Talon too skinny, advice?

[Babyblue5290]

He is my hungry child. He litterally eats everything he can find.

He seriously finds anything (plastic, rocks, sticks, socks, fabric of any kind, carpet! etc) to tear into peices and swallow! This dog is really keeping me on my toes.

I've never had a dog like this before! He inhales his food like he's never going to eat again and still finds anything he can get into his mouth to eat. As of right now we are having to feed him with the kong wobbler so he doesn't eat as fast.

But, he's lost 2.1 lbs in the last few days and we are feeding him MORE! >_< I thought worms maybe, but we had a fecal and blood test done when we went in to the vets for his ear mites and no wormies at all blood all looked good.

Now I'm not sure what's going on. I don't know if maybe we should up his food or take him back to the vets or what? Vet said he looked really good other than being on the skinny side.

He's skinny enough that I can easily feel ribs. I like my dogs on the skinny side, but this is a bit too skinny IMHO!

He's always been on the boney side though, I'm just concerned about the drop in weight over the last few days.

[Dogdragoness]

What kind of food is he on? With Josefina she needs a high fat/calorie content in her food. I feed back to basics pork which has organ meat concentrates listed as the first 4 ingredients even before he first source of fat.

Also although a lot of food for like them, satin balls are also a good way fatten a dog up I am mobile so I can't post links easily but you can google "satin balls recipe" & a lot of them will come up, but here is the one I use (I think this is it lol) you can also adjust the ingredients for how much you are making, the first time I only used a lb of chuck because I didn't know if she would likens em or not lol.

1 or 5 lb fatty ground beef.
Canola oil (measured to desired amount)
Wheat germ (measured to desired amount)
Total (or bargian equivilant) corn flakes cereal (measured to desired amount)
Quaker oats (NOT the one minute kind) (measured to desired amount)
A few boxes of Knox unflavored geletin (how ever many you will need)
Eggs (however many you will need.

When I made a small batch I only used like 4 eggs, & three packGes of geletin.

[Torch]

I forget exactly which type of worm it is (I think tapes..?) that don't always show up in one fecal. Maybe get a couple samples of poop and run them to the vet to check? I've known of people having issues keeping weight on puppies and that's what it was. Just took a couple of fecals/samples to find the tapeworms.

[joce]

How old is he? Could it just be one of those growing phases where he looks gaunt but is getting taller?

What kind of scale are you using? I don't think my weigh me and the dog were accurate lol!

[RD]

Talons a border collie, yeah? I had the worst time keepin weight on eve until she was spayed. She seriously felt skeletal when I ran my hands over her, but she was extremely healthy.

As long as he seems fit, I wouldn't worry too much.

[Babyblue5290]

Originally Posted by Dogdragoness

What kind of food is he on? With Josefina she needs a high fat/calorie content in her food. I feed back to basics pork which has organ meat concentrates listed as the first 4 ingredients even before he first source of fat.

Also although a lot of food for like them, satin balls are also a good way fatten a dog up I am mobile so I can't post links easily but you can google "satin balls recipe" & a lot of them will come up, but here is the one I use (I think this is it lol) you can also adjust the ingredients for how much you are making, the first time I only used a lb of chuck because I didn't know if she would likens em or not lol.

1 or 5 lb fatty ground beef.
Canola oil (measured to desired amount)
Wheat germ (measured to desired amount)
Total (or bargian equivilant) corn flakes cereal (measured to desired amount)
Quaker oats (NOT the one minute kind) (measured to desired amount)
A few boxes of Knox unflavored geletin (how ever many you will need)
Eggs (however many you will need.

When I made a small batch I only used like 4 eggs, & three packGes of geletin.

I thought about doing that a few days ago, but held off 'cause David said he was ok, just skinny. I don't know, I might try it anyways.

Originally Posted by Torch

I forget exactly which type of worm it is (I think tapes..?) that don't always show up in one fecal. Maybe get a couple samples of poop and run them to the vet to check? I've known of people having issues keeping weight on puppies and that's what it was. Just took a couple of fecals/samples to find the tapeworms.

I'll keep this in mind I think. He's had (I think) 3 fecals since he was a puppy and a weight issue the entire time and nothings shown up. I don't know, I just don't have the money to spend if I don't have to and fecals are expensive! If he's still losing weight when I get my tax returns I'll have to try it.

Originally Posted by joce

How old is he? Could it just be one of those growing phases where he looks gaunt but is getting taller?

What kind of scale are you using? I don't think my weigh me and the dog were accurate lol!

He is definitely going through that gauntly stage and he did just grow. But I always thought they gained weight when they did that?

The last few days just a bathroom scale, so you're right, it's very possible just off. I'll try to get a weight at the vet's tomorrow.

Originally Posted by RD

Talons a border collie, yeah? I had the worst time keepin weight on eve until she was spayed. She seriously felt skeletal when I ran my hands over her, but she was extremely healthy.

As long as he seems fit, I wouldn't worry too much.

Yeah he is a BC. You know, you guys have told me that before, but I think I'm just not use to having such a skinny dog!

What age was eve spayed at? If you don't mind me asking of course. I'm just curious how long she stayed that skinny.

Otherwise he seems very healthy. Poo's good, eats like a vaccuum lol Energy is good.

Thanks!

[Mdawn]

I'm having the same problem with my Mastiff. I upped his rations, added eggs and a high calorie vitamin supplement but if it helped any, it was very minimal.

Today I started him on a real basic "satin ball" stuff. Hamburger, oats and eggs, on top of his regular food.

If he doesn't gain, then its off to the vet we go.

[CrystalGSD]

It might be a growing phase. When I had Nour, he shot up in height and it took him a while to gain weight. He sounded identical to Talon, and he had been on the light end of the scale for his whole puppyhood, until about 10 months old, when he finally started filling out. (he ate like a pig as well, it was unbelievable how much he ate! ) If the vet says it is all clear, and he is acting happy and healthy, then I wouldn't worry about it much.

[RD]

Eve stayed that skinny until she was almost 2 years old. She was spayed when she was 3 or 4 and that's when she actually started to plump up. She's dropped the weight now, but earlier in 2012 she was chubby and I realized I had to start watching her food intake.

[misfitz]

Have you had his thyroid checked? I've heard of dogs having thyroid issues that cause extreme hunger like this, and when they started on medication they were able to keep weight on. Not sure if it's over- or under-active, but there is one of the thyroid problems that can have symptoms like this.