# My pup is TOO skinny



## Sawyer498

Ok, I know GSD's are supposed to be lean but my pup is a bit on the skinny side despite my efforts to plump him up a bit. 

He is 7 months old now and I have TOTW in a self-dispensing bowl out all the time for either of the dogs to eat though they only pick at it here and there. They only eat when I prepare a meal. I usually give him a can of dog food mixed with dry kibble in the AM and PM and then treats in between for training and good behavior. 

He has dry kibble and water out at all times. I don't know what else to do. He has started putting on a bit more weight but what do I do to keep weight on? He runs around the house with my 3 year old Pug playing and rolling on the floor.

He was so skinny before you could see some of his ribs. He has of late acquired more fat there and now I'm more worried about the fact that I could feel his hind bones and parts of his spine. Gross! 

What can I feed him? I think he is growing faster than his body fat can compensate for. I know the GSD needs to be lean and fit but I can't stand petting bones. He is way too underweight.


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## Barb E

My guess with the hips and spine is that he just hasn't developed his muscles yet at 7 months. If you can easily (without too much pressure) feel ribs and see the last 1 (or even more when running) but can't see more ribs then his weight is probably fine.

Why don't you post some pictures from the side and from the top looking down and folks here can give you some feed back.


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## Sawyer498

Ok, I'll try to get some pics of him up here tonight. Is there a trick to posting pictures?


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## Kayla's Dad

Can you put up a picture including looking down from the top? What is his current weight and if possible height. Someone can give you a more "bird's eye" view with that info. 

At seven months, Lancer was 25" and 59.2 pounds. At a year, he was pushing 74 lbs (25.5") and now at eighteen months he is at 70 lbs. 

It may not be what you feed as how you feed. I would eliminate the free feeding-it's easier to monitor what he is taking in and when-even if you think he is only nibbling between meals. And then you can increase/decrease accordingly. I use TOTW also -both Salmon and Venison. I imagine you have a pretty energetic puppy on your hands?

At 7 months, you may another growth spurt in there yet to come out. 

Has your vet said anything about his weight and structure?


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## phgsd

When one of mine was growing up she'd go through growth spurts like that and it was hard to keep weight on her. She'd eat like a PIG though, and was still skinny. She was checked out, poop was always normal so we figured it was just her growing too fast. It took a long time for her to really fill out, but at about 2.3-3 years she finally filled out.
If you google the recipe for "satin balls" they do help with putting weight on - they're hamburger meat, some oatmeal, wheat germ, etc all mixed together. 
Honestly it's better for them to be too thin than too fat when they're growing. Feeling hips and spine is okay, I wouldn't want more than a thin covering of fat over them so you can easily feel them, but when they're jutting out that's when the dog is too skinny. Pictures would be a great help although the best way to judge is by feeling the dog since pics can be deceiving.


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## Alto

Also take a look at what goes in vs what's coming out - he may do better on a different food but until you remove the free feeding, you won't really know; additionally, most dogs will eat their meals 'better' when they know that this is it, until the next meal.


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## Sawyer498

That's the thing. The free feeding doesn't get eaten! Neither one of my two dogs eats it. They only eat the meals that I prepare and they eat ALL of what I put in the bowls. They leave nothing behind. They do not like dry kibble unless I mix it in with something so the free feeding is really just sitting there getting picked at once in a blue moon. They do drink the water though. I have to refill that dispenser often.


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## MaggieRoseLee

Since like 80% of the dogs in the USA are fat/overweight our mental picture of a healthy weight is usually skewed.........we want our pups to be lean.

Unless the vet says there is a health issue, if you leave food out then CLEARLY your pup just isn't hungry. And since he WILL eat when you make a special meal, he's can and will eat when he wants to.

Posting pictures is a great idea cause I bet we all say your pup is FINE! You first have to upload you photos onto another site, most of us use photobucket cause it's free and easy. Once you do that the way to post here is right here (click on this). 

