Underweight greyhound

sotisme

Hi I'm fostering a stunning greyhound over the Christmas period for a well-known rescue. She is in OK health, with a touch of kennel cough (despite her treatment being finished) and she is extremely malnourished.

I was under instructions to feed her up and given a particular type of food, of which I am to feed her 160g 3 times daily. This is a lot of food and although she is eating, I dont think she's even managing to eat half of that.

I have heard of so many ways to put weight on dogs using nutritious human food such as:

Adding cod liver/salmon/olive oil to food
Adding pasta / brown rice to food
Adding egg (yolks) to food
Feeding cheese as treats and peanut butter filled kongs

As I think she is a picky eater, I would imagine that she would eat more of her food if I added the above, and I'm very tempted to try it.

However she has been on the same diet for a while AFAIK, and the last thing I want to do is make her tummy upset, which would result in her being sick and losing more weight!

She is one year old and so very timid, she is so low maintenance. She's covered in scars and small wounds and I just want to improve her life a little bit this Christmas

I am at loss at what to do, should I contact the shelter? I can't hand her back just as thin as she was when I got her!

Thank you and any tips would be gratefully appreciated

TooManyDogs

Personally I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to put weight on her, slow and steady wins the race, so I'd be giving her a number of small meals a day and see how she gets on. If you have time you could try feeding her 4 times a day. In my experience trying to get dogs to gain weight too quickly doesn't work well for them and they do put weight on gradually if fed up at a slower pace.

Toulouse

Little and often is the name of the game here. Anywhere from 4 to 6 small meals a day if she's very underweight and you can mix in a little extra rice or pasta. They are gentle on the tummy so shouldn't cause problems. The smaller meals may make her more likely to eat. I'm assuming she's been wormed?

If the kennel cough hasn't cleared up then you need to let the rescue know. She may need further tests to identify if another type of treatment would be more successful.

You really should contact the rescue for advice first though, they should be more than happy to provide the support you need, even if it's just a chat. The rescue should be your first point of call but if they are not very experienced with the greyhound breed then I can recommend a number of excellent sighthound rescues with lots of experience who will only be too happy to talk to you.

VonVix

I'm in agreement with above. Her name doesn't happen to be Lucy, does it?

sotisme

Thanks everyone for the helpful replies, I will take everything on board. She is a genuine sweetheart that we're all starting to get attached to already!

And yes, it is Lucy! Pm sent

Inexile

Again agree with all that is said above. Little and often is the way to go. Greys can be picky eaters and she may be a bit stressed with the change of environment which wont help. As long as she is eating what you give her she will improve.

I have one that is a bit skinny too Im feeding her some puppy food mixed into regular kibble and it seems to be helping.

If your dog was sick or spayed recently then you can expect them to be slow gaining weight. Some of the fosters I get in after spay do lose weight and Im mortified if they leave me looking skinny but its not lack of care its just I don't always have them long enough to get the weight back on. . Give it enough time and your dog will come right.

Finally congrats on fostering a grey.

Mince Pie

I had the same problem with my lurcher when we adopted her but luckily she's not a picky eater. She just loves cheese and would do anything for it, so give it as treats.
I also give them sardines in oil mixed in with their food (have two furry babies now) and they just love it. They especially love to give you fishy breath kisses as well. The sardines are great for them though and help improve their coat which can be very dull after spending time in kennels. My lurcher looked brown when I got her but is most definitely black now.
As said above slow and steady.
Also congrats on fostering your 40 mile an hour couch potato. They really are the most lovely dogs.

sotisme

Thanks a million Inexile and Mince Pie, I am really grateful for your helpful advice.

I contacted the shelter and they were very helpful, and said that I could add human food to her puppy nuts (she is on these as she is still quite young, and I believe puppy food is higher in energy)

She's eaten a bowl of puppy nuts, an egg, and a chicken breast today which I am relatively happy with

You are right about them being 40mph couch potatoes, Lucy had me worried as she spent less than 30 mins today actually standing, the rest of the time she was stretched out on our sofa! She is too weak for walks so we need to build her up before exercising her. She only goes outdoors when she needs the toilet.

She coughed much less today than yesterday so fingers crossed her kennel cough is leaving her.

Thanks a million again everyone