Okay let's try this again. First time didn't post. Anyhow, I have this beautiful female Great Dane, very friendly, very active even hyper, but she won't gain weight. She just turned four. She had a intestinal virus before we bought her and has always been extremely thin. She weighs between 85-90 pounds. She eats as much as our other danes, which look great. We free feed so she always has food. We even cook up venison and fat and mix it with her food every now and then. She's been to the vet, had lab work done, and was on a heartwormer which was also for hook and round worms. We've wormed her for tapeworm. Every time she's check out fine with the vet, except last time she had a mild case of hookworm. Right now she's off the heartwormer, we're giving her Pyrantel Pamoate every two weeks. She's kept current on her shots. But she's so thin she gets bed sores every now and then. We've tried numerous dogfoods, but nothing seems to work. Any ideas? I was wondering if you can give dogs whey protein? I'll check with the vet first.

What does your vet say? Its common for Great Danes to keep themselves on the lean side. Unless your vet sees a problem, I would leave well enough alone. If she is a light eater, I would stick to her dog chow to make sure she is all of each nutrient she needs. If she less dog chow because you ar giving her something else, then she will be short of whatever it lacks. I am not sure what is in whey protein, but I am sure it lacks part of what dogs need. If she eats less dog food, you will be shorting her valuable nutrients.

If your vet feels there is a problem, I would let him help find the solution.

Why have you dropped the heartworm remedy? Unless you have a fairly harsh winter, it is best to stay on it year around.

My vet says that there must be a problem, but has not been able to find a solution. The vet said it could be from the virus she had as a pup or her metabolism. Thin enough to get bed sores can't be good. I'm not talking thin, I'm talking, she looks anorexic. We dropped the heartwormer because it wasn't working on the hookworms like it should, and we wanted to give her a larger dose and more frequent for awhile, since we're keeping her in a kennel while we do some remodeling. We'll get her retested and back on later this year. She's not a light eater, she eats as much as our other danes, who again put weight on fine. They look great, slightly on the lean side but very healthy looking, about 130-145 pounds. Each has their own feeder, so I can keep track of how much everyone eats.

I was thinking about the whey protein because I've heard they give it to the high school kids on the wrestling team. Don't worry I won't do anything before checking with my vet. But there has to be a way to get her to a healthy weight. Even 5 pounds would make a great difference at tis point. If she wasn't getting the sores I wouldn't worry.

When I was in high school, most of the wrestlers were staving themselves to stay down in their weight class.

Give you vet a little more time. The solution to a tough problem may take a while. The time may come when you need to go for a second opinion.

You do want to stay on top of the worm problem.

Did they check her thyroid at the Vets to make sure it's not overactive.. which would keep her metabolism in high gear if it is.. and hookworms can make a dog extremely thin,we've had lots of dogs come in that had cases so severe they looked like they had parvo... hope this helps...

I'm not sure what all test they've run, but so far all the lab work has been normal. I'll ask her about thyroid. My vet suggest we try alternating wormers for awhile. We haven't retested for worms but with worming every two weeks they shouldn't be too bad. And I don't understand how it's only one dog affected. I'll keep you posted if the new wormer works better. Thanks.