This dog is about the same age and a good weight


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## onyx'girl

Actually that pic above; pup was 5 mos, these pics are @ 7 mos. and still lean and very strong. I can feel ribs and hips on him, as he isn't filled out yet. He is on a raw diet.
The weight at 7 mos was 72#. 
Now at 8 mos he is 75# and 26.5" at the shoulder


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## SunCzarina

Loose the free feeder thing. When you measure their food every day, you know they're eating enough.

You should be able to see 2 ribs (on either side) and feel the spine. My female was a very skinny girl when she was young - you could see almost all her ribs. At 8, she's still very thin and I can feel her spine. I often have people say she doesn't look her age - which I think is because she's not a fat old lazy dog!



> Originally Posted By: MaggieRoseLeeSince like 80% of the dogs in the USA are fat/overweight our mental picture of a healthy weight is usually skewed.........we want our pups to be lean.


I agree with this. Don't go by how rolly polly your neighbor down the street's lab puppy is. Shepherds are supposed to be lean - it's just how they're built and better for their joints to be lean.


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## elisabeth_00117

Stark is 7 months, 70lbs and 26" at the shoulder.

I can feel ribs but not see them and I consider him lean, muscular (for his age anyways) and in great shape.


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## MaggieRoseLee

I like to keep my dogs like 










I do want to see their ribs (the last ones for sure) a nice tuck up in the belly (in front of the rear legs) and when looking down from above their should be a definite slimming where the ribs stop at the waistline.


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## onyx'girl

My vet, techs, and everyone that sees him(other than SchH club) says, he is sooo skinny! Roly-poly labs they are use to...

Onyx went to the SchH club last Feb, she was fat(winterweight







), and I was embarrassed! Here she is at 3 yrs 11/08/09 and about 90# 26" She still could lose 5# Though she is strong and muscled









Which dog looks better, weightwise? Onyx is not agile like Karlo...









Best to keep them lean, it is much harder to take it off than add it!
One thing to keep in mind, you can see the ribs on a sable easier than other colors, so they tend to look leaner.


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## zyppi

Years ago I had a really thin GSD - finiky etc..
I was free feeding her.
I started feeding her 2x a day, and guess what? She started eating her meals andI knew how much she consumed.
Happy ending.
Suggest you switch from free feeding to planned mealtime.


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## elisabeth_00117

Stark's ribs are hard to see because of his colour and I think he is ready for a growth spurt again.


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## Schäferhund435

I have a 1 year old and I started to notice some weight loss to the point of seeing his ribs and back bone. His appetite remained hefty and so I knew it wasnt because of lack of food. He would eat and then poop everything out within a half an hour so i took him to the vet and they gave me some medicine for him and I hope it works!!! he needs to beef back up. Keep us posted on his condition and hopefully we can get our dogs built back up!


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## JKlatsky

Couple of things. Like everyone else says...chances are that if he's choosing not to eat then he's not hungry and is getting what he needs. If his poop is good then he's probably digesting and absorbing everything as he should. Dogs are sort of like the opposite of people...Critics always say people are too heavy and dogs are too skinny. Don't buy into the hype...if your vet is happy you should be happy too. 

And it may be muscle mass related. I know when I stopped working my dog for several months due to injury and all he got were walks he lost a lot of muscle mass in his back end and along his back and shoulders. His weight was good...but he needed more muscle back to fill him out. 

Argos at 7 months- Perfectly healthy, but at the higher end of what I like. I would have liked to see a few more ribs in this picture.









Anka at 6 months- She has always tended towards a leaner build and you can see in this photo the shadow where her waist is.









Cade at 6.5 months- And to me he is also at the higher end of what I would like to see..could probably stand to lose a pound or 2.


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## Sawyer498

My dog looks more like Anka as far as weight. Mine is just a tad bit thinner as I can see my dogs last two ribs. He is black/tan. Anka hind quarters look as bony as my dogs. Most of my dogs fat is by his neck and front portion of his body. 

