My dog will not gain weight!! HELP!!

[hanban1991]

Hi, we've had Rango for about 6 months now, he wa drastically underweight when we rescued him, only weighing a measley 18kg.
We've wormed him
Vet has checked him over numerous times
We feed him rice, pasta, wet food and biscuits (not pasta and rice together) and scraps suitable off our plates.

His weight has increased to 21kg but he won't budge higher, looks like a rescue case! Poor little mite!

Please no nasty comments, any advice is greatly appreciated, what else can I do for him?

Hannah x

[andywillow]

You wont get any nasty comments here, we're all here to help
First off, how old is he and what breed? Is he being fed a complete food, if so what is he on at the moment?

[hanban1991]

He's a greyhound x saluki. He's more saluki built and is 14 months old ! Everywhere we go with him people think we're neglecting him.

He's on pasta, mixed dog biscuits and a wet food. Only commenced the pasta 3 days ago

X

[jenjanjo]

Probably 'normal'!
Our greyhound (girl) is only 21kg. She has always been very skinny and you can see her dinosaur backbone etc...I used to worry about her, but have accepted that this is just how she is! Her coat is lovely and shiny and we feed her on Skinners Field & Trial salmon & rice/duck etc. and other suitable leftovers or fish in oil etc. She is otherwise a very happy, giddy girl who we love to bits and wouldn't want any other way.. Hope your boy is ok x

[vickyb]

It's the saluki, they are terrible for putting weight on. What food and biscuits are you feeding? How tall is he?

[redpoppy]

My lurcher is also skeletal in build I think it's the whippet in her:) if your lad has a shiny coat, good muscle tone and energy to run and do zoomies I wouldn't worry too much he sounds lovely

[hanban1991]

Thanks for your help, you can't start him running about when we go to the fields, he's forever leaping about! He stands about 21inch.

He's just on pedigree kibble with everything else thrown in.

His coat is shiny and healthy looking.

I thought it might have been the saluki in him but wasn't too sure

[alexandsteve]

I had a whippet who had to eat a low fat diet due to pancreatitis so at first he did lose weight but we found that Potatoes are a great way to put a bit if weight on, rice isn't great for weight gain not that it will do any harm.
Higher fat meats like Lamb mince, boneless chicken thighs/legs/drumsticks are good.
Salmon is good but if course expensive.

Try not to worry to much, maybe he's just a skinny lad and it might take time. Fish4dogs is a good kibble or wolfcol salmon and potato.

Please don't think anyone will be nasty - we all have worries about our Fur Kids from time to time xxx

[gvgeam]

Welcome. Rango isn't a particularly tall dog at 21". If he's eating well and pooing normally and otherwise healthy, I wouldn't worry too much. With his breed ancestry he's never going to be a heavyweight.

Maple is 24" and weighs about 25kg. She looks a bit beefier but she is only 1/4 greyhound - it's the rest that accounts for her slightly hench look. She's 1/4 Rottweiler and the other half is goodness knows what!

Brian is 26" and weighs about 28kg. He eats well, and has plenty of energy - that is when he's not lying about trying to make sure he gets his full 23 hours sleep in!

 

[andywillow]

Aww he's only young and yes the saluki gene! . As long as he is healthy I wouldn't worry too much. You'll always get some know it all with their overweight Labrador telling you your dog is half starved
I don't think Julie comes on the forum much but if you join the Greyhound Gap facebook page, Julie Toner has 2 Gap saluki x's and she was worrying about one of her dogs being skinny, I met up with her one day and saw the dog offlead and straight away said "And you wonder why she's skinny" Mad as a box of frogs and never stopped running.
I'm sure as he matures he will gain weight. We'd love to see some pics of him

Sue x

[Nettie]

Hannah he's only young and probably won't be fully mature and filled out until he's 2-3 years old. I had the same thing with Bertie and he really didn't fill out properly until he was about 3 and even now at 9 he's still on the slender side. He's 29 inches and only weighs about 26-7 kg. Wasn't so obvious to other people as he is a rough coat but for a long time you could have played a tune on his ribs. As everyone says as long as he is happy and healthy I wouldn't worry too much.

Sent from my HTC One S using proboards

[hanban1991]

For some strange reason won't let me post a picture of him on here, I could always post to the Facebook page?

I believe him to be happy and healthy, his poo's are normal.

Our whippet didn't start properly putting on weight until she was at least 2 :-)

Thanks so much all for your help and advice

We feel a lot better about ourselves he is our first greyhound.

[gvgeam]

Jun 14, 2014 8:44:58 GMT -5 hanban1991 said:

For some strange reason won't let me post a picture of him on here, I could always post to the Facebook page?

I believe him to be happy and healthy, his poo's are normal.

Our whippet didn't start properly putting on weight until she was at least 2 :-)

Thanks so much all for your help and advice

We feel a lot better about ourselves he is our first greyhound.

There is a guide to posting pictures in the 'Technical Help with the Board' section. A lot of us use Photobucket.

[Nettie]

Hannah if you have photos on FB the right click on the photo in FB and left click on open in new tab, then copy the URL, on your reply box on the forum you will see a picture icon, click on that and paste URL in the top box and then insert image.

Sent from my Hudl HT7S3 using proboards

[hanban1991]