Skinny Whippet

[NC2020]

I have a beautiful 4 year old whippet and have a nearly 8 week old baby girl. Whip is naturally a little anxious but generally a brilliant dog, exceptionally bonded on me. He's fine with the baby, a little bit of over keenness initially wanting to lick her face but nothing to be concerned about. He has become a little more wary of visitors but we have also had an increased amount. This has just been a bit of extra wingieness and not settling when people are round. Again nothing serious, a bit of anxiety and protectiveneas perhaps.
He has a great appetite and this hasn't changed but he is losing a lot of weight to the point he is starting to look like and RSPCA cruelty advert. Obviously he is a slim breed anyway and had very little wiggle room to lose in the first place.
I've been giving him a little more and extra treats, which he eats but nothing seems to put any weight on him. I'm thinking it's anxiety related?
I am going to the vets tomorrow but I don't expect them to come up with anything miraculous.
To make matters worse our other dog seems to have caught that nasty dog d&v bug so I'm sure poor old whip will have it soon and he has no reserves to cope with it!
Any advice on getting some weight on him or managing his anxiety? We recently bought an adaptil plug in.

[tabulahrasa]

I wouldn’t be assuming it’s anxiety related tbh...

[Fizzlestix]

Weve got a skinny lurcher who I can’t seem to get weight on.
I’ve just switched to a raw meal once a day which she seems to be willing to eat more of
And I’ve bought crave protein bites which I add in to her during the day
And also extra things that I know she likes, like freeze dried salmon chunks etc.

She’ll eat more wet food too, so sometimes I just let her eat a big portion of that rather than mixing with kibble or exclusively kibble

I’ve found she will also eat the less healthy and nutritious foods happily
Things like royal canin she will devour so sometimes I just give in and let her have that

I don’t really have an answer and
I’m probably making it worse by giving in to her fussyness! Sorry that’s not helpful!

[MartyrGuacamole]

When my dog looks skinny I add a raw egg 3 or 4 times a week to his diet (he is a giant breed so maybe think about quantities). He has full fat natural yoghurt, raw food nuggets and protein topper added to his kibble. In the first instance though definitely see your vet. If nothing else he may be able to give some anti sickness meds in the event he does catch the bug to stop him getting too dehydrated.

[iWantToBreakBrie]

The vet check sounds like a good idea.

I would also be tempted to introduce a 3rd meal to his day, rather than add more to his existing meals or rely on treats. Just to see if that made any weight difference.

[NC2020]

@iWantToBreakBrie this is a good idea.

Vet has weighed him and we took photos. Shes asked us to come back next week after some good feeding to see if he is losing weight despite that. I agree we need to properly quantify what's happening before we put him through lots of tests.

[NC2020]

@MartyrGuacamole eggs and yoghurt is a great idea will load him up with them

[User07]

My shih tzu did something very similar after our third child was born. She lost so much weight even though was eating and we had upped the amount and her treats. She also started acting out of character totally, doing naughty things she had never done before. She wasnt young at the time, she was 8 years old.
We took her to vets, she had scans and other tests done all came back clear. After a few months she started to put weight on again and went back to her normal self. Vet said she thought it was anxiety related. She hadnt reacted like this to the previous 2 children. Anyway shes back to normal self now!
Fingers crossed yours is fine too.

[somm]

When our whippet/greyhound cross started to look like he was being starved, despite having a healthy appetite, it turned out he wasn't absorbing protein, so he was actually starving.

[chwmn]

I know people won't like this comment but my oldest whip got very upset when i first brought my italian greyhound home. He soon got used to him, but for the first couple of weeks he was extremely anxious. The vet gave me some anti anxiety medication (in a paste) and it seemed to really help him. We give him smash and peas with his dinner if hes getting a bit thin, sometimes add a teeny bit of rice and a raw egg.

[NC2020]

@chwmn I will try the smash etc. But yeah I am definitely not opposed to medication if it will help him out.

[Flutteringsatlast]

We have Lurchers. Bought them a woolly ddog jumper. The skinniest one seemed to gain weight. Maybe not using as much energy to keep warm was my thinking!

[Dreamersandwishers]

@Flutteringsatlast - beautiful dogs 😍

[Flutteringsatlast]

Mrs Mc Greedy Pants here wasn't content with 2 dpointy hounds....
We also have this...

[notquiteruralbliss]

Our sight hounds do well having 3 meals a day. We add sardines if they don’t eat all the food / need more condition.