Too thin?

[Miss Poohs]

Teddy   - like Helen I'm in love with this little choccie button.

I have to say he looks like Ruffy did when I was concerned about his weight.

In our case alot of it was down to Ruffys dodgy digestion - but he has put on some weight, but he is still what I'd call lean.

I tried both Vahri and Ruffy on Burns, Ruffy was on the high nutrition puppy one and Vahri was on the Weighs Watchers version - oddly enough Vahri piled on the pounds and Ruffy faded away before our eyes, so it was a quick about turn for us too.

With Vahri having been spayed I keep a close eye on her weight - she's a fine big lass, and Ruffy well he will always be a wee skelf.

[maximus]

We asked exactly the same question about max (11months) a few months ago on COL, you could feel his ribs and in certain positions you could see them.

As said earlier on, we found increasing Burns gives max the runs, and the vet did have a look at him and said he's a very active dog with a high metabolism, and not to worry.
Again the vet suggested we could give a third meal.

As recomended to us by people on here we gave max more tripe, and increased his meat, so now hes mostly on barf with the occasional Burns meal. Max has more than the recomended amounts and although he has gained some weight he is still a fairly skinny dog. ( or well defined )

We don't worry to much about it any more as he is very fit and healthy. It may also be hormonal, and the weight will be gained when he's older.

On looking at Max he looks only slighty more filled out than Teddy, but not much .Max at 11 months weighs 14kg and he is a long leggy dog.

[PennyB]

My cocker Wilf is just as thin as Teddy in that pic, but he has more fur (he's show type and neutered) --- personally I think its the angle of the 2nd pic thats the problem (if a dog is healthy and eating well then I can't see the problem in them being thin). I was talking to a groomer recently and he thought my cocker Wilf looked fantastic as he always sees fat cockers.

Wilf eats well, is not ill (apart from his lameness at the moment), and so being thin is fine

[miche]

I agree he does look thinner in the 2nd pick.  Herbie is skinny, no matter what he eats but he has a lot of fur so you don't notice it until he gets out of the water and his coat is stuck to him.  Teddy doesn't seem to have a great deal of coat so maybe that's why he looks thinner.

He looks very healthy - he is lovely

[Penel]

He does look too thin in the 2nd pic - Burns is useless for putting weight on a dog - its brilliant when you want them to lose weight.... you need to feed him on tripe, pasta, potatoes, raw breast of lamb which is fatty....
Here lemme show you two pics of our little waif Gracie - first one a few days after she came to live with us....



and this one taken at the beach this week.... 4 months later after a raw diet, of tripe and lamb breast.... ( I know she still looks very slim but that's the type of dog she is - but you can see how much weight she has put on - about 4 kgs in 4 months)

[KarIng]

In the first pic he looks perfect , but in the second pic I did think a bit of padding was needed...
BUT, I have no experience of working cockers, and don't see them locally, so I can only compare it to a show, and of course that is not a fair comparison..

You can actually see his ribs in the second pic, and he does narrow significantly behind his ribs, and he appears to have a bony bum...
However, if he is happy, healthy and lively then I don't think it is a huge issue...
Obviously, you as his owner know him best and will be the first to notice if he may be poorly.
Personally I would add something 'wet' to his food, like tripe or naturediet and see if that puts a bit of padding on.   If it doesn't then perhaps see the vet to see what they think as failure to put on weight may be significant...

He is absolutely gorgeous - I love the chocolate cockers

Thanks for your help and advice everyone, I too would like to see Ted fill out a bit but wasn't sure how much fatter he should be or not!  So, given that he tends to get the runs straight away if he eats chews or hide or I change his food, which sort of Naturediet should I get for him - the chicken with rice and carrots for sensitive tums or the chicken and tripe for building body!? - and can I buy if anywhere other than over the net (I've just googled it and found pet supermarket stock it but would have to wait for delivery).

Helen, thanks very much for posting the photos.

Teddy does seem happy but is always hungry.  He'll be a year old on 28th August so I guess he's at the gangly stage.  But he's not put on weight since he was last at the vets in March/April, although he eats loads.  Today he's had about 240g of Burns and a bowl of porridge made with water to avoid upsetting his stomach.

