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Ok so I posted this on several dog forums and so far the responses have been "Your dog obviously has something wrong with him" which does not help me. So of course I came to the Hive!
My dog is skinny. I mean Sarah McLaughlin "In the Arms of the Angels" music playing in the background skinny. We're talking full on skin and bones skinny. He looks like we have starved him his whole life.
But the thing is, we feed him. A LOT. Five cups of large breed puppy Blue Buffalo kibble a day! In multiple feedings. And we have been to the vet. He had worms when we adopted him, but has since been dewormed and checked over by the vet. She says he is perfectly healthy, and cannot find any reason to be concerned. He eats well, has a great appetite, is playful, energetic, and does not test positive for any parasites. The only problem is that he is skinny, which does not seem to concern her.
So I'm asking Hive, those of you who know anything about dogs, or heard something once from some guy on an elevator, or saw it on tv...do you have any idea why my puppy could be soooooo skinny?? Something my vet hasn't thought of that we can test for? Or something we can try to fatten him up?
Gratuitous photos included of course!
aw! he is a skinny boy! my dog is also skinny and he has food allergies so i have to get him food that costs the big bucks - but if he gets in the trash all progress is lost for like a week. Good luck and I would only get super worried if his energy level gets very low
keep in mind im no vet but I have a sensitive pup :)
Oh he looks so sweet, but he's so skinny it makes me sad!! :(( Since he's been to the vet and checks out ok, not sure...is he a mixed breed? Maybe he's part whippet or other super slim dog? I guess his metabolism is just super high. If he's not already fixed, you can try getting him fixed. I've heard dogs/cats usually gain some weight after you do that. Good luck, keep us posted on how your fur baby is doing!
Is it possible that your dog has diabetes? Weight loss is a common symptom for that, but that should include fatigue and excessive thirst. You might have your vet check that next time you are in.
You could have the vet run thyroid test (though thyroid problems in dogs usually cause weight gain, not loss) and a full blood workup.
One of my dogs is pretty skinny as well, skinny enough my trainer was concerned about him not keeping weight on. I took him to the vet to have him checked out, the vet said no need to worry, he'd rather have them a little underweight than to be overweight. He's 3 year old and FINALLY starting to come into himself and fill out.
I had a dog that had been sick as a puppy (I don't know what "sickness" she had, I was a kid when we got her), but her entire life she looked emaciated.
===
If you want to try to put weight on him, "satin balls" work great, you can feed these either with or between meals:
Recipe 1:
SATIN BALLS
This recipe is one for putting weight on an animal quickly, as some use it for putting a couple extra pounds on a show animal prior to the big day, or an animal that may have been ill and needs a weight gain program. It has also been reported that this recipe will help with some forms of hair loss, such as when your dog(s) blow their coat, to keep the coat healthy and shiny. This recipe is intended to be fed raw.
10# hamburger meat
1 jar wheat germ
1 lg box of oatmeal (uncooked)
1 1/4 Cup vegetable oil
10 eggs
10 sm pkgs unflavored gelatin
1 1/4 Cup unflavored molasses
A pinch of salt
1 lg box Total cereal (2lb's)
(You may also add a pinch of garlic powder to add flavor)
Mix all ingredients together well, much like a meatloaf....put into separate freezer bags and freeze, thawing out as needed. It puts weight on in a very short time, not to mention the gloss in their coat. You can use it every day when they have a show to do and it does not produce diarrhea. It can be fed alone or with kibble.
This recipe was originally received from Dianne Carreon
Recipe 2:
BETTY LEWIS' SATIN BALLS
I don't like the Satin Ball recipe b/c of the sugar- laden Total Cereal.
1 lb ground beef
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 jar all natural peanut butter
1 jar (smaller of the sizes) wheat germ
1 doz egg yolks
1 cup or so of flaked oats soaked in heavy cream
Mix up, form balls, freeze, feed as treats or food supplement.
My recipe, a combo of the above:
1 pound raw ground beef (80/20)
1 8 oz pkg cream cheese
1 jar all natural no-sugar peanut butter
6 whole eggs (shell included) - put through blender
1 cup oats soaked in whole milk
1/4 cup wheat germ
2-3 tablespoons molasses
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
I mixed it all together like meatloaf and froze it into ice cube trays so it's easy to portion out.
He's been neutered already, but that didn't seem to make an impact. Food allergies is something we haven't thought of! What kind of food do you buy your dog beebee17?
