Tony is waaay too thin.

I was wondering if any of you could give me any advice about Tony, my mom's neutered male chihuahua whom I've been taking care of for a few months.

When we picked him up from her, he was terribly underweight. She said he ate like a horse. She'd had him checked for worms several times and he didn't have them. The vet couldn't find anything wrong with him. So when we took him in to be neutered, we asked the vet about it. He checked for worms again. The vet said male chihuahuas tend to be somewhat emaciated, especially until they're neutered. Is that true?

After we had him neutered, he did put on some weight. At least he had a tiny bit of fat over his ribs. But now, even though he appears to still be growing, he's stopped gaining fat and it looks like he's lost whatever fat he had gained.

I'll have to get a picture when I get a chance - but you can see every single rib very easily, and you can also see all of the vertebrae on his back, and his hip bones.

He does look like he's grown. He's about 10 months old now. Do they get thin while they're growing?

We feed him the chicken soup for the pet lover's soul dog food, and over the past couple of days I've started adding gravy or eggs or something to it to make it more flavorful and fattening. I feed him twice a day. Sometimes he empties the bowl but other times he barely touches it.

Otherwise, he appears healthy. He's extremely energetic. Any ideas? Do they just naturally run thin?

I can't help you with this unfortunately, sorry. My dog's never been to thin plus I don't know much about chihauhas. Good luck though!

Ahh someone else with a thin Chihuahua. My Mums Theodore has only just started to put on weight now, he turned 2 years old in june. Before his second Birthday and even after he was neutered he was so thin and nothing we did would put weight on him.

Theo was just like Tony, very actice (Still is) and would sometimes eat all his dinner and at other times barely touch it (Still does), we tried putting him back onto puppy food and giving him extra but he just would not put the weight on.

I would keep an eye on Tony and if he becomes lethargic have the Vet check him out again, other than that he sounds like a very healthy little guy and hopefully he will gain a bit of weight as he gets older.

I would love to see new photos of the Chi's and Max, when you have the time that is. :D

Thankyou for the responses!

I bought some high-calorie dog treats for him today. I think maybe he's kind of like all my kids were - they'd plump up right before a growth spurt then get really skinny.

I'd always heard chihuahuas had the opposite problem!

This country life could be doing it, too. Max has lost SEVENTEEN POUNDS since we moved out here! He just runs and runs. And the chihuahuas spend a lot of time wresting in the front yard, whereas before they were confined to the house most of the time.

I'll post some pics soon.

Maybe this is a Chihuahua thing?
My sisters puppy eats good, is a ball of energy,
but she is thin too.

If you are concerned ask the vet if their is
a food/supplement for gaining weight.


(I just look at food and the pounds pack on) :rolleyes:

My grandma has a chihuahua, Joey. He's a little over a year and very thin as well. He's a really picky eater though.