Anorexic Lurcher anyone?

Question

Does anyone else have an anorexic lurcher? My sisters is the fussiest eater ever - some days she just won't eat anything, and it's not like she's fat or anything. She is 1/4 greyhound,deerhound, whippet, and collie.

Answer 1

How about taking her to the vet.

Answer 2

Lurchers are never fat unless over-fed. If she was hungry she would eat! I've never had a fussy eater myself but I feed my bosses dog and like your sisters she can skip days (sometimes 2 or 3). A day without food can also be beneficial for an animal! Remember they would rarely find or catch food every day in the wild.
I've had a lurcher and known a lot and even if they eat a lot more than a similar sized dog they remain thin, look at the breeds she comes from too. Not a heavy built breed in sight. As long as she is healthy and energetic there is nothing to worry about.

Answer 3

Does your sister feed at a scheduled time and then take the food away, or leave the food available to the dog throughout the day? Our rescued Walker Hound (I know, scent not sight hound, but hounds are pretty much hounds!) is a completely self-regulating eater, and we've discovered that we're better off leaving her food out and available. She eats when she feels like it, and maintains a relatively stable weight. Some days there is no sign that she has touched her food, and others, she devours it as soon as it hits the bowl. As long as the dog is healthy, and the vet has not expressed concerns about her weight, this might not be something to stress over.

Answer 4

This is a dog that's supposed to be thin. If a dog's a very fussy eater it's because they've been taught to be. The dog needs to be fed a really good quality dry dog food and she will eat it if she's not given treats all the time. Mix in a little low-fat cottage cheese or a bit of no-fat, no-sugar yogurt. The dog would also benefit from 1 tablespoon of veg. oil on her food every day.

Answer 5

Some Sighhounds are like that, they *barely* eat enough to survive.

She can add things like goats milk, cottage cheese, plain yoghurt, meat and egg, to her kibble.

It might work to 'allow' her to steal food, I have done that with some of my Whippets. Set a bowl of kibble mixed with something good and leave it sit on the counter. Stolen food is ALWAYS better than given food.

Also try feeding at random times or skip a meal. The appetite tends to be better if they don't know when the next meal may be coming.

Answer 6

this is a subject close to my heart so i no how u feel..iv had my grey since oct 06..she came straight from the track and was only fed once a day while there,when she came to me i began giving her breakfast coz she would wake at an ungodly hour then i introduced a early evening meal..this went ok for bout a month then she wouldnt eat her breakfast, then she started refusing meals, she wont eat dry food even soaked and isnt wot i would call a big eater,she has been to the track jus after crimbo and everyone there says she looks fine but u do worry coz she doesnt eat a great deal,but she has bounds of energy so im trying not to worry

Answer 7

yes you do get anorexic dogs ....like folk...and its no good anyone saying put the food down and take it away she will eat when she is hungry that does NOT work the dog eats less and less as the tummy shrinks and eventually can starve itself to death .....
try a liquid food like prescription diet or liquivite use a syringe and squirt it in the side of the mouth not straight down or it will go into the bronchial tubes and make her choke...give about 10 mls at first every few hours leave a little chicken on a plate by her water bowl after the liquid food it sometimes makes them want to chew...you need to stop the tummy from shrinking it will give you the amounts needed on the can for your breed....
how old is she as she may be getting her back teeth and her mouth may be sore ...
when she is taking the liquid food gradually add soften dried food sloppy at first spoon it in the mouth gradually thickening it up until its softened dried ...tripe is smelly and most dogs will not refuse that sprinkle that on the top...

Answer 8

try and find the Animal Health Company,they do a really good product called Sorb Vit B,if you give it a few seconds before feeding the dog this normally gets them to eat pretty quickly,have used it on a couple of very thin rescues,and it helped a lot,good luck
Wendy

Answer 9

Try some different food, its the same as humans if we ate the same thing day in day out we'd get pretty fed up too! :)

Answer 10

No sorry.I don't