The free meal is not really a meal because the dogs don't touch it. The pug is the only one who occasionally snacks on the free kibble. The GSD only eats what I give him and drinks as much water as he wants but rarely do you see him over drink (like my pug). 

I guess maybe he's not overt thin but when I take him to my parents house they act like I'm starving him because their lab is an over weight lazy SOB that eats table scraps. My dog only eats dog food and actually runs around.

I didn't get a chance to post (getting dark out real fast now) and tonight I'm taking Sawyer in for a pre screening for his neutering surgery. I'll try to get pics up hopefuly soon.


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## Sawyer498

Ok, took Sawyer to the vet yesterday for his pre-screening. He'll be going in next Friday to get neutered. They weighed him in and he is 40 pounds. He looks proportional and very strong. 

The vet didn't say anything about him being too skinny what do you all think? Can he afford to gain a few more pounds? 

I'm on my way to the behaviors thread to post a behavior I noticed last night with him. heh. 

Thanks to all for the help.


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## roxy84

7 month old male at 40 lbs sounds awfully light, but without pics they are just numbers. he must have a pretty small frame?


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## Sawyer498

Yea, he's really not that big though when he was a pup he looked like he was going to be huge. He had such big paws and still does have prett big paws. The breeder predicted he would maybe reach 90-95 pounds. 

That's why I started to question his weight. He did go through a period where he no longer wanted to eat dry kibble alone and had lost some weight. I tried several things and found that he like to eat dry kibble mixed with a can of dog food. His weight is now steadily on the rise I just wondered if there was a way to boost it considering he was on the low side. 

My opinion, is that he may be 15-20 pounds under weight from the other weights of GSDs on the forums. Someone suggested satin balls to get his weight up and I am stopping at the store to get dog food tonight so I may just pick up the ingredients for that.


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## roxy84

if you want to post pictures of him:

http://www.germanshepherds.com/forum/ubb...ge=1#Post799247


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## Sawyer498

Yea, I am going to try and post some tonight. I just fear that the picture could be deceiving and maybe he looks good in the picture but is in reality may just be a tad bit too skinny. I want to act on this if he is not eating enough or isn't getting his nutrition. I think my wife has a photobucket account so I should be able to post some pics of him tonight.

Now to find a way to get him to stand up without hovering over me wondering with that black box is with the shiny lights...


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## Alto

At 7 months & only 40lbs, with a breeder estimate of 90lb at maturity, I'd be concerned ...
Given your description he has little muscle mass in his back end (fat??? in front) & I'd want Xrays before neutering - removing testicles, removes hormones that are important for developing muscle mass & bone density & given what you've written about your pup, I'd want him to grow alot more.

Have you contacted his breeder about his low weight?

Even if he did stop eating for a bit, most pups will get back on track pretty quickly IF they are getting the nutrient value out of their food. 


Have you tried a raw diet? I wonder if you would actually end up spending less (assuming that your dogs ate the raw without bribery) as it sounds like you toss a fair bit of food at the moment ... we had a respite foster that we struggled to feed - until he started raw, Mr _Maybe I'll Eat Later_ cleaned his bowl in less than 60sec, then spent the next 10min making sure everything was spotless


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## Sawyer498

That's the thing. Sawyer will eat anything I feed him with no complaints. He just isn't fond of dry kibble (alone). Mixed with some meat or sauce he is tearing it up. This morning I took these bacon treats and cut them up in pieces and mixed it with his dry food and he ate it. This is just a regular bacon treat I would give to him alone. I guess the smell got him to eat the dry kibble all by itself. 

Pictures coming soon.


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## JKlatsky

Sometimes you can inadvertantly create a picky eater. Why on earth would he just eat kibble if he holds out until meal time and there's better? I put extra meat or fish in my dogs evening meal with their supplements and it's always eaten with more enthusiasm than the morning meal that is just plain old kibble. Sometimes with puppies you have to get them started.

