Patch has always been skinny. I'm concerned that I can see his ribs (all of them) even when he's laying down. I can see his spine.
He scavenges anything and everything - butter, all foods...he even tried to steal a pear through the bars of the fruit bowl.
I feed him Burns and I actually give him the amount suggested for a 25kg dog rather than the 17kg that he actually is.
Burns is great for his tummy (he gets acrid poo and wind on James Wellbeloved) but I just wonder if it's normal for him to scavenge in such a 'desperate' way.
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How do you know if your dog is just a scavenger or if they are genuinely starving?
13 replies
lougle · 14/10/2013 10:42
OP posts:
moosemama ·
14/10/2013 11:32
If he's fed that much extra and still skinny and scavenging I'd get him checked out at the vets. He might not be metabolising his food properly or there could be some other underlying reason why he can't maintain his weight.
My new pup (now 19 weeks old) is ridiculously skinny. When we adopted him he had a campylobacter infection and was totally emaciated. We had him on 8 feeds a day and once the infection was successfully treated he did start gaining, but is still all ribs and hip pins. He has extra on top of his kibble allowance for predicted weight (in fact he eats more than Lurcherboy, who is 24.5 kg) plus training treats, a couple of chicken breasts and a pack of fish4dogs mousse daily. Despite having 4 meals and two x 4 stuffed kongs a day, he eats like the dogs you see on the rescue programmes, where they feed them, watch them bolt their food and say that's evidence of them having been starved. He's also opportunistic in terms of what dh calls 'binnie pigging' and counter surfing, although the counter surfing has all but stopped with some training and increased diet.
BUT, his coat is gorgeous and really shiny, he has bright eyes and is full of life and his stools are healthy. In his case, having fully checked him out when we first got him, the vet feels he has a lot of Saluki in his mix and is just going to be naturally skinny. Many Lurcher people say you should be able to see the last couple of ribs and a hint of hip pins or your Lurcher is overweight. (In which case Lurcherboy is positively porky.) I do worry what people think when they see him out and about though. Almost glad the bad weather's here as now I can put his coat on and they can't see how skinny he really is. 
lougle ·
14/10/2013 12:01
A while ago I took him and the vet said 'he's fine, you're too used to seeing overweight dogs'. He is highly unlikely to be full staffy. He's probably a cross with either whippet/lurcher/something, because he has long legs, runs like a horse, etc.
He has very good muscle definition, runs around the garden all day, bright eyes, cold, wet nose.
I just don't like to see him looking so skinny
His coat is gorgeous and smooth. He sleeps under our covers at night or he gets really cold.
OP posts:
moosemama ·
14/10/2013 16:50
Ah - similar to my pup then. Think we are going to have to delay neutering for similar reasons. In some dogs who are already anxious or fearful, neutering compounds the issue by affecting the reuptake of serotonin - among other things.
We had a fear aggressive, very large dog years ago. When he started showing signs of aggression (little socialisation due to bone problems) the vet advised us to get him neutered saying he was 'dominant' 
. We didn't know any better back then and followed her advice. It made him much worse and we spent years working with him to get him over it.
This pup has had more socialisation, but was unable to mix and interact with other dogs due to delayed vaccinations (health reasons again) as a result he is really fearful around other dogs. He starts puppy classes this week, but I'm fairly sure it's going to take most of his first year of life to sort this out. The place he came from makes you commit to neutering at 6 months - unless you can provide evidence from a vet that it shouldn't be done for medical reasons. Between that and him being a very long-legged boy with big knuckles (so potential issues with growth plates if neutered young) I will be having a discussion with my vet in the hope she agrees it's best to delay neutering until maturity and will write to the rescue to that effect.
Entire dogs do tend to be on the leaner side. Being a sighthound cross it's likely to be more pronounced than in other breeds. My adult Lurcher was also a skinny minnie until he was neutered. Since neutering we have to watch his diet or he has a tendency towards middle-aged spread! 
Anxious/fearful dogs are often skinner as well - just like some jittery people, they seem to burn up calories fretting.
With my dogs, if they drop a bit of weight we give them raw lamb breast a couple of times a week for a while and that seems to do the trick. Might be worth a try - an alternative would be to make a broth using the lamb breast and make sure he eats all of it, including the fat.
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