@SugerPlum: I've been researching breeds trying to find one skinny enough that he could be mixed with. Saluki, Pharaoh Hound, Iziban, Wippet, we just can't find one that seems to fit his look.
@SandyThePoet: He does drink a lot, but he is definitely NOT fatigued. If anything he is as hyper as a gopher on meth. :-)~
@abbyful: Forgive my immaturity, but Satin Balls made me laugh! Thanks for the recipes!! I will try making those this weekend!
@abbyful: Interesting. Thanks for your post. "Satin balls'
@MightySapphire:I got curious and searched for some more weight gain recipes. I found this site. http://www.lowchensaustralia.com/health/diet4.htm They call it 'fat balls' on their site. haha.
@MightySapphire: Ditto your last comment! ..And now I can't get Pete's Schweddy Balls out of my head!
LOL, I honestly have no idea where the name "satin balls" comes from!
This is why I love this site! Five helpful answers within 10 minutes! The dog forums I posted on offered NO suggestions or ideas. "You should feed him" and "you should see your vet" are the most common responses. It's like, hello, I am already doing that!
:-) Shweddy Family Balls...which made me think of Chocolate Salty Balls. Oh my mind is adrift tonight!
For now, I would switch him to a different puppy food and keep a close eye on him. Large breed puppy formulas are designed to deliver all necessary nutrients with less energy than small or regular puppy diets. That's done to prevent them from growing too fast, which has been implicated in the development of orthopaedic diseases. Your dog may not need this energy restriction and do better with more calories.
Please do not feed your puppy raw hamburger meat. If you absolutely must feed him raw meat, buy solid chunks and sear the edges before feeding. Ground meat has a LOT more surface area and is pretty much a petri plate for bacteria. If your pup has GI issues that could exacerbate it.
Maybe you could give him Ben and Jerry's Schweddy Balls Ice Cream! :-)
When we got our dog she was skin and bones, she was fighting off parasites and parvo (she had been abandoned) so I fed her a raw egg or two with each meal, it really helped her put on weight and she loved them. I would also try feeding your dog raw meat (whole cuts are best) your dog may very well have an intolerance to regular food and may not be digesting it efficiently. Diabetes and thyroid should be checked. Other than that, I know some dogs look very skeletal while they are growing, my friend is raising a great dane for show and the puppy always looked skinny even though she was well-fed, until my friend put her on a raw food diet, now her body condition is much better.
I looked up something about a dog that drinks a lot of water & is skinny, this is what a response was (from http://www.justanswer.com/pet-dog/0mle0-dog-drinks-lot-water-really-skinny.html)
Diabetes, Cushing's disease, or kidney problems. These are the Big Three of those signs, of which I'd vote for diabetes or kidney problems first.
Diabetes causes it because the high sugar in the blood makes the kidney produce urine to attempt to dilute it. Drinking is in response. Weight loss is because the patient has trouble utilizing glucose for energy and is metabolizing his body fats for it.
Kidney problems are because the kidney is losing it's ability to concentrate urine, thus saving body water, and is passing more water through into urine, instead. Drinking is an attempt to keep up with the losses.The weight loss is because, along with the loss of water, kidney problems also lose a lot of protein through the urine, and the body is breaking muscle down to maintain the blood levels of proteins.
Cushings causes several other problems. It is a condition of the adrenal glands and results in excesses of cortisone-like products in the blood. Cortisone stimulates urination, and drinking follows to make up for it.
Also, hyperthyroid will cause a weight loss, simply because the patient's metabolism is turned way up. Excess water intake is not as common a finding. Rather, they usually have very healthy appetites.
I hope this helps. The suggestion is have your vet check it out before it turns into a bigger problem Best wishes.
& then my guess would be any chance it could be worms, sometimes they're not diagnosed?
Piddles had a combo of roundworms & coccidia... but the roundworms weren't visible at my vet's microscope, or at the lab they sent it off too. She was horribly sick & skinny & my vet said it was just the coccidia, they didn't think it was worms. Took her to a different vet & they saw the roundworms, I got the meds & it was like an overnight improvement (but it took quite some time for her to get fattened up). ALSO my cats had tapeworm (I saw it) when I first got them & they did a fecal test (this is at a different vet) & they said they had no worms. Umm no, I saw it & I know what tapeworm is!
