skinny on raw diet

[sakirby]

another issue....

they are seemingly neverending. :D ok, so oscar is 23 pounds and he is a year old. he hasn't grown much or gained weight in the last four months or so. so, it seems like he is pretty much done growing or else maybe he will still fill out a bit more but, no major changes most likely. anyway, my point is, he seems really skinny. i feed him nature's variety raw (now) and was feeding him primal raw for a bit but, we are back on nature's variety. we feed him 10-12 ounces of food a day. which is well over the recommended 6 ounces for his activity level/age. the MOST the site says we should feed him is 9 ounces, and that is if he were classified as a puppy still. is a year old still a puppy? he just seems so lean and i am concerned. i also don't want to over feed him. with the 10-12 ounces a day, we also give him marrow bones pretty often and usually a kong with peanut butter in it at least every other day. so, any ideas on why he is so skinny still? thanks!

[miss heather]

every dog is different....
Stella is 1 year this coming week.... she eats 8 ounces/day of nature's variety and she is just perfect in size (not skinny, not chubby... although I think she is a rather "cobby" frenchie...)
perhaps someone else has more helpful advise on why your pup might look skinny? maybe he is still filling out?
I just wanted to give you something to compare to....

[franp]

Sharon,

Oscar just has a slender build...
One thing I would caution you about..be careful of foods that have a high fat content.. peanut butter and the marrow inside the bones..
Why? Frenchies can get Pancreatitis.. that can be brought on by fatty foods.. and is a very painful and sometimes life threatening condition.

Carolyn had a Boston with it and I will ask her to post about this for you..

Didn't you say that Oscar has an Eastern European background? Many of the dogs from that part of the world tend to be longer and leaner...

[sakirby]

thanks guys. all that is good to know. i was just worried that maybe i wasn't feeding him enough. although i thought 12 ounces was plenty! :) he is a total pig though. i swear, if i put out unlimited food, he would never ever stop. he would throw up, and keep eating. he is crazy for food.

thanks for letting me know about pancreaitis fran. i don't want that. i have been limiting the peanut butter to maybe twice a week since i read that it is so fatty. we give him marrow bones about two-three times a week as well. do you think that is too much fat?

yes fran, oscar is from hungary. he is pretty long and lean, which is fine. i was just getting worried because sometimes i feel like we can see his ribs a little too much. but, i guess he is just a skinny guy :) he doesn't really fatten up anymore when we up his food level so, he must just be built that way.

i am going to post some current pictures of him this week. keep your eyes peeled :D maybe then you guys can tell me if he is too skinny :lol: my fiance of course thinks we should be feeding him a ton. i think he secretly puts in an extra ounce or two every once and awhile. men and food. :D

[Carolyn]

Hi Sharon....I cannot tell you how many times my brother (our vet) has clients telling him they are sooo concerned about how skinny their dog is. More often than not he tells them that they are in good weight. Without all of us seeing Oscar...it's impossible to comment. If you are concerned that Oscar really does have a problem (and he may)....you may want to discuss a thyroid test with your vet. It's a cheap test and frankly one that I think all dogs should have from time to time. Abby is not the best eater and is a very active girl and I worry sometimes about her weight. I don't think she has anything going on with her but she doesn't have one ounce of fat on her.

As far as pancreatitis...like Fran said...I had a Boston years ago that had pancreatis and truth be told...it was my fault. This was a dog who loved to eat and I loved to feed her. She became very overweight and one of her favorite things was the marrow in the marrow bones...which we gave to her frequently. She spent 3 days in the hospital on IV fluids and sadly enough she became diabetic soon afterwards. This was a dog that was getting WAY too much fat. Because I still feel pangs of guilt and sadness over my precious Beanie (she was my one in a million dog)...I decided not to feed marrow to my bullies. Abby could probably eat marrow and not ever have a problem...but I just made the decision not to feed it. It's just fat that I feel she doesn't need in her diet...She and her boyfriend eat Merrick kibble with Merrick canned mixed in....a great diet in my opinion and I choose not to add to it. These are just my own personal thoughts and others may have differing opinions.

[Chris&Eti]

Pancreatitis is a subject quite often mentioned on a couple of the raw feeding lists that I'm on- principally because it is quite often cited as one of the reasons not to feed raw as raw food has a much higher fat content than commmercial kibbles. From what I understand, its not actually brought on by eating fatty foods but an underlying condition thats revealed/triggered by it. Pancreatitis is a diminished ability to produce certain enzymes necessary for digestion in particular those needed to digest fat. There seems to be a correlation with dogs that are overweight to begin with, but it's not actually known what causes a pancreas to malfunction. A healthy active dog without this underlying condition actually metabolises fat very well.

[franp]

Here is a link about pancreatitis.http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/depancrea.html

From what I understand, a dog can develop this very painful and dangerous condition from a constant feeding of high fat foods ie marrow from a marow bone..But removing the offending food will stop the attacks.

of course if the Pancreas if damaged or defective, the disease will progress any way..

Raw food, if chosen carefully should not be any more fatty than commercial food...So, that does not seen like a legitamate reason to avoid a raw diet...In fact, since we can control what is fed, a raw diet certainly can be less fatty...

[Carolyn]

Here is a link that gives more info on pancreatitis:

http://www.vetinfo.com/dencyclopedia/depancrea.html