# Is my 9 month old male too thin for his age?



## Zellie&Major (Mar 21, 2011)

Hugo weighed 75 lbs on Valentines Day this year. However, the day afterwards I had to fly home without notice because my Papa wasn't doing well. I had to board Hugo at the same place my friend boards her lab for a week. 

When I came home Hugo was coughing and had visibly lost weight. After 3 days he developed a runny nose and I took him to the vet. They ran several cultures...it wasn't canine influenza. She put him on antibiotics and cough syrup and sent us home. He started to refuse to eat, after 4 (almost 5) days of not eating I called our vet back. His cough had stopped and his nose was no longer runny so she said to take him off the antibiotics (because they could cause anorexia) and try the bland diet. 

We did the bland diet for a little over a week, slowly introducing kibble back into his diet. (Precise Holistic Complete Large Breed Puppy) At almost two weeks of mostly bland diet (boiled chicken, rice, a little broth, and half of the time cottage cheese) he finally started eating kibble again. At first (4 days) he was very slow to finish a bowl, but he's been like that since he was a puppy. I tried him on some Orijen to see if he was tired of the taste---he wouldn't touch it. After a couple of days he suddenly started cleaning his bowl (which he's never done) I thought he might be thinner and his coat is a little duller (or dustier---we live in Colorado where there isn't much grass) but I wasn't sure that that wasn't just because he was growing. (My parents GSD, Major took a couple of years to fill out.) 

I took him to be groomed Friday and when he came back his coat looked so shiny, but he looked so thin! (I chalked it up to having "enough hair for 2 other dogs" combed out.) 

However, now he seems to have have lost even more weight since Friday! On Saturday I talked to our natural dog food supplier about it and she recommended I give him a 1/3 a can of Tripett with every meal for a week to help with the lose stools/diarrhea he's been having lately---last week he had two diarrhea accidents. (He's had lose stool off and on (but only 1 accident while we were house training around 12 weeks) since we got him at 8 weeks... Pumpkin seems to help. And he's been checked for worms.) 

I'm just wondering with all that's been going on is his thinness normal? I'm not sure of his weight right now, but I know it's much lower than it was in Feb.


----------



## Zellie&Major (Mar 21, 2011)

This is Hugo on Valentines Day for comparison. I'll post a picture from today after I get home. We also thought depression/loneliness might have added to some of his refusing to eat after we boarded him. He's the only dog in our house, but he's been attending classes at least 1-2 times a week since he was 12 weeks old, and going to play dates with my friend's lab who is the same age once a week. He's very well socialized and loves to be around other dogs, people, kids, and even cats. I thought maybe after having a week of play with the dogs at the boarders I wasn't enough interaction for him... Although now he's seems to be better as far as the depression goes...He has plenty of energy and runs all day long! (Outside, with me, in the house...) I'm just concerned because it's such a large amount of weight loss over 2 months for a supposed to be growing puppy.


----------



## LaRen616 (Mar 4, 2010)

No he is not too thin, he looks perfect!

Maybe the Vet should check for EPI though if he's losing weight.


----------



## wyoung2153 (Feb 28, 2010)

He LOOKS fine.. but if he is losing weight for no reason, I would defnitely look into a vet visit to see if other things aren't going on.


----------



## Eiros (Jun 30, 2011)

His weight looks good to me... they should be kept lean, in my opinion, especially while growing. 

If he's losing weight unexpectedly, I think more vet visits are in order. Hope you figure out what's going on


----------



## Zellie&Major (Mar 21, 2011)

Thank you! I guess I just worry a little... :smirk: Hugo's our baby right now and I want to give him the best that I can. I guess since everyone thinks his weight is fine, I'll finish out this week with the Tripett and see how he's doing then before I take him to the vet again. Thanks again for calming this worried mama! :blush::wub:


----------



## SuperG (May 11, 2013)

Hugo looks like he should....dogs are impressionable....do not give Hugo a weight complex.

SuperG


----------



## Msmaria (Mar 2, 2013)

I was worried about my dog being too thin at around that age. He's 14 months now and is filling out some. So I would try not to be too worried and just keep an eye on him. But thinner is better.


----------