Try a natrual de-wormer called...(see below)
found at this website: http://wolfcreekranch1.tripod.com/diatomaceous_earth.html
WORMS AFFECTED BY DIATOMACEOUS EARTH:
Food grade DE eliminates roundworms, whipworms, pinworms, and hookworms within 7 days of being fed daily. Studies that advise this are on our DE FAQ page and elsewhere throughout the internet.
We always suggest feeding DE for a minimum of 30 days for roundworms, whipworms, or hookworms, due to their life cycle and needing to catch any hatching eggs, as DE does not kill eggs.
Lungworms, including hookworms that have migrated to the lungs for which upper respiratory symptoms would be seen - sneezing, coughing, nasal discharge, runny eyes, etc., take double the recommended daily DE dose for at least 90 days.
ALSO: Here is a website that says how to help a skinny dog gain weight: http://www.ehow.com/how_4869623_do-skinny-dog-gain-weight.html
Simple as it sounds, if he was only dewormed once, maybe try again? We had to do Second Cat a couple times to get rid of them. I did it once, and couldn't figure out why he was still scrawny, had diarhea, etc. I took him to the vet, and told them he'd been wormed when they asked, so they didn't check that. It was a huge medical mystery and I was so worried. Then a couple months later, there was another worm in the poop, and I found out they only show up in the poop sometimes, so if the first worming doesn't completely clear them, you may not see them.
I would have the vet get a full blood test on him first. Puppies (and rescue dogs) are usually worked 3-4 times total,... every 3 weeks to completely get rid of the worm cycle. I agree that it could be a thyroid problem or something a little more serious. Try changing his food from the Blue Buffalo to a high protein puppy chow. I know Blue Is expensive food but a couple ppl i know had problems after their dog ate it. BE VERY careful feeing him raw eggs. Alot of ppl do it but it can cause diarrhea and upset stomachs.
The best advice i can give is to try and keep him from running so much, switch his food to a high protein puppy chow and PLEASE consult a vet. or 2. We lost our lab this summer and it was a total mustery. She was healthy when we first had her then gradually over the span of year or 2 she started losing weight. She acted totally normal, happy, playful and i walked outside one morning to feed her and she was dead on the back porch :( The vet never found a cause of her weight loss and death.
Not trying to scare you. Just want you to be aware.
Innova is a good brand to try as well as Sportmix.
Your dogs first couple ingredients should be meat. Not by products, or corn meal.
Hope this helps!!!!
How's his poop MS?
And have you had a blood panel done on him? I would get a CBC done on him and make sure his blood sugars and thyroid levels are checked. It could just be his thyroid is out of whack.
if he had diabetes most likely polyuria would result in polydipsia. If it doesn't, it could mean that the food your feeding him so much of just doesn't agree with his system and the salt and protein could just be too high.
If he has an overactive Thyroid, too much protein is bad for that and puppy food is something that should be cut out of his diet.
If you can do it, and it is a REAL pain in the ass, you could try him on the raw food diet offered in the fridge section of most decent pet supply places. This could just be a reaction to allergies from additives in commecial pet foods.
Food allergies are SUCH a pain to test for as they are a 'trial and error' experiment until you find what is the culprit. Very hard to tell when weight gain is the determinator.
After having the blood work panels done, if they are completely normal, and also doing another round of worming as a PP suggested, (tape worms, if they are adults are VERY hard to kill) I would ask if your Vet can recommend a nutritionist for your pooch. That could also help.
I agree with retesting. Thyroid, diabetes, worms could all be causing it. Even if he has a "thin" breed in him, he still looks too thin. Greyhound puppies aren't that thin. Just about every vet will tell you Blue Buffalo is an excellent food. They do have "hypoallergenic" versions, they don't advertise it as such but review the ingredients with your vet. If you are going to do raw, please get your meat from a very reputable butcher and use pasturized eggs. I agree our grocery store raw meat is not safe enough.
Having said all that, he is adorable!
My golden retriever was scrawney has a puppy, too. He had a major surgery at 10 weeks, but the vet assured us that it wasn't related. I got so, so many comments from total strangers about it. Still, the vet assured us he was okay and that the tests weren't showing anything wrong. She told me to try to ignore the comments, especially since the vast majority of American dogs are fat, overfed, and eat crappy food (I feed premium and moved Baxter to grain-free when the vet gave me the okay).
I will admit that I broke down and used Satin Balls for about a week at one point, but I stopped pretty quickly. If his little body wanted him to be thin and the tests didn't show anything wrong, I decided not to mess with his weight.
