# Too skinny...



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Hi all!

Need some advice on how to make Elza put some weight on. 
Winter is approaching quickly and she's got no fat on her at all and I can see all her ribs plus her spine and the hipbones (forgot the name of it, the two little bones sticking out at the end of her back above her legs...?). 

I'm already feeding her almost the max amount of the kibbles guide line (raised it more than a month ago with no success) even though that she's on the smaller side of the vizslas. I know that the guide line is just a guide line but up until she was 7-8 months old she wasn't this skinny. She has been wormed in June and August and never saw anything in her poo... We didn't worm her since but I was wondering if we should... As it came up before vets tend to over do it...

She's almost a year old and just started to build up more muscles but seems she lost all her excess puppy fat. She seems to be hungry too but she's a very greedy dog and would eat anything she finds. We give her treats between feeding times but even that doesn't matter to her weight. 

Could anyone give me some advice what food would make her put a bit more fat-meat on her? 

Also I cannot feed her on raw since we don't have the facility in our flat to store her food but as an addition I probably could a little but not sure if I can mix up raw and kibble. If there is anything else I wouldn't mind. 

If you look at that pic you can see what I mean.


----------



## texasred (Jan 29, 2012)

I wouldn't worm again her unless she had a stool sample that tested was positive for worms. If you think she is to thin and is still hungry after she eats, then slowly up her food till you find the right amount for her.
If she is still bony thin you can try using satin balls,
The recipe for them is online. Some old dog people just put a tablespoon of corn oil over the dogs food.


----------



## threefsh (Apr 25, 2011)

Riley looks exactly the same right now! We're supplementing her food with sweet potatoes, treats, & table scraps but she's still very thin. I think this happened before her last heat.


----------



## mswhipple (Mar 7, 2011)

Here is a post from Rod's blog (redbirddog) that's a couple of years old. It gives the complete recipe for Satin Balls plus step-by-step photos on how to do it. Excellent post... Thanks to Rod!!

http://redbirddog.blogspot.com/2010/12/satin-balls.html

_p.s. If you can't see yourself making up a batch or two of Satin Balls, just start increasing the amount of her regular food, and watch how she does with the weight issue. The Vizsla in general is so busy, she burns more calories than a typical dog. She might simply need more to eat. You can't really go by what the bag says. _


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Adrino, has she lost weight this past month? I ask this as I didn't think she was skinny when I saw her, what 6 weeks ago. Certainly your description sounds like she has lost a lot of weight. It has certainly turned colder in the UK the past 4 weeks, is your flat heated all the time? Dogs burn off a lot of fat trying to keep warm. I was out walking with Corinne (from the London & Surrey Whizz), she has 2 vs and she says one of them needs a coat on all the time other wise she looses a lot of weight. Seemed mad to me as it wasn't that cold at the time. Might be worth looking at an equifleece for her to wear around the house or at night (if your heating goes off at night).

I would increase her feeds and if possible give her a third feed until you get her weight back up. I appreciate that raw isn't for everybody. There is a recent thread about some new foods both dry and raw called Natures menu - Baxtersmum - is now feeding as her dog stopped eating JW. She is now feeding a mixture of the dry and the raw. I am not suggesting you feed the raw, but they do do food in pouches(which you can keep for quite a while) and I was very impressed with the ingredients. Maybe you could give her a pouch in the morning or for lunch - don't mix with JW in the same meal, as JW swells rather a lot. Anyway have a read.

http://naturesmenu.co.uk/products/Pouches_for_Dogs/Dog_Food_Pouches/ 

Hope she puts on weight soon. Keep in touch.


----------



## Mileysmom (Mar 11, 2012)

Hi Adrino,

Miley was on the skinnyside too for so long..her ribs was so visible. She has had bouts of diarrhea and at 12 months old her weight was 16!!kg.
Then I started to cook her for 1 month..rice mixed with chicken, sweet potato, pumpkin, carrots oats, hamburger. other vegetables.
Within 3 weeks she was 22 kg and looked soo good. After a month I put Burns kibbles in her cooked food and at 6 weeks all she got kibbles with some hamburger, tuna or chicken.

I'm sure she will be ok.


----------



## SteelCityDozer (Aug 25, 2011)

I vote just feeding more kibble. Don't follow the guidelines. If whatever she's eating now isn't enough and you think she'd eat more, then do it. Also make sure the kibble is high quality and not filler. Usually the higher quality the food the less you have to feed so there's some offset there. Maybe add some peanut butter or other high calorie high protein food. But IMO she doesn't look too skinny. Maybe just a growth spurt caught up with her and she'll even out soon.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Thank you all for your replies! 