If you think he needs to eat more, then I would stop leaving kibble out and just mix in more kibble with his meals or add another meal to his schedule. 40lbs sounds small to me as well, but it's impossible really to say without seeing the dog. And when they gain weight it should be slow...too much isn't good.


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## Sawyer498

here are the pics I promised, hope this works.


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## onyx'girl

He looks thin, but not starving thin. He doesn't look like he has much muscle tone, but it could be the pictures. One other thing~ he looks a bit weak in his pasterns, could be age or the way he is positioned. 
I would give him some digestive enzymes(raw green tripe has natural digestive enzymes and probiotics, the dogs love it) along with some egg and yogurt. Rotate these supplements along w/ his kibble and feed him on a schedule 2x's a day. His digestion may be off due to the free feeding he has been doing. Do you give salmon oil to him? His coat looks very nice!
He is a handsome boy, I love his coloring!


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## SunCzarina

He a cute boy going through a gawky growing stage. Otto looked like that too for a while. It was like the legs and the head grew but they never gave the middle the signal to get bigger too.


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## Sawyer498

I don't give any oil for the fur but I do give egg every so often and soon going to give some cottage cheese in his food. I heard that helps build a shiny coat as well. I agree he doesn't look all that bad, I just feel that he should look a little bit more toned. He looks frail to me even though he's not.


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## SuzyE

Paige was always very underweight cause she is a super spaz. it paid off ten fold now that she is 11 though! The skinny dogs have less problems and live longer as long as your dog is getting nourishment. maybe add vitamins.


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## debbiebrown

don't know if anyone mentioned worms, but with some puppies there is more of an infestation than others. i had a huge problem with roundworms with my last puppy. took me nearly a year to resolve it. roundworm infestation can take repeated wormings to resolve because if there is a huge problem the worms can migrate into the tissue and come out randomly with wormings. Sam was extremely thin through this period......


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## onyx'girl

I agree w/ the worm treatment. I had Karlo go thru a 3 dose series of Strongid, spaced 2 weeks apart. He showed no signs of having them, they were detected thru a fecal.


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## Dainerra

after the worming, you can always look up the recipe for Satin Balls in the raw section. 

agree that worming or at least taking a sample to the vet is a good first start.


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## Sawyer498

He did get checked at the vet for worms. They took a stool sample from him and his tests were clear. 

He starting to put on some weight now that I found food he really likes. 

I got the recipe for satin balls and made the stuff last night. The only ingredient I couldn't find was the molasses (not sure if I even was to give him that anyway). I made them meatballs and lay them out on a platter. I gave him a couple last night to see if he liked it and he loved them so hopefully by the time I finish off the platter he will be a healthier weight. I will keep you guys posted. 

My goal is to get him up at least 10-15 pounds steadily. Then I wont feel so strange about his weight. He's not a picky eater, he just doesnt like dry kibble on it's own. Though the kibble I give him now he seems to like dry or mixed but I always mix it up with something good during meal times. This morning he got kibble with some cottage cheese mixed in for his coat and a satin ball.


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## Barb E

If I were you I'd take up the dry food left out all the time.
This way you'll know exactly how much food he's eating each day which can be very key not only to their health but makes pottying much easier


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## Sawyer498

Yea, I took it up last night so that I can use the food inside of it because none of the dogs want to eat that brand dry. The brand in the dispenser is the more expensive brand too. ToTW. Go figure, lol.


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## Barb E

Sometimes dogs just don't like the food we think they should - what is the other food you're feeding?


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## Sawyer498

I am currently feeding him Pedigree dry kibble and I mix that with canned meat (Alpo prime cuts). His stool is nice and solid (maybe nice wasn't good word choice lol) and he seems to really like the taste of it.


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## Barb E

That very well could be why they're not eating the TOTW - the Pedigree and Alpo are like candy to them. Think junk food vs nutional food for a child!

I'd get rid of the Pedigree and Alpo - Canidae is a nice food if $$ is a concern for you, and it's all life stages so can be fed to all dogs.

