We rescued a beautiful female german shepherd 3 months ago. She spends a tremendous amount of her time outside pawing up dirt and spinning around trying to catch it. Because of all of this (I assume nervous energy) she is not gaining weight. She eats about 6 cups of high quality food a day and we have taken to feeding her "satin balls" to help supplement her food intake. Took her to the vet and she doesn't have worms or any other parasites. Blood tests show no abnormalities. I just got laid off from my job and can't afford a lot more tests. Why won't she gain weight?

Someone please help with some advice.

She is dirty, dirty dogs are always skinny.

Ok just kidding, I am sure your vet already hinted around thyroid tests. If those values return WNL (within normal limits) I would easily accept that she is what every fluffy woman dreams to be, skinny. High metabolism is not uncommon with the breed. Even better for long term health is concerned, decreases chances of hip and arthritic issues that can be painful at older ages. I don't see that much else is indicated presently according to the supplied info. Skinny is OK. When finances resume normality. I would be curious to know thyroid values. Just because I am a nerd like that, also covers typical causes for this condition. Next I would teach him to pull weeds in your spare time. Good Luck!


Notice I didn't even mention what food, I wanted to though, lol

Love the sense of humour, DocWill.

As for the dog, it sounds like she may have spent a good part of her life before living with you alone and bored. If a medical condition has pretty much been ruled out, then I would concentrate on behavioral stuff.

Reduce the amount of time that the dog is able to be outside chasing dirt. You may have already provided her with lots of 'toys' to occupy her time, but she just may not know how to play! I would spend 3 sessions of 20 to 40 minutes a day at play with different objects with her. I would speak with the vet about putting her on a prescription diet (oops!) as something like Hill's K/D might help her put on weight. If her digging and chasing occurs when she is alone outside I would work on helping her feel safe and secure when she is alone. Do you crate her at all? You may also want to consider obedience training (to build self confidence) and possibly agility training. She may really need the MENTAL stimulation.

She may, as DocWill stated, just have a high metabolism. There are dietary means to slow it down, and you might want to discuss these with your vet. He/she may recommend fasting once a week. They may suggest a reduction in water, more frequent feedings, etc. If your vet hasn't done one, I do feel a thyroid test as well as kidney and liver function tests should be done.

I am presuming that your gal is spayed, but if not, she should be. That might help her to gain weight. I think though, that as long as medical conditions have been ruled out and the dog is healthy and happy, I wouldn't be concerned about her weight. Oh, and if only one stool sample was taken, you may want to do another one just to be on the safe side. My vet (as I used to do when I worked as a vet assistant) usually requests an entire stool sample is brought in and takes several samples from different areas.

Hope this helps!

Didi

About the weight, what the Doc said, just relax. As long as she's not really underweight don't worry about it. I assume the vet would have said something if she was truly underweight. Most people are used to seeing dogs chunkier than they should be.

Doc didn't ask the question but I will, which brand of dog food are you feeding? There are some brands that have a high protein content that allow you to feed your dog less food and still maintain weight. When my male dog started eating eight cups a day, I switched over to a high protein content, Nutro High Energy. After a couple of years, I put him back on the regular Nutro.

I know you didn't ask about the dirt chasing in your post, but personally, I think I might want to try and curb that behavior and give her something else to do. That sort of behavior can easily become almost a compulsive disorder thing and can become a behavioral problem. It's not as cute as it sounds once you've had to live with that sort of thing.

Most often you see it in real working dogs that are high energy. They have kind of a physical need to do some sort of mental exercise as well as physical exercise. That's why you hear about Border Collies doing some weird behaviors or doing something like eating the wall - like a 3ft. X 4ft. Hole in the wall. Which is why you find a lot of BC's doing agility or frisbee or flyball or something else to exercise their mind as well as their body. It's for the owners' sanity as well as the dogs'.

I would really recommend some basic obedience classes and then just start doing stuff with her just to keep her mind active. It doesn't have to be difficult or expensive, just work her.

How old is she? I think the only breed specific material in the puppy raising manual I have from a dog guide school is the statement ''Note: German Shepherd puppies will look very thin throughout puppy hood.'' Will she eat more than 6 cups of food? I was once given a 7 month old Lab whose ribs showed. She didn't start gaining weight until I was dumping 7 cups of Pro Plan in her dish every day. Being a Lab, she quickly polished it off and looked for more. She was a high energy field Lab. At a year old her lean 70 pound were spread out well enough she could nose print the top of the windshield of my truck sitting on the floor. Her father looked just like her, but was much bigger.

It really depends on the line. I've seen some GSD's that look like ballerinas and some that look like linebackers. I worked with a GSD that had parents who were Level III Schutzhund (import). That was one big, tough dog. Fortunately a very steady temperament. I also worked with one of Barbara Stricklands' dogs, also a very steady temperament, but totally different in body type and drive. Since that's the only dog of Stricklands' I ever saw, I don't know how typical she was of her dogs.

Are you a GEB puppy raiser? I thought that they had pretty much confined themselves to their own breeding of Labradors.

For the protection of the inocent, I never say just what school.

Good Idea, I adopted that same principal Labman