Underweight

Pepper, my doberman, seems to be underweight. He is almost 29inches at his withers and almost 1 year but he only weighs around 70lbs. You can see his ribs and if you run your hand down his back you can feel his spine and his hip bones kinda. We just adopted him through dobe rescue about 2 months ago and he was underweight when we got him. I think he may of gained a pound or two since we got him. We are almost positive he doesn't have worms, he isn't lethargic(the complete opposite;) ) he doesn't have diarrhia(sp?), and other then the fact of him being underweight he seems to be in wonderful health. but just to be sure we are going to take a stool sample to be tested next time we take him to the vet.

Anyway, i have 2 questions. Does anyone have any idea why he may be underweight, and does anyone know how we could put some weight on him?

Any help will be greatly appriciated!

How old is he?


Nala, my now 7 month old puppy was VERY skinny when we adopted her at 8 weeks old. The first week we had her, she gained like 13 lbs. It wasn't fat, it wasn't meat on her bones.. her bones were just growing larger and larger. It wasn't until about a month ago that we noticed her actually gain body fat.

I think if you just feed him more (not too much - We feed Nala 1 cup in the morning and about 2 cups at night) he will gradually gain weight. After a while just watch out, you don't want him turning out like my fatt boy Simba :P

He's about 1 year old

Yeah.. he's rather young. Puppies have a faster matabolism (sp? - Sorry, I don't feel like using dictionary.com right now. :p ) than older dogs. Hopefully nothing serious is wrong with him. I'm sure he's fine though.

What type of food are you feeding?

Canidae with Missing Link Supplement:)

Your food sounds good..maybe just increasing more food intake. You could also try eggs. I'm not sure how comfertable you are with it but I try to feed kai raw eggs at least twice a week. I've been trying to cut back a bit because it has alot of fat. It apparently has loads of nutrients that the dog can use...and that extra bit of fat wouldn't hurt him either. It would give your pup a fabulous coat.

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Originally posted by Dobiegirl24
Canidae with Missing Link Supplement:)

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Well, that's definitely good food! :D I would probably keep him on the same food shcedule and amounts until you see the vet. They may want to test his blood and of course :o his stool :o . See what your vet recommends. Sometimes when rescues are thin, it takes a while for them to put the weight on. Not my Millie though. :rolleyes:

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Originally posted by binka_nugget
Your food sounds good..maybe just increasing more food intake. You could also try eggs. I'm not sure how comfertable you are with it but I try to feed kai raw eggs at least twice a week. I've been trying to cut back a bit because it has alot of fat. It apparently has loads of nutrients that the dog can use...and that extra bit of fat wouldn't hurt him either. It would give your pup a fabulous coat.

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I'm fine with feeding raw eggs, someday i plan on switching him to raw. the only problem is confincing my mom that it's okay:rolleyes: LOL

Do you feed the eggs with the shells?

I use to save the shells and blend it in until you couldn't find any little chunks but that took forever and I don't feed complete barf anymore (we need to go to the vet to go over a specific diet...kai's overweight a bit). I just give him an egg every now and then. If you want, pm me and I can send you some info on eggs that you might find useful to show your mom with.

Try feeding him Magic Meatloaf or Satin Balls w/his food. Very high calorie. You can find recipes on line.
Lori

Sounds normal to me. It's normal for a doberman to be as little as 66 pounds. If you're still worried, talk to your vet about some higher calorie/more fattening foods. Does the food you feed now have meat as the first ingredient?

well, pepper is pretty big for a dobe, around 29in(he's been mistaken for a great dane many times, LOL) i'm worried b/c you can easily see his ribs and kinda his hip bones

yeah, canidae has 3 meats in the first 5 ingredients:)

I think the others gave WONDERFUL advice.

I'm just here to ask if you've seen the post about the PA pet talk meeting? It'll be lots of fun!!! :D :p We'd love to meet both of your dogs to!


Ash

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Originally posted by Aspen and Misty
I think the others gave WONDERFUL advice.

I'm just here to ask if you've seen the post about the PA pet talk meeting? It'll be lots of fun!!! :D :p We'd love to meet both of your dogs to!


Ash

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hmm, no i haven't, i'll have to go check it out:D

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Originally posted by Dobiegirl24
well, pepper is pretty big for a dobe, around 29in

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Actually 29 inches isn't that large for a doberman. The breed standard asks for I believe 25-28. My German shepherd is a few inches over her breed standard, but she's not exceptionally large for a shepherd. I've seen lots much bigger than her! ;) :p