She's so skinny!

[JadeHill]

My Daisy is so skinny! We are feeding her Wellness Puppy 3 times a day, she eats fine, drinks good, is full of energy, but she just seems so skinny... You can see her ribs! Everyone comments on how skinny she is and it makes me feel like a bad puppy mommy! =[ I feed her a cup of food in the morning, 1/2 a cup in the afternoon, and another cup in the evening... She never eats all of her food... Should I just leave food down all the time? Should I give her wet food, too? Am I doing something wrong? She's current on her shots and worming, she was tested for worming at 3 weeks ago and it was negative... She has an appt. a week from Friday for her next set of puppy shots. Should I take her in sooner? Is there something more I can do to help her gain some weight?

 

[BxrMommieNAZ]

All puppies are different and if you do a search on this topic you will find there are MANY that go through the lanky stage. If you can see all of her ribs then yes she is too thin and you may want to add an additional meal to her day. You don't say how old she is, but until my boy was 3 months I fed him 4 times a day, or you could add some meat, or you could add some canned. But if she's leaving food it doesn't sound like she's hungry. Boxers are known for being a leaner dog (kind of like a grey hound, just not so pronounced) especially ni the early years.

Now if you can only see 1-2 ribs, she's just fine and I wouldn't concern yourself. I definitely would not leave food down all of the time personally.

Good luck.

 

[JadeHill]

Daisy will be 13 weeks old tomorrow.

I can see 4 ribs... So perhaps I should offer her another meal during the day, or wet food in addition to what I am giving her now. I know that Boxer's are lean dogs, but I think she is too skinny. I think she's recently gone through a growth spurt, so maybe that is what is causing her to be skinnier then what we are used to.

 

[LILYLARUE]

Not sure if this would interest you, but you could offer small meatballs of ground beef (75-90% lean) or turkey as treats. I make 2 oz. balls for my 3 and they love them. 1/2 oz balls would be a good size for your little one. The fat in them helps put a little weight on and their healthier than junky processed treats. Freezing them make them fun treats and helps clean the teeth. 2-3 balls (1/2 oz.) size a day would be sufficient for a good snack or training treat. The protein would be healthy for a growing puppy ~ building muscle along with the fat is better than building fat without the muscles to support it.

 

[JadeHill]

LILYLARUE- I'd be interested in trying that! I'm going to thaw out a pound of ground beef now, and I will make the balls tonight... Can you tell me how to do them? Is there anything special that I need to do? Bake them? Thanks in advance!

 

[JadeHill]

LILYLARUE- I'd be interested in trying that! I'm going to thaw out a pound of ground beef now, and I will make the balls tonight... Can you tell me how to do them? Is there anything special that I need to do? Bake them? Thanks in advance!

 

[MandyIngram]

I'm so glad you have the same predicament! My 9 week old male always looks skinny too! He did have minor worms but is now clear. I ended up increasing his food intake to the top of the scale on the dog food label and I think this is helping but he still looks skinny! I'm giving him another week and if he still doesn't improve, back to the vet!
Makes me feel better that I'm not the only one...

 

[LILYLARUE]

LILYLARUE- I'd be interested in trying that! I'm going to thaw out a pound of ground beef now, and I will make the balls tonight... Can you tell me how to do them? Is there anything special that I need to do? Bake them? Thanks in advance!

Nothing to do but grab a little bit and roll it into a ball. After making a few balls, portions become second nature and you will get used to how much in each ball. Put them on a cookie sheet to freeze then bag them once they are frozen. I learned not to put the raw balls into a bag to freeze cause all I ended up with was a blob of frozen ground beef. LOL Lesson learned.

Make sure the balls are big enough that they can't swallow them whole. Boxer's have large throats, so you want it big enough for him to give it a good chew or two before swallowing.

The frozen balls are also good to give when they are teething. The love chewing on frozen stuff.

 

[LILYLARUE]

And on a side note, many here have said that their boxers were skinny and lanky when puppies. Lily didn't start to "beef up" until she was about 14 months old. She is still on the smaller side, but she has really nice muscle tone and a healthy amount of fat on her. Some people still say how skinny she is, but those people aren't to apt on what a boxer really should be built like.

 

[SweetCody]

My Cody looked like a starving waif forever. He used to worry me so much. He has always had access to his food and was allowed to eat as much as he wanted. We feed about 2 1/2 to 3 cups a day and sometimes he eats it all and sometimes he doesn't The older he got the more he filled in. Now at 2 he is a perfect looking boxer. Nice little waist, last two ribs visable and muscles very defined.