Some breeds have very little body fat and naturally slender bodies, especially the sight hounds, like the greyhound and Saluki. It may be normal for puppies of these breeds to have some visible ribs. For example, the last two ribs on a healthy greyhound will often be visible; a dog of the breed is considered too thin when more than two ribs show or his hip bones become prominent. Always check with your veterinarian if you are concerned about your puppys weight, but keep in mind that If your puppy is one of the breeds that is naturally lean, it may be okay for the last ribs to be slightly visible.
Poor nutrition or a lack of food can cause a puppy to be too thin, leaving his ribs showing. If your puppy is receiving plenty of nutritious food and is still skinny, he may have a health problem. Intestinal parasites, contagious diseases like parvovirus, bacterial infection, diarrhea, vomiting and intestinal blockage can cause a puppy to be too thin. Your veterinarian may need to run urine, fecal or blood tests to determine the reason your puppy is not at a healthy weight if a poor diet is not the cause.
As your puppy goes through stages of growth, he may appear thin or heavy at times, depending on his breed and growth pattern. To determine whether his weight his healthy, assess his overall body condition. Look at him from the side and the top, and feel his body to determine the condition. A puppy who is too thin will have visible ribs, protruding hip bones, a tightly tucked waist and a visible spine. At an ideal weight, your puppys ribs wont be visible but can be felt easily, and he will have a defined waist that gently curves inward when viewed from above and is lightly tucked up when viewed from the side. A layer of spongy fat over the ribs and the absence of a waist indicates that your puppy is overweight.
In general, if your puppy is at a healthy weight his ribs should not be plainly visible. He should be gaining weight at a steady pace, doubling his mass in the first week of life and reaching about one-half of his estimated adult weight by around 4 months. A healthy puppy is rarely overweight, but if his ribs show then he is likely underweight. You should be able to feel his ribs easily with your hands, but they should not obvious to the eye.
Your puppy will go through several stages of growth before adulthood, including an especially rapid phase right after birth and an awkward lanky phase just before reaching adulthood. Although there will be differences in appearance at each phase, he should always appear healthy. If he starts to look too thin or in any way unhealthy, schedule a visit to your veterinarian.
It’s best to play it safe and bring your puppy to the vet to rule out medical causes. There could be any number of reasons behind her inability to gain weight, but intestinal parasites—particularly roundworms and hookworms—are probably the most common, says Dr. Joe Bartges, professor of medicine and nutrition at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia in Athens.
In addition to ruling out underlying conditions and ensuring your dog’s diet is balanced and provides the appropriate number of calories, you may want to examine your feeding methods. “Some puppies need several small meals throughout the day instead of two large meals,” Jeffrey says. “Feeding small meals may help with weight gain.”
Feeding a higher calorie food may be beneficial if the puppy has a poor appetite and isn’t finishing the recommended portion of food, says Heinze, who is board-certified in veterinary nutrition. “But this should only be attempted after parasites have been checked for and treated and blood work and other diagnostics have been done to rule out health issues.”
You may be tempted to add a nutritional supplement to puppy food to encourage growth, but using supplements without consulting a vet can harm your canine companion. For example, “excess calcium can increase the risk of developmental orthopedic diseases in large breed puppies; excess vitamin D can lead to toxicity,” Su says.
Another potential problem to avoid is obesity. “Many puppies that owners deem too thin are at a healthy weight and the owners are trying to make them fat because they don’t have a good understanding of what a healthy puppy looks like,” Heinze says. “Unless the puppy has a known health issue, being slightly ‘ribby’ is generally healthier than slightly overweight, especially for large and giant breed dogs.”
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You’re feeding your puppy a nutritionally-balanced diet and following the directions on the label with precision. You watch as your new best friend voraciously eats his dog food, and surmise his appetite isn’t the problem. Despite your best efforts, however, he’s not gaining weight as he should. Puppies grow at different rates, but if yours is below the average for his breed, there may be an issue. Anything from ineffective feeding methods to underlying diseases can cause slowed growth in puppies, says Dr. Dan Su, a clinical nutrition resident at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
You may unwittingly be feeding your puppy an insufficient number of calories or a diet that lacks essential nutrients for growth. However, “medical causes of slowed growth are more common and can include parasites, digestive issues (such as inflammatory bowel disease), a liver shunt, and diabetes, for example,” Su says.
Read on to gain insight into why some puppies are resistant to weight gain, as well as what you can do to tip the scale in their favor. Of course, run any changes you plan to make to your puppy’s diet past your veterinarian first.
For pampered pets, the inability to gain weight is rarely due to inadequate food intake, “especially if the puppy’s appetite seems good,” says Dr. Cailin Heinze, a veterinary nutritionist at Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University in North Grafton, Massachusetts.
It’s best to play it safe and bring your puppy to the vet to rule out medical causes. There could be any number of reasons behind her inability to gain weight, but intestinal parasites—particularly roundworms and hookworms—are probably the most common, says Dr. Joe Bartges, professor of medicine and nutrition at the College of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Georgia in Athens.
Inflammatory bowel disease, protein losing enteropathy (any condition of the GI tract resulting in loss of protein), and hypoglycemia are examples of diseases your vet may look for, says Dr. Susan Jeffrey, a veterinarian with Truesdell Animal Hospital in Madison, Wisconsin. Or the problem may be dental-related. “Is there something painful? For example, the puppy’s teeth may not have erupted normally and may be coming into contact with the tongue.”
Additionally, certain foods can be too rich for some puppies and result in diarrhea. “This isnt necessarily a food allergy, but I think some pups with developing gastrointestinal tracts cant handle certain foods,” she explains.