Author Topic: Too skinny?  (Read 11607 times)

Offline moenow

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Too skinny?
« on: March 29, 2007, 06:11:22 pm »
Hi all,
We're new here, but love the site!  Today, when we picked up our 6 month old great dane from a different vet than we normally use, they said that he was TOO SKINNY.  I've never owned one before and I just thought that he was going through a teenager-lanky period.  He's 75 lbs now and eats about 4-8 cups of large breed dog food.  The vet said that he probably needs to be dewormed, but I said that I wanted to get a fecal exam first.  Our pup was dewormed about 3 times so far, the last time being about 2 months ago.  I'll attach a pic...do you think he looks too thin??
<a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b347/babykakes_/Mvc-028f.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket">[/url]

Offline moenow

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ooops
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2007, 06:30:42 pm »
I thought I knew how to attach a pic, but then saw it didn't work...I'll try this again since I just read the instructions!! ::)

Anakalia

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #2 on: March 30, 2007, 02:11:01 am »
Hi!!  Welcome to BPO!  I'm Andi mom to Koby (great dane) and Quinn (the trouble makin' cat).  Everyone has given great advice, but I just wanted to echo what they're saying, he looks great, and so adorable!  Koby was pretty darn lanky up until his 2nd Birthday then he slowly started to fill out.  I'd love to see more pics of you cute pup!  ;D

mama23+pyrs2

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #3 on: March 30, 2007, 03:03:17 am »
Don't have a dane here but can recognize a skinny dog and your dog doesn't look underweight at all. If anything, that pic of Gwen looks thinner than yours but she has that 5 foot long legs and big paws, gonna grow into her body look. Your dog looks fine to me! I think your vet sounds dumb though. ;D

Oh and welcome!! :)
« Last Edit: March 30, 2007, 03:04:09 am by mama23+pyrs2 »

Offline The Brindle Pack

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #4 on: March 30, 2007, 03:13:21 am »
Welcome to BPO, you will find the people here VERY helpful.  I also have a dane that is on the thin side but no longer worry about it.  I agree with what has been posted but wanted to add how important research is.  Although vets have a base knowledge about many breeds and issues they are not specialist.  Having four dogs, two with issues, I have become their number one advocate; no longer do I just accept what a doctor is telling me.  I do the necessary research and will seek out the advice of those with experience.

A perfect example would be my Tucker who has epilepsy; my previous vet was so far off base with treatment it almost cost him his life.  With support from those on the K9 Epi board I learned more than I ever could from ANY vet.  I ended up changing to a vet that would work with Tuc’s neurologist and me and I’m happy to say that other than a couple partials Tucker has been seizure free for almost two years.

The bottom line is NO ONE is going to know you, your dogs, your children…. better than you nor will they have a vested interest.  Sorry, this is just one of those topics that can get me going and it’s something that I’m dealing with now with my adult son.

Again, welcome to the group!!

mama23+pyrs2

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #5 on: March 30, 2007, 03:21:25 am »
I just accept what a doctor is telling me.  I do the necessary research and will seek out the advice of those with experience.


I agree 100%!
« Last Edit: March 30, 2007, 03:22:01 am by mama23+pyrs2 »

Offline The Brindle Pack

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #6 on: March 30, 2007, 03:26:56 am »
I was just looking at your pictures again and although I am no expert it does look like your boy is a little flat footed.  Most of the time this is easily corrected with a quality kibble and vitamin C.

Here is a great site ALL about danes:

http://www.greatdanelady.com/

There is also an MSN Great Dane Board:

http://groups.msn.com/THEGREATDANEROOM

Offline moenow

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #7 on: March 30, 2007, 06:10:52 am »
About the flat-footedness...that's kind of funny because he has such big, fat paws that he looks like he has high heels!  I think it just may be the fact that he's standing funny and didn't want his picture taken (he wanted to go out and play with the kids).  When I took out the camera today, he sat right down and looked like he wanted to say "CHEESE!!"

He does eat large breed adult dog food that has fresh chicken as it's first ingredient and the crude protein is 23% and crude fat is 13%...which I've read is about what you want it to be.  Do you all supplement your dogs' meals with other stuff like meat, rice, sweet potatoes, etc??  How about glucosimine for the joints?  On a different site, they all talk about how important that is for giant breeds.  I like this site better because everyone has a BIG PAW and they have real world experience!!

This is Cooper....

k2campbell

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #8 on: March 30, 2007, 06:31:31 am »
Welcome to BPO! ;D I'm Kelly and that's my Leonberger girl Kate...

Cooper is such a nice looking boy, and I'm no Dane expert, but he doesn't look to skinny to me, he looks just right for his age!  ;)

Offline Gracie Belle

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #9 on: March 30, 2007, 08:33:44 am »
Cooper looks FANTASTIC!!!  Not too skinny at all.  Hi there.  I'm Misty and that would be Gracie in my avatar.  Welcome to BPO and keep coming back because I promise you will learn something new all the time.
Misty slave to:
Gracie Belle, 2 year English Mastiff
Rosco, 1 yr Toy German Shettweiler (designer mutt of course)and toy cause he's not Rotti or GSD size AT ALL.  Though they said he was a mix of the two..  Tonka, 3 year Great Dane
And last and most certainly NOT least, Linus 5 year old cat.

Offline moenow

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #10 on: March 30, 2007, 09:06:09 am »
I just LOVE seeing all these pics of other danes.  Too cute.  Yes, we can see the outline of his ribs, but mostly, he looks thin from the bottom of the ribcage to his hips when he's standing up.  We saw his sister a few weeks back, and she looks FAT and he looked like a skeleton next to her!  I truly believe he looks the way he does because he's just growing a ton and eventually he'll even out.  Trust me...he's got a BUNCH of energy, so I know he's feeling good!

I'll definitely be coming back to this site...it's great!

Offline ZooCrew

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #11 on: March 31, 2007, 01:25:51 pm »
Hello and welcome!

I think Cooper looks just fine.  Gunther was thin as a pup and is thin now, although very slowly putting on weight.  I'm waiting for him to slow down a bit and start putting on more weight.  He is constantly mistaken for a girl b/c of his build.  :P  hellooooo, boy parts!  ::)

lorim2

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Re: Too skinny?
« Reply #12 on: March 31, 2007, 01:37:27 pm »
Dont know alot about Danes but he looks awesome!  Looks like hes right on track!!  What a handsome guy...I am Lori...Marley is in my avatar with my daughter and also mom to Laney, Monica Jewel and Bindi the coatimundi..Al ong with 7 snakes, 3 big lizards, 2 parrots and 2 kitties!!  Welcome