Help? Underweight?
For a while now, Shelby has looked underweight. Is 20lb a normal weight for a corgi. She was also the runt of the littler. I feed her twice a day and she usually eats all of it. I am very worried for her because her ribs stick out a LOT. In absolutely no way have I ever mistreated or abused my wonderful little dog. Just last night, he wasacting very strangley and whinning. We could not determine the source of the problem. She curled up and went right back to bed. The whole event lasted less than a minute. She has been vomiting a lot recently. Please help me, I'm very worried and I am scheduling an appointment with our vet.
Update: She has been diagnosed with congenital kidney disease. Does anyone who of a way to make her more comfortable?
Update: She has been diagnosed with congenital kidney disease. Does anyone who of a way to make her more comfortable?
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Sky and Lyla on
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It's hard to tell you if she is underweight or not without seeing a picture. Most Corgis are bigger, but my girl is a petite and healthy 21lbs. If her ribs are visible then just up her food by a little bit. With Corgis, a little can go a long way, so just increase by a small amount at first. You should be able to feel, but not see, her ribs easily and see a nice defined waist from above.
Also, if you are going to the vet make sure to check for worms, they can cause a drop in weight. I always take other people's comments on y dogs weight with a grain of salt though. An employee at the feed store once tried to steer me toward a food to put more weight on my Aussie who is at his ideal weight. Most people are just so used to seeing overweight dogs, they don't know what a healthy canine weight looks like.
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Permalink Reply by Sam & Shelby on
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I dno't a picture at this moment, but when she stands up and you look at her from above, the difference between her waist and stomach is around an inch
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Permalink Reply by Jane Christensen on
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How old is Shelby also? My Bella was skinny till she was about 2 and Livvy the same way. Now Bella (who is quite long) weighs about 26 and my Livvy is not quite 24! Both of these (actually all my corgis except Rainy) tend to be very lean and you can easily see their defined waists but are very muscular! Body shape and size does have some to do with this. How tall is Shelby at the shoulders? How long is she? She could be a small corgi. Definitely check out about the worming if you don't know as that could be the reason she acted strangely also. I would not worry. It is much better to have a dog a little underweight than overweight!!!! Checking with a vet is good. Also what kind of dog food are you feeding her...is it a quality food, maybe you will have to increase it slightly BUT talk to you vet first and they don't always have the best food advice!
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Permalink Reply by Beth on
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I looked at your pics and she doesn't look thin in them. Is this something new?
You should not see individual ribs. Corgis have a pretty well-sprung rib cage and their front ends can look a lot bigger than their back ends, so their rib cage sort of sticks out, but you should only see the faintest outline of the ribs themselves, if that.
It's worth having a vet take a look.
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The pictures on my page are pretty old, so here's a new one. She's about one and a half.
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Oh, yes, that does look very thin! How much food does she get? Are you sure she's eating it herself and it's not being stolen by another pet?
If nothing else has changed and she's lost that much weight I would get her to the vet ASAP and have them do a fecal and they may want to do some bloodwork.
Good luck!
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Good point Beth...I feed mine close together but also watch as some would sneak/eat others!
Good luck Sam and Shelby, let us know what the vet says!
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I feed her twice a day, about one cup each time.
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Permalink Reply by Joanna Kimball on
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Pembrokes are supposed to have more of a bullet-shaped body and their waists don't tend to be as defined, so if you're really seeing a sharp indent after the end of her ribcage I would guess she's thin.
To help, I need a little more information - and pictures! First, run your hands over her whole body, pushing in under the hair. Do you feel her spine or her hip bones? Can you get the tips of your fingers between the individual ribs? If so, she does need more weight.
How often you feed isn't as important as what you feed and how much of it. I don't know what brand you're feeding but you can pack a bigger punch by feeding a denser food with a higher fat content.
I'd also worm her with fenbendazole (panacur or safeguard, available at good pet supply places). It comes in a package of three days of dosing and you just sprinkle it over her food. Roundworms (the most common parasites) generally don't make them lose weight but hookworms and whipworms definitely do. Fenbendazole is the only thing that gets all three. The most common wormers on the shelf are either piperazine or pyrantel, so make sure you get one with the active ingredient fenbendazole.
If you need food recommendations, let me know. Does she eat eagerly and well? Or does she pick at her food?
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I fed all our dogs Natural Balance. It's a duck and sweet potatoe mix. All the dogs are seperate to the different corners of the room. Recently, she's been picking at her food. Very rarely do we feed her any table scraps, but we've been cooking an egg and putting it her bowl so she can get more protein. We are thinking about mixing a bit of wet food in so she'll eat. She's not doing anything eagerly right now. The most excitement I've seen out of her these past few days is when light is refelcted off something as she can chase it.
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I would take her to the vet. Make sure they do a fecal and a general exam (and, just to wag my finger at you, clip her toenails) to ensure that there's nothing physically wrong.
And then change her food. There's no reason for any healthy dog to be on one of the boutique-protein foods; they're designed for very allergic dogs and they are not as optimal as a normal adult-formula food. NB duck and sweet potato is mostly potato, not duck, and some dogs cannot thrive on potato.
I feed a raw diet and if she were mine that's what I would switch to, but if you want to stick to kibble you can choose any one of a number of good brands. I like Orijen and my dogs put on a ton of weight if they eat it, but your mileage may vary.
One of my puppy owners had a lot of trouble this fall with a young dog who was thin; here's what we put her on: Orijen, tripe (ground), chicken backs, heavy cream (drizzled over everything), salmon oil, and a commercial Bravo organ-meat mix. The owner also made crock-pot chicken for the dog (one whole chicken, one bag lentils, enough water to cover; cook all day, fish out all bones, and use the resulting stew over the dog's food). We put something like six pounds on the puppy in two months and she looks and feels great.
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We've been using Natural Balance because our two schnauzers throw up everything except it. I'll see if I can get my hands on some Orijen. Is there a specific type you would recommend?
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