Firstly I will up her kibbles again plus give her a little extra as a 3rd feed during the day. I think I will add some eggs to her diet more often than now. 
She's on James Wellbeloved Fish and Rice, before that she was on Duck and Rice. Right now she's eating minimum 300g of the kibbles plus treats. She gets 1 dried sweet potato a day but it seems that gives her softer poopoos which I'm not too happy about... 

Unfortunately because of our working hours and living circumstance I cannot feed her raw or cook for her every day. I just do not have the storage for that right now. 
She runs 2 hours a day almost all off leash and recently been running even more so she might just burns everything off... 

Hotmischief, since you saw her she has lost some weight. I think at the time you could only see her last few ribs but now they all visible. If I get the chance will take a few pics and post it to show you why I think she's too skinny. 

Also thank you for the satin balls and nature diet links. Had a look at them both. Will think about what I can do.


----------



## hotmischief (Mar 11, 2012)

Adrino - I can't really tell from the picture you posted lying down. See if you can take some from behind her as well as side on.

I am sure she will put on some weight with an extra feed. Just a thought, did the duck JW not agree with her, as Boris is on duck at the moment and they warned me to watch his weight as it is very fattening due to the high fat content. I know you have had some issues with food and that the fish and rice is mild on the stomach, but maybe it isn't so high in fat.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

This morning I weight Elza. She's *15,5 kg*!!! If that's right she's lost more than a kilo since August...
I hope it's wrong, I will ask my other half to measure her again. 

Hotmischief, I've gone back to fish&rice cause I thought that has more of the healthy fats and oils in it... She loved the duck too so I might just go back to that then. So far this is her 3rd 15kg bag on JWB. First she had the fish, then duck and now fish again. To be honest she had harder poopoos on the duck... But she didn't loose all this weight since I feed her with the fish again. It might be just that I need to give her more. I guess it's trial and error.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Hi all! Just an update on Elza's weight. 

So after almost a month (4 weeks) she managed to put on some weight! 8) Hurray! Last night I weighed her and she was 16.4 kg! Fantastic! She looks better already but I think a little more would be ok for the winter anyway. 
For now I will keep her on 330g dry plus 1 wet pouch a day and she gets an egg every few days too. 
I'll see how it goes for another 4 weeks then we balance out her dry so she will keep the weight on but not put on any more. 

Thanks for all the suggestions again 

Oh does anyone know how many eggs can she have a week?


----------



## LaVidaLoca (Feb 20, 2012)

Hey Adrino, 

good news that Elza put some weight!!

I would not feed more than 2 eggs per week.

It's better to give the egg yolk raw but not the egg white. 
Egg white contains Avidin which blocks the ingestion of Biotin (Vitamin H ) which can cause long-term problems. 

You can give cooked eggwhite seperate and you can also give the egg shell.

All the best!!


----------



## born36 (Jun 28, 2011)

adrino said:


> She's on James Wellbeloved Fish and Rice, before that she was on Duck and Rice. Right now she's eating minimum 300g of the kibbles plus treats.


When did you change to fish from duck as I am guessing the duck food had more fat to it and therefore this could be the reason for the weight loss.


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

*LaVidaLoca* thanks for the advice on the eggs I will do as you suggested.  I remember we used to give the egg shell to our first dog but I haven't tried it with Elza yet. 

*Born36* when I swapped her food from Royal Canine to JWB she had the fish first then the duck then fish again. Now I ordered the duck again and will keep her on it. I cannot say for sure she lost the weight because of the fish... The RC gave her lose stools but obviously that was a junior dry and the JWB is adult. Maybe that's when she slowly started to lose her puppy fat. 

One thing I also found out today that dry sweet potato gives her the runs...  So that's another chew out of the list. Last time I gave her bully sticks she had this rash coming out. I haven't tried it ever since even though I don't actually know it was the sticks or stg else she's got allergic to at the time. I just don't want to risk it.


----------



## andy198712 (May 9, 2011)

hows it going now?


----------



## adrino (Mar 31, 2012)

Hey Andy thanks for asking!
Well, after a few months I managed to find the right amount of kibble that keeps her weight on. It took me weeks continuously raising her food to find the right amount. I didn't want to over feed her. She used to have dry at the morning and nights and a wet pouch in the middle of the day. A few eggs a week and some youghurt too. For now we run out of the pouches so she's only eating dry. I'm trying to put her back on two feeding times but since she was in heat and after that had some mysterious illness for a few days she's not eating well again. :-\
Normally she would have 400g dry a day or a bit less if its with a pouch. 
She's 17kg at this moment so that's good compared to what it was before. :


----------

