my dog is SOOOO skinny!!!?

Question

She's a white standard poodle and she ALL skin and bones and we feed her and all but shes sooooooooooooo skinny!!! how do I get her to gain weight?

Answer 1

first off, check your dog's stool for worms. This is the most common reason for underweight dogs, and is particularly bad for poodles. Just because she was wormed as a puppy doesn't mean that she doesn't have them now. If you don't need to worry about money, then take her to a vet and have them run diagnostics and treat her for tapeworm and roundworm.

Answer 2

I have a pointer with similar problems -- she's on a high quality, high protein diet, regular vet visits [no worms]. She's just a very active dog with a high metabolism [comes from running like a marathoner].
While she is on free feed, I keep a close eye on how much she's actually eating, making sure she actually eats enough every day. Often she's too busy to stop and do something as boring as eating.
To encourage her to eat more, I'll put the leftover juices from my meals and mix it into her dry food. It got her to start looking forward to meal times and to feel social about it as we eat at the same time.
I also know what is a good weight for her, and I don't mean on the scale. I'm happy when she's not ribby and I can't see her hip bones.
On occassion, when I can see that she's lost some weight [I know a lot of you will cringe at this, but it works and the vet okayed it] I will put some sweetened condensed milk onto her dry food for a day or two, just to give her a quick boost in calories.
Make sure you're also walking her regularly. It helps to stimulate the appetite.
Good luck!

Answer 3

First of all, take her to the vet and have her checked for worms and other intestinal parasites. Some parasites can be picked up by dogs just walking through grass where other infected dogs have been.

Then be sure you are feeding a high quality diet, like Science Diet or Iams. Some foods are mainly water and bulk fiber and are not really nutritious enough for most dogs.

Best of luck!

Answer 4

I once read that because so many dogs are actually over weight, when people see a dog of standard weight they think it's too thin.

Poodles appear to be very thin dogs, but remember they're bred to be swimmers, and swimmers are thinner.

This may not be the case however. I would suggest going to your vet and asking them if they think she is under weight.

If she is, I would suggest switching to a higher quality food with more protein. I had a roommate who had a Siberian who was border-line underweight. She was just a picky eater that she wouldn't eat very much because she didn't like the food. So, he did two things for her - he switched her to a higher quality food and he now buys the "large breed" variety for her. She's only a 30lb dog, so she's far from being a "large breed," but this way she gets more calories per bite. She's still petite, but no longer looks like she never eats!

Answer 5

You really need to get her into the vet to discuss this problem.
When ever you have an animal that is eating regularly and is in healthy environment, but is still skinny, there are other factors causing this.....more than likely, its internal. Your dog could have leukemia, cancer, or maybe even a parasite she picked up playing outside. If you love your pet get her into the veteranarian right away. Good luck!

Answer 6

You should try to feed her snacks, and meals full of protein, or you could call your vet and see what foods he recomends. Though I'm sure there is nothing wrong with her being skinny, most poodles are very active animals and tend to stay skinny, I know this from experience of owning several poodles. If i fed them snacks though they would gain a few pounds, but not many.

Answer 7

You need to start with a complete physical exam by a vet. She could have parasites that are causing her to not utilize the food she takes in. They will probably take blood for chemistries, etc., and that may tell you something, but you shouldn't increase her food without first having her examined. it might be a thyroid problem or something else that's treatable.

Answer 8

I bet she has worms, they eat 90 percent of what you feed her and if worms don't get enough, they start eating the fat or intestines,. Did you see any blood in stools? I would get a complete blood work up and take a stool sample in, of course, tape worms don't show up thee. You have to lift the tail and see if a white worm slides back into the rear end to see if it has those type of worms. I pray there there is no thyroid or any thing else wrong. Good luck. feed thedog more...

Answer 9

I've had poodles my whole life, and some of them are just lean dogs. i have one who eats all the time, yet she is very thin and very healthy. First, have your dog checked for worms.....if it's not that...look for a dry dog food with a higher fat content than protein content....like Iams puppy. I feed my lean dog puppy food, even though she is 9 years old.

Answer 10

well how much do you feed her? is it the kind of thing where you give her lots of food and she just doesn't eat it all? if thats the case, get her checked out by a vet. if the vet says she is healthy, start adding things to her kibble to entice her to eat more. you can mix in things like a raw egg, cottage cheese, olive oil, yogurt, etc. these will add calories to her meals and might entice her to eat more. also, unsalted peanut butter makes a great stuffing for bones and kongs and is very high calorie.