Skinny Dog?

irishbarb

Just wondering if you all think this dog may be on the skinny side? It's my neighbours dog. Little bit worried about him. Not very obvious from the pictures but his ribs have become visible lately too. He's a young dog as well, so maybe it's to do with his age? Just lanky?

http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm268/gracieluv_bucket/DSCN6702-1.jpg
http://i298.photobucket.com/albums/mm268/gracieluv_bucket/DSCN6701.jpg

fatmammycat

Judging from that first picture the dog looks pretty underweight to me.

Zulu

I'd have said from the second picture the dog looks in good condition. Nice weight, shiny coat.
Dunno about the top pic though.

DamagedTrax

just a skinny dog, he's not underweight but a few kg wouldnt do any harm anyway.

Zapperzy

Wouldn't have said he was underweight, perhaps a bit on the lean side but I would prefer that than overweight anyways some dogs are just naturally leaner. On a short coated dog it's alright to see a few ribs, it's when you can make out the whole ribcage, spine and pelvic bones that their majorly underweight. If he's a young dog anyways they can go through a growth phase and look a bit lanky for a while.
Personally if he was my dog I'd be happy with him, wouldn't want him to lose much more, or I'd be worried of it fell off him suddenly despite feeding a lot. Do you know if he's been wormed?

irishbarb

Ok thanks, the weight seemed to come off very quick. He came over one day looking skinnier then I saw him a few days before. No idea whether he is wormed or not.

lorebringer

I think the dog is definitely underweight. If the weight has come off him very quickly, he will need to be seen by a vet to make sure there is no medical reason for it (and wormed, just to be sure!).

irishbarb

Ya I don't know, I think he is on the underweight side too, as his rib cage is sticking out and then his belly is sunken in looking. The pictures don't really show how much of his rib cage you can see. He's tied up all day and keeps escaping and spends a lot of his time over here sitting outside the door, since we have kids and a dog he wants company. Don't really want to feed him, as the dog warden said if you feed them then legally your responsible for them. He seems placid but I'd be afraid he'd go after live stock. Hopefully he won't get any skinnier, as I'd be very concerned then. Plus he might be left outside all Winter, he's so bony I'd be afraid he'll be awful cold.

DamagedTrax

irishbarb wrote: »

the dog warden said if you feed them then legally your responsible for them.

what? ive never heard that one before

irishbarb

Neither had I, he said if they are on your property and you are leaving out food for them then you'll be held responsible for the dog. I suppose it makes sense in some respects, since loads of people are going to try and claim it's not their dog when it goes off and kills sheep or bites a child.

DamagedTrax

irishbarb wrote: »

Neither had I, he said if they are on your property and you are leaving out food for them then you'll be held responsible for the dog. I suppose it makes sense in some respects, since loads of people are going to try and claim it's not their dog when it goes off and kills sheep or bites a child.

he's talking out his arse. there's nothing in law that says that you can be held responsible for someone elses dog (unless you were minding them under agreement)

bernard0368

What breed is the dog? this could be a lurcher and in that case the weight would be fine.

tudlytops

You cannot judge it by a picture, and there are dogs that are just skinny...

i had a dog years ago, she was a sheepdog and nothing i did made her put on wight, there may be many reasons for a dog to be skinny and many are just very natural.

To me he looks healthy, shiny coat and the coat tells a lot more about a dog then the wight.

Browning2010

What breed is it?

Looks a grand fit dog to me.

DeeRottie

He does look a bit underweight but it all depends on what breed he is and his natural build. I'd like to see a bit more weight on him but not much and his coat is in good condition.

My Rottie x eats us out of house and home but to look at her she is very lean - this is due to the high level of exercise she gets. Her coat is unbelievably shiny, she is strong and muscly and she is weighed regularly at the vets - but get her from a bad angle and she could look a small bit thin (or else I'm just paranoid!)

Agree with what Lorebringer said though - if this is a sudden noticeable weightloss then he needs to be brought to the vet, as there are a plethora of medical reasons that need to be ruled out in the case of rapid weightoss like that.

axle108

Would it be possible to mention casually to your neighbour how thin the dog looks. Maybe it might prompt them to increase the amount of food.

Its also possible the dogs not well, as you have said his ribs have become noticible lately. Many dogs after an ilness or infection can lose a lot of weight. Has the dog previously looked ok.

irishbarb

Ya before now he had more meat on him. I never talk to the neighbour. I highly doubt he's lean from excercise. He's tied up all day, the excercise he gets is when he escapes when they are at work and he comes over and runs around my garden with my own dog. He doesn't seem sick to me, his personality hasn't changed. I guess all I can do is watch him and see if it gets worse, then suck it up and mention it to them.

