painfully thin dogs

[sparkle]

there are a couple of young dogs where i live which are frighteningly thin. they are litter mates (boy and girl). the girl in particular worries me, you can see her ribs and her waist is miniscule. they are labs or lab crosses so should be quite robust in structure. it has been said that their thinness is due to the worm infestation of their mother when they were in utero (they are rescue dogs) and that the damage is irreversible. is this true?

[deborahburt]

No advice or info for you, but hope they are OK.

[henpecked]

Is your vet friendly enough for you to ask him ? Mine has been good at offering advice on what to do ( if anything ) when I was in a similar situation & worried about a local dog. x

[rosielab]

They might be working line of labs and are normaly keep lean I prefer show line more chunky and I like mine chunky.suexgirls

[gvgeam]

I'm far from being an expert but as pretty well all puppies are born with worms, I can't see that it would be an irreversible condition!

You say these are Labs or Lab crosses? If they're a cross then depending on their parentage/ancestry, then they may be disposed to having a slimmer frame. If they're full Lab, then even if they're working line, I don't think you would expect to see ribs.

If you're concerned, and it sounds as though you are, is it possible to open some sort of dialogue with the owner along the lines of 'what type of dog are they?' and 'what do you feed them on'? If this isn't possible and you're still worried, have a chat with your vet, dog warden or RSPCA.

[laura2001]

We have a labxcollie, who is lean. We checked with our vet, who said it was nice to see a healthy looking dog for a change, as over 90% of labs/labx's are overweight. I think it has become more the 'norm' now to expect labs to look chunky, as most are overfed and under-exercised. Saying that, seeing ribs does sound as though they are too lean. I'd speak to your local dog warden, most are more than willing to help and advise dog owners. x