If you don't think your vet is running the right tests or looking for all the possible causes, don't be afraid to walk. I talk about how hard it was to "break up" with our vet, but it was the right thing to do for Baxter after she talked me into a vaccine that almost killed him around 1 year when we had agreed to only giving the vaccines that were legally requred. Bad on me for giving in, but bad on her for pressurng me.
Good luck...I tried to find a picture of my little bag of bones. I look back at these and laugh...he filled out around 16 months, so I love looking at these. My dog is still thin compared to most goldens, but he's an amazing athlete of a dog and can run circles around the fat goldens at the dog park. :)
Do you watch him when he goes outside? Do you have a lawn where he does his business? Has Colorado had as much rain this year as the rest of the country? Have you checked the areas where he goes for mushrooms? Some of them are extremely deadly, and some can cause gastro upset and diarhhea....
"Please do not feed your puppy raw hamburger meat. If you absolutely must feed him raw meat, buy solid chunks and sear the edges before feeding. Ground meat has a LOT more surface area and is pretty much a petri plate for bacteria"
Ground meat isn't ideal for dogs, but not because of the bacteria, dogs can handle bacteria just fine. Yes, ground meat can have more bacteria, but it's a non-issue for a healthy dog. It's because ground meat lacks any teeth-cleaning benefits and mental stimulation that it isn't ideal, so raw feeders don't seek out ground meat on purpose, but we do feed it when it's free. All the premade raw on the market is ground meat (Nature's Variety, Primal, Bravo, etc.)
I just want to offer my sympathies. I don't have much advice, but I agree with Abbyful's suggestion.
Wow, thanks for so many suggestions!
I'll talk to the vet about running a blood panel and thyroid tests before changing his diet significantly. I don't think it is kidney issues because that causes enlarged kidneys that you can feel easily, especially in a skinny dog. High protien diets are very bad for kidney issues and hyperthyroidism, so I have to be careful about exacerbating a condition I'm not sure he has.
His poop is completely normal. Not runny, not rock hard, just normal. (Except for the random things I sometimes find in it like dog toy squeakers, toy stuffing, things he stole from the trash, etc) I've thrown away all stuffed dog toys we have because he always eats them. Literally. He's lucky to be alive with some of the things I found! The dog run is a dirt run with hay spread over it. We rotate out the hay every 6 weeks, and there are no mushrooms in the run. He's been like this since long before we started using hay in the run. I've triple checked the run for any noxious weeds or anything he could be chewing or eating that could be making him sick, but there isn't anything. We're setting up a camera this weekend to see if we can catch him on video doing anything.
I should probably clarify that I'm not sure he drinks an abnormal amount of water. He's a very messy drinker, so it just looks frantic. But I think he drinks about the same as my other dog did when he was a crazy energetic puppy.
In the meantime we'll do another round of deworming. We did three rounds of Nemex, so this time we'll try the diatomaceous earth dewormer.
Again, thanks so much for all the suggestions! We get so many comments from friends, family, and total strangers. It sucks to feel so clueless.
How old is he? When our (healthy) Corgi was 6-9 months-ish we were practically free-feeding him Taste of the Wild and he still had a trim little waist and you could (and still can) easily feel his ribs. Whether he looks as skinny as your dog, is hard to say because of his coat but I wouldn't be surprised.
The vet wasn't concerned, his coat was shiny and healthy and his eyes were bright and alert. As for energy, we can't claim "gopher on meth" (hilarious, btw), but that didn't raise any concerns either. So we didn't worry about it. I'm sure he'll grow into his frame. If your dog is 2 years+ that would strike me as a little stranger but if he's still young he could just be an extrodinarily gangly teenager. ;-)
And if he is young, I wouldn't supplement with protein. I would talk to my vet about a fatty fish oil though.
My dog was a little too trim when we got him from the shelter. It was because e has numerous allergies, and we had to try several foods before we found one that didn't make him sicker. We feed Nutro Grain-free in venison and potato.
Have you had him for very long, MS? When we got our second dog, George, he was 8 months old and VERY skinny. Real similar to your little guy. The family we got him from said he had parvo as a puppy, and the shelter they got him from thought he would always be skinny and small because of complications with the disease. We had him tested for everything when we first got him, but the vet just kept saying that he was perfectly healthy and he didn't have an explanation for why George was so skinny. George has always been super hyper, and even now, at almost 4 years old, he is still very much a puppy.
