Skinny puppy? Eats plenty...

eberry1 · 01-24-2008, 01:29 PM

I have a 5-6 month old pit lab mix. She's very friendly, and loves to lick. We got her from an animal shelter at 3 months. When I feed her, she gets 3 cups a day, of the Nutro dog food. When she eats, she inhales the food pretty much, and her stomach goes in lie she is inhaling and she looks malnourished. She gets a half a cup over her recommended weight. She looks skinny, but not underfed really. Should I be worried, any way to slow her down to enjoy it, it's almost as if she is scared she won't have food tommorrow. She almost ate a whole bag of food she got into one day, so I don't won't to leave food out all of the time. Her bowels look normal, she had a tape work about 2 months ago, but we gave her medicine.

Is this normal?

Thank you
Eric

chucky · 01-24-2008, 03:15 PM

few large breed dogs i know, were skinny when were puppies, one particular pit looked like he wasn,t fed at all, but it wasn,t the case, my friend(his owner) was giving him as much food as he could eat, but the pit still was skinny, eventually all gained weight, and now very healthy dogs,
i wouldn,t worry, assuming of course you took the pup to the vet, and it has no intestenal parasites, and healthy.

briteday · 01-24-2008, 03:46 PM

Take the dog back to the vet. Sometimes parasites travel in bunches and pups are prone to being infected and re-infected.

AkiraleShiba · 01-24-2008, 08:26 PM

It could be the malabsorbption syndrome but it should be accompanied by diarrhoea. If you dog has not had a stool sample since her last case of worm you should have another done.

007Dogs · 01-25-2008, 12:49 AM

I would keep her on a regular deworming program under the advise of your vet. Worms grow in stages, so you have to keep up with deworming, it's not a one time thing.

Willowy · 01-25-2008, 01:01 AM

Large-breed dogs should be a little bit on the thin side while growing---it's much healthier for their joints. And she's in that awkward teenage stage, where she's naturally going to be a little leggy. Can you see her ribs? If not, she's at a healthy weight. You want to be able to feel her ribs easily but not be able to see them.

the-tenth · 01-25-2008, 08:23 AM

I agree with briteday. If she's had intestinal issues already, and you're concerned about her weight, I would take her immediately (along with a stool sample). And to me, that doesn't seem like a lot of food for a 6 month old large breed mix.

agility collie mom · 01-25-2008, 09:04 PM

Hi, You stated that you are feeding nutro dog food. Did you mean puppy food? If you are feeding dog food that could be part of the problem. There are not enough calories for a growing puppy in dog food. Puppy's normally stay on puppy food until they are 1 year of age. Taking a fecal sample to your vet would also be a good idea. There are different types for parasites, depending on the type of parasite they have determines the dewormer the puppy receives. Let us know how your puppy is doing.