I can't really face giving him fresh tripe or stuff, sorry for being so squeamish!

Thanks again.

Karen and Teddy x

[KarIng]

when mine look thin i fatten them up with pasta.i just add some pasta to the complete food.my paddy tends to be on the thin side and the pasta does the trick every time.paddy is not a foodie it's a job and a half getting him to eat anything.ellie who is 4 months went through a skinny stage and the pasta sorted her very quickly :005:she is a pig and tbh she could do with losing a little weight.she weighs nearly 7 kilos.

Can they have any sort of pasta, i.e. can I give him wholewheat pasta, and do I just cook it and stir it in with his dry food - does it matter if warm or cold?

Thanks.

Karen and Teddy x

[KarIng]

I agree he does look thinner in the 2nd pick.  Herbie is skinny, no matter what he eats but he has a lot of fur so you don't notice it until he gets out of the water and his coat is stuck to him.  Teddy doesn't seem to have a great deal of coat so maybe that's why he looks thinner.

He looks very healthy - he is lovely

Teddy has very little fur and has also just been bathed and groomed, he doesn't always look that thin.  I have also just been away for five days and my other half looked after him so he may have been feeding him differently and Ted may have been pining a little.  And maybe the heat is affecting him a bit too?

[Penel]

Why don't you just buy one block of frozen tripe - and see... all you have to do is let it defrost in his bowl, cover it with clingfilm - and feed it.......... its very very simple.... he will love it, and he will put on weight..... you don't even have to touch it.

[KarIng]

Why don't you just buy one block of frozen tripe - and see... all you have to do is let it defrost in his bowl, cover it with clingfilm - and feed it.......... its very very simple.... he will love it, and he will put on weight..... you don't even have to touch it.

Where do I buy it and don't I have to cook it? 

Sorry to ask so many questions, I feel stupid but when we had dogs when I still lived at home they just had Pedigree chum out of a can and I never had these problems before!  That's 20 odd years ago and things were different!

Karen and Teddy x

[lyn]

you don't need to cook the tripe.and as for the pasta i use whatever is in the cupboard.just cook a batch up and give it him in his food.mine both eat it warm or cold.potatos are also very good at fattening them up(thanks for this tip to penel )boiled not raw
now i am not sure yet but i think where mine are now fed a lot of raw food they are looking very healthy.ellie is a little chubby but she is so young i am not overly bothered.paddy was a bit dubious about raw chicken and so i flash fry it first but he is looking great now and def not as skinny as he used to be.no upset tummis either

[Penel]

Hi Karen,
you can buy frozen raw green tripe from most pet shops that have freezers... you can buy it either "free flow" which is a bag of minced tripe, or in 400gram blocks... I would guess he would need half a block for one meal.... no you definitely do not cook it unless you want to stink your house out  I defrost for mine in a tupperware type container, with the lid on, then divide into their bowls and feed immediately.  A block usually takes about 12 hours to defrost, free flow mince takes less - about 8 hours.  So if mine are having tripe for breakfast I take it out of the freezer about teatime.
Dogs have been fed on raw tripe for donkeys years, long before Pedigree Chum was "invented" 
Go on give it a go, he'll thank you for it I promise !

[Deb H]

Stinks  but they love it. Try it just you wait and see the look of pure joy on your woofers face the smell will be worth it. We used it to get a little weight on George a while ago did the trick

[Petra]

Dill is on the raw tripe blocks that Penel describes as part of his Barf...

It does not smell - I take out his portion (I split the block whilst frozen and freeze in individual portions) at teatime ready to feed at breakfast.   He loves it!!
Try it - honestly, it won't smell,  don't cook it as it will smell!!

[KarIng]

Dill is on the raw tripe blocks that Penel describes as part of his Barf...

It does not smell - I take out his portion (I split the block whilst frozen and freeze in individual portions) at teatime ready to feed at breakfast.   He loves it!!
Try it - honestly, it won't smell,  don't cook it as it will smell!!

Where do you buy it?  I've searched and searched online, there don't seem to be any pet shops locally apart from Pets at Home and Jolleys and I don't think they have freezers so guess they won't stock frozen tripe.  Can I order it for delivery?