My border collie is unusually skinny, you can feel his bones when you pat him.?

Question

He eats like a champion - so thats not the problem. He does run the yard line all day, everyday - an extremely active dog. Why wont he put on any weight

Answer 1

You said it yourself- he runs all day. He's simply burning more calories than he's consuming. Try upping his food or adding an extra meal, and start giving him a mixture of wet and dry food. If you're using measurements from the bag for his meals, either add a bit extra or just don't bother- a dog that uses up that much energy should pretty much be allowed to eat as much as he wants. Just don't give it to him all at once or he'll get sick, give him a good sized meal 2-3 times a day. You can also buy him lots of healthy treats to give him throughout the day.

Is he neutered? Intact males often have trouble putting weight on, so if he's not neutered and you don't plan to breed him, consider getting him fixed.

Lastly, have a vet check a stool sample from him for worms- when dealing with skinny dogs there's always a chance that parasites are involved.

Answer 2

Have you checked him for intestinal parasites? if not, I would strongly recommend that you have your vet run a fecal test on him to rule that out. You say that his appetite is good, but is his nutrition level high enough? are you feeding him a premium performance diet?, how old is your dog? Are you feeding twice daily? If your dog has no parasites and is healthy, being on the lean side will help him in the long run, it will be less weight to carry around in his senior years.

Premium Foods:
Wellness
Breed Specific Eukanuba
Eukanuba Premium Performance-designed for active dogs
Breed Specific Natures Recipe
Solid Gold
Natural Balance
Canidae

you may want to research your food versus another brand. I prefer to feed my couch potato 11 year old Border Collie Wellness Senior and he does really well on it.

Good Luck to ya, Love the Border Collie Breed

Answer 3

If you have had him checked for worms and he doesn't have any, you might try a higher fat diet. First make sure that you are not being to sensitive about his weight, he may be just right. Extremely active dogs burn off most of the calories that they eat in low cal diets. Start by checking the ingredients in his current dog food, if the list starts with anything except meat, change him. Wheat, corn, barley, anything like that is just carbs and burn away quickly. Proteins have a better staying power. You can also try some fatty treats like milk-bone or snausages.

Answer 4

I have yet to see an overweight Border Collie. I've got three
right now and putting weight on them is a lost cause. Those
dogs are so active that gaining weight is out of the question!
If he isn't acting sick in any way I wouldn't worry about it.

Answer 5

Is he a puppy? If not and the vet says he OK then don't worry.I adopted a pup at a rescue center.They were feeding him Pedigree Puppy, so I bought the same.I finally sat down and read the ingredients,corn and fillers, not good.My daughter and I are going to get a new kind tomorrow.I fed the Pedigree to the birds.They need a lot more than corn to stay healthy..Hope this helps.

Answer 6

My border collie is just like that. He is very, very active and he eats alot but I still thought he was too skinny. When we went to the vet I asked him if we needed to feed him more and he said that border collie's are built that way. They are a very lean breed.

Answer 7

I'm not an expert on dogs but to exclude the possibility that your dog may be ill, take him to the vet and get him checked out. Just as you would with yourself or another person if you had doubts about something... Hope you find the answer to your qn soon enough..

Answer 8

You're supposed to be able to feel a little bit of ribs on a dog, but if they are clearly visible when he just stands, especially the back part of them, then yes, he might be underweight.
If you think he is too underwieght and you feed him according to the instructions on the bag of food, he might have worms. Check his poop to see if you can see any whitish worms, or take him to the vet. A worm treatment is easy and relatively inexpensive.

Answer 9

He needs more protein and fat in his diet. Dog food has nutrition labels, I would start comparing.

He burns alot of calories running the yard line all day, so carbs are needed also.

Answer 10

I'm not an expert on dogs but it sounds like he has worms,or maybe get him checked out by the vet he could be throwing it all up.I'm not sure but it sounds pretty serious so I would go check him out by a trained vet!!!!