I feed Nature's Logic and though it's $$ per bag the cost per day is less than $2.00 since it's high calorie and so I don't have to feed that much.

Take a wander through the nutrition section - there are way better foods out there that you should be feeding.










By the way, that is one cute pup!!!!


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## SunCzarina

Check out a pet store for samples. 

There's much better stuff out there than pedigree and Alpo. That's all fillers and not much nutrition to stick to his bones = build healthy muscle.

I know it's much easier to pick up his chow at the grocery store with yours but you're not going to find a quality dog food at the grocer or walmart.

Right now I have 2 dogs eating FROMM, which costs me maybe $5 a dog more per month than any of the 'better' grocery store brands.


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## Kayla's Dad

Also you can try mixing a little water, broth (non-salty!) in with the TOTW. I've never given kibble dry to my dogs nor have I used canned dog food. I do add dry supplements that require water/liquid to mix. Also have mixed raw eggs, chicken and other cooked meats from time to time. Heck, taking some of those ingredients for the satin ball and mixing it in might do the trick.

If you can find a few different things your dog responds to, then you can change them around from day to day to keep it interesting and inticing as well-do you like to eat the same thing for every meal?

Sometimes, it just takes time to find the right combination/food. I do agree with Barbara regarding the Pedigree and Alpo. 

Be careful about putting on too much weight too fast. Just make sure it's gradual over time.


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## Alto

For 7 mo, he still looks pretty immature but check with his breeder about that as some lines do take much longer to mature.

I agree, I'd ditch the Pedigree & Alpo - there are much better protein foods out there, you want a food with less carbohydrates & more animal based protein (unfortunately pet food labels can be very misleading).


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## Sawyer498

Yea, the problem is I tried the high quality foods and while at first he ate it fine he eventually stopped eating it and didn't want anything to do with it. Sure, he ate enough to "survive" but he lost weight in the process until I started giving him the "filler" food. I know this food is not the greatest but at least it's putting some weight on him. He was looking starved at one point. 

I just don't know what else to mix his food with that will be cost effective and nutritional and most importantly tasty to him. I tried mixing meat in with the ToTW and he would move the food around eating the meat and leave the ToTW. lol He basically grew up on ToTW I don't know why he started hating it. I mixed it with eggs and he would eat some but I can't give him eggs everyday. 

Anyone care to maybe post their sample doggie menus? At one point I was going to go full RAW but it seemed like too much trouble figuring out how much of each meat he needed. Plus, there aren't any butchers around me and the super markets won't give organ meat so I scrapped the idea.


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## SunCzarina

ah, so he's picky too. Morgan is a picky one. She really likes Fromm Duck & sweet potato, try it, my 6 year old son says it's pretty tastey and he's picky too


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## Sawyer498

> Originally Posted By: SunCzarinaah, so he's picky too. Morgan is a picky one. She really likes Fromm Duck & sweet potato, try it, my 6 year old son says it's pretty tastey and he's picky too


I think they have that brand in the dog store where I get ToTW. If I pick this stuff up the next time I need to buy dog food what do you think I can mix in there with it? I know he wont eat dry. I'm open to suggestions on what I could do to stimulate him to eat a higher quality kibble. I know someone suggested a non-salted broth. Is it okay to give him this on a daily basis multiple times a day? 

Keep in mind that I have a 3 year old pug that eats the same food as the GSD just smaller portions. My pug is at a healthy weight for a pug he's doesn't look like those fat ugly pugs that can barely breathe and walk up stairs. This one is like speedy Gonzalez. I got to get some pictures up of him. He's a funny looking character. Anyway, I'd like to keep him nice and fit as well. The pug is not so picky of any eater though he also has a hard time stomaching the ToTW.


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## Barb E

Sometimes some warm water and then a bit of a stir and a sit will be enough.


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## Sawyer498

Okay, I will give that a shot. I actually used to do that with my old Rottie (God rest his soul) but he wasn't a picky eater at all. He would eat anything I put down.


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