However, in the last year, he's finally started gaining weight and filling out. He's still on the lean side, and pure muscle (not an ounce of fat), and he finally started growing taller, too. George is just now getting into the "normal" range for height and weight for a lab mix. He's still super hyper, though. :) Anyway, I just thought I'd share in case your dog ends up having a similar story.
I haven't read all the PPs so I apologize if this is a repeat comment!
It's possible he might be gluten intolerant. If he is, and glutan is in the food you are giving him, it can keep him from gaining weight. Other symptoms include itchy or flaky skin as well as upset bowels, hypertension and a lack of energy. Your vet can run a blood test to be 100% sure, but an easier (and cheaper) way is to change his food over to one that is gluten-free. It is not required that manufacturers include gluten on the ingredients list, so if you choose this option, be sure to buy food that says "gluten free" on the packaging.
It might also be that he is young and has a high motabolism. Does he get a lot of exercise? If there is really nothing wrong with him, it might be something he will grow out of as he gets older.
I will say that I am NOT a vet, this is just an educated guess : )
@Mrs. Spring: I was going to say parvo as well. Our family dog growing up had Parvo right before we got him and even though he didnt have it anymore he was still so skinny. He was skinny for a while and then he started to gain weight like normal again.
@caitlanc: He's 9 months old. He has a shiny coat and bright eyes too, which is why the vet said she thinks he's just fine.
@Mrs. Spring: We've had him since he was 4 weeks old; the shelter said 8 weeks, but we're pretty sure he wasn't weaned yet. He couldn't eat kibble, which made him super skinny until he could figure it out. :-( I hope he turns out like George and fills out at some point!
@FutureMrs1: Gluten intolerance is a new idea; we'll be checking his food allergies/tolerances in the coming weeks.
We started him on DE (diatomaceous earth) yesterday, so in the next couple days we should see dead worms in his stool if he had intestinal worms. DH will also be cleaning out the dog run and dusting the whole thing with DE just in case there are any eggs or anything outside. We are keeping him on it indefinitely, so if he has lung worms we should see improvement in 90 days or so.
We also started him on a raw-lite diet. He'll be getting kibble in the morning and prey-model raw at night to see if added protein and fat will help.
I'll keep you updated!
@MightySapphire: Awesome, I hope the DE helps. Just remember that it can be serious if its breathed in. My friend gives it to her cat occasionally & never had any problems. So if you have a powdered kind, I'd mix it in with canned food, that's what she does. Definately keep us updated!
My border collie is like that as well. You can feel her hip bones and see them..and people say "oh does she eat alot, shes so tiny" but she eats 3 times a day. The only thing that actually made a difference was adding some canned dog food to it. Its starting to beef her up a bit. I checked with the vet first before doing this and they said it would be fine.
@mighty sapphire - Baxter eats fromm's dry food and now and then he gets the fresh meat food out of the fridge at the fancy dog store... Lol. My fatty Bella gets Science diet for overweight dogs. Poor girl life is not fair!!!!
i don't have a dog (just cats) but many of my friends have dogs -- we live in colorado so almost everyone has a dog. my friend's vets seem to always recommend natural balance duck and potato limited ingredients diet dog food for dogs with allergies. i'm not saying your dog has allergies but if you want to try a limited ingredient diet to rule out food allergies. do you live in colorado? i have a great vet.
@MightySapphire: i would think that since he's acting okay, I second the worming. CBC's are pricey. But if that's what it comes to, that's what it comes to. He's hyper = high metabolism. And I want to say, when my corgi was a small child, he grew length, and height, then filled in.
@gogogiraffes: Not any more but that's really only because our other dog loves his food and will eat it if the corgi doesn't (and is allergic to it.) Gus just doesn't care about food! Pouring a bit of water on it or mixing in a bit of his big "brother's" will usually make him eat it but he's just not food motivated unless it's a treat! Crazy kid. He is only going on 9 months though so it may be something he grows out of.
@MightySapphire: I hope it's going well!
How old is your dog? We fed our dog a ton of peanut butter treats etc and he did fine with them until somewhere around 1.5 years old. Then all of a sudden he started growing outwards and we cut back. 
Aww he's a lovely looking boy and I'd say he's definitely a Doberman mixed with a Saluki, Pharaoh Hound, Iziban, Whippet, Greyhound type dog and could therefore always look on the slim side anyway, but as lots of people have already suggested asking the Vet to do a thorough blood work-up and de-worming, etc is what I would do and in the meantime I would feed a very high quality working/performance dog food mixed with a large breed food as well.
P.S. What's his name?
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