New greyhound losing weight

[curlyk]

Hi all.
I am at last the proud owner of a fantastic retired greyhound called Zeus. He has settled so well. No problems at all-eating well, sleeping ,OK to be left a short while etc. I know greyhounds can lose weight with the stress of moving from kennel life to a home environment, but Zeus is eating really well,seems very happy and is losing weight. He is a big tall lad-29 inches and weighs 33 kg( less than his racing weight now) . He is on a good food that he has always been on - James Wellbeloved and I give him breakfast an tea. 245 g each meal. Any advice please or am I being a fussy new Mum!!

[samburns]

How does he actually look?  ie does he look to you as though he is underweight, too bony and *should* be heavier than he is?  They can lose a little when first moving into a different environment as you say and my ex-racers have generally weighed in a little above their racing weight when settled into homelife but I do think how they look is much more important than what they weigh....  Has he been wormed recently?  Is he finishing all his food and looking like he would eat more?  

[curlyk]

To me he does look a little underweight. I can easily see 4 ribs but not the hip joints-just feel them. Occasional see an odd spine depending on what position he is in. The vet seems really happy with him and says just give him time to settle more. He recommended giving him a lunch time snack of a bit more kibble with some oats soaked in water which I will start doing. He finishes every morcel of food and he was wormed 2 weeks ago.will try to put another photo on if I can manage it.The avatar one you can't see a side view. I think the fawn greyhounds do tend to look leaner-think it is the colouring that does it.

[samburns]

If your vet is happy with how he looks I wouldn't worry too much, sounds like sound advice and just obviously monitor x  You have to remember also that their exercise regime changes massively when you bring one home, they may not have had walks at all in kennels, maybe just access to a small pen for toileting and then racing so it all adds to changes in muscle use and mass which may effect their weight.  He's a gorgeous boy - just shout if you need help with posting photos x

[Ted]

All four of my Hounds have 1/2 a carton of ForthGlade wet food (Chicken & Liver or Chicken & Heart) for breakfast and a carton for their evening meal. The Greyhounds weigh in at Merlin 35 kilos, Mickey-Finn 36 kilos and Kelly 38 kilos, my Ibizan Hound Menta weighs in at 31.7 kilos. Mickey-Finn, 31" tall, usually has both his breakfast and evening meals together. Kelly is very large for a female Greyhound but when she was born she was the largest of a 5 pup litter of two males and three females. Whereas all except Kelly are satisfied with the quantity of food I give them, Kelly can be a gannet which was caused because her racing owner/trainer and kennels tried to get her to the racing weight of a normal size female Greyhound around 26 to 28 kilos, but she refused to race for them, so they eventually allowed Kelly to eat her fill and she started winning races for them. However due to when she was a pup they tried keeping her on short rations this now means that even at 9 & 1/2 she is willing to pinch given the chance the other threes food.

I was just wondering if your Zeus had been kept on smaller quantities of food whilst racing and now he realises to eat everything up in case of being given short rations in the future.

[curlyk]

Thanks for all your advice/input. Wow, Kelly does sound like a tall girl! . I think the most advice I have gained is that every greyhound is different. Some are fussy eaters but put weight on easy, some love their food but remain lean. I deffinately think Zeus is in that category bless him. He really is a lovely calm chap. I weighed him at vets yesterday and he has gone to 34kg so I feel a little happier. Occasionaly also has soft poo- maybe second time he goes, but I put that down to nerves-he sometimes freezes on walks when he feels overwhelmed but I am working on this by walking him with my friends confident female greyhound. He adores her!. Only issue I have on here,is posting photos? Each time I try to add attachment the message says file too big and I don't know how to make smaller. Any ideas? Thankyou x

[ragsysmum]

Wouldn't be too worried about loose poo if it's only on second or subsequent poos. Some of these dogs can poo three times on a walk and get softer every time!