is a petite male, he is not going to be a big dog but is still very thin. Jack eats Blue Buffalo, about three cups a day of the grain free. I put in extras like yogurt and cottage cheese, I am not worried about his weight, he will fill in eventually.

Linda, Jack and Keeva

[a_daerr]

I was thinking of switching her to Iams. So, I should be adding, Chicken, Beef, Lamb? stuff like that? I was thinking of maybe adding in some Beetpulp. I used it on my horses and they always seemed to pick up more weight with it.

 

Just wanted to mention that my puppy has a sensitive stomach too. Iams worked wonders. And it already has probiotics and beet pulp in it.