The Sweeper

A younger dog can be leaner than an older one. You should be able to feel his ribs through his coat without pressing hard, but if they're visible or feel prominent he's underweight. He appears to have a backside and cover over his hips, so I wouldn't really see him as underweight but he's probably quite lean. (Your pics aren't great - a full body side-on at dog height would be better).

Lean yes, but dogs should be lean. It's natural for most breeds to come up and in just before their haunches anyway, so they have a 'waist'.

DeeRottie

Ah poor doggy being tied up all day, really makes my blood boil. Do try keep an eye on him as it sounds like you care more than the owner does by a long shot!

thrilledskinny

Our collie/lab medium size dog is that thin. We constantly worry about her, thinking we are not feeding her enough. We worry people would think we are starving her. We try to fatten her up with added bread and pasta to her normal food, but she remains skinny looking, just like dog in pic.
At times we just think she frets the weight off herself as she is very hyper, very stressed. She finds it hard to sit still and lie down, if you move she moves etc, she follows you around the kitchen, and even round the garden when cutting the grass. She has to be told to go and lie down. She is 11 years old but every one thinks she is a young dog because she runs like a pup when we bring her out.

I had her at the vets lately for another issue ; persistant year round allergies.
He automatically weighed her. I asked him directly did he think she was under weight. He was not concerned that her tummy seemed to cave in or that her ribs are just covered.
He thought she was fine, judging she was a really healthy and well look after dog by the condition of her coat, which she is btw.
The previous vet i had her with for allergies (just tried a differant vet to get a second opinion and to try and solve her problem) also thought she was really well looked after due to the condition of her coat, and never was concerned re her weight.

long storey sorry ! basically that dog in your pics looks fine ! ;-)

dodderangler

Some people just don't care about their dogs
I was on gumtree last night and seen a lovely Labrador for free
The add said something like 1 year old lab for free or she gets put down on Thursday
Some people just sick

fenris

some dogs are just skinny,my GSD Dex was like that, you couldn't put weight on him, he would just eat what he needed and leave the rest - not what we are used to!

Got him checked out by the vet who said that he was grand, his coat and eyes were shiny and he had more than enough energy. We still worried thoug until I met andother GSD owner who had a very similar looking dog that turned out to be a relation, they had the same worries but goth further in their investigation and found that some of the German working lines are just very sleek with huge heads and those lines were present in the boys.

We have a Red Setter that looks half starved - bones and corners everywhere, he eats all around him but if he eats too much it just runs through him, it turns out that he has a fairly serious wheat/Maize allergy, basically a doggie coeliac, we have to be very careful about any scraps of bread as a stolen slice of bread can result in bloody poo for a day or so.

Some dogs are just skinny, some would love to be fat but can't eat enough get there!

There is a big difference between a underweight starving dog and the cases above. Look at the dogs general condition, shiny coat & eyes, lively, enough energy to do what a dog wants to do and the interest to want to do it, indicate a healthy dog.

The dog looks like a young GSD or GSD cross, they can get very lanky before they fill out especially if they have big heads, there is a good chunk of muscle present on either side of the spine that seems to vanish quite quickly in a hungry dog, you should be able to make out the outline of a couple of ribs on most dogs that are a healthy weight, most of us are used to seeing fat dogs so a normal weight dog can look a bit scrawny and boney. One of our dogs was a half starved rescue dog, you could make out not just her rib but her vertebrae, she was very low energy except for short bursts with a very dull rough coat. Once she got back to normal weight everything clicked into place for her, full of life, massive change in coat, she is still a complete savage for food and eats every meal as if it is her last, we had to get a gulper bowl to stop her making herself sick by eating too quickly, sometimes three times in the same meal.

Don't be tempted to feed over the wall, there may be an underlying issue that you don't know about.

irishbarb

Hi all,
This dog ended up dying at the end of our garden a few weeks ago, he was running around playing one minute and next minute one of the kids found him dead. There was foam coming out of his mouth. We got talking to the neighbour and she said she had hit him with her car, and he had been throwing up and she noticed the weight loss but had come around again so she didn't bring him to the vet. Very sad ending for the poor pup.

DamagedTrax

wow :eek:

i wasnt expecting that!

irishbarb

DamagedTrax wrote: »

wow :eek:

i wasnt expecting that!

Neither was I, it was very sudden.

thrilledskinny

God thats sad Irishbarb, guess you have to know the back ground of the dog, and like you said he seem to get skinny suddenly.
Unlike our dog and dogs mentioned here who are always skinny out.

God thats just awful sad, poor dog.....