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My female pitbull is about a year and a half old. She is extremely thin (bones sticking out everywhere), and it's definitely not just a small build.

In the last month or so, she's been eating constantly, but doesn't seem to let anything stick to her. She's scary skinny, with her ribs poked out, tailbones sticking out, and eyes are pinkish red.

She eats nonstop, but she has a bowel movement shortly afterward. Her bowel movements are firm and grainy, as though she hadn't even digested her food all the way. And she is always hungry. I thought she had a tapeworm, but she's having bowel movements at least 5-6 times a day, so it can't be that. Plus, she already got worm medication on the precautionary side.

What do you think is wrong with her? My husband said maybe she got sick because she knocked over the garbage and was eating out of the garbage, but at the same time, her bowel movements aren't runny or mucousy, they are firm and normal. It just seems like she is not digesting or holding onto anything she eats. And she's bony!

How many times has she been de-wormed? What are you using for a de-wormer? IS it something for all worms or just 1 or 2. Most times they will need to be de-wormed 2-3 times before they are all clean of the worms.
The garbage normally wouldn't cause them to start losing weight, unless there was something really terrible in there. In which case you should take her to a vet to have her checked out anyway.
There are lots of different things that can make a dog start to loose weight, heart murmer is one of them, worms, is the main cause. But there may be something more serious then anyone can tell you online, you should get her checked out.
I am pretty sure your dogs poop idealy should be a role of firm dark turd you can pick up in your fingers. Any loose and grainie poop means the dog is (alergic) not digesting the heavy grain content. Could be the food you are feeding as well. What type of food are you feeding her?

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Originally Posted by Aurora_Bell

How many times has she been de-wormed? What are you useing for a de-wormer? IS it something for all worms or just 1 or 2. Most times they will need to be de-wormed 2-3 times before they are all clean of the worms.
The garbage normally wouldn't cause them to start loosing weight, unless there was something really terrible in there. In which case you should take her to a vet to have her checked out anyways.
There are lots of different things that can make a dog start to loose weight, heart murmer is one of them, worms, is the main cause. But there may be something more serious then anyone can tell you online, you should get her checked out.
I am pretty sure your dogs poop idealy should be a role of firm dark turd you can pick up in your fingers. Any loose and grainie poop means the dog is (alergic) not digesting the heavy grain content. Could be the food you are feeding as well. What type of food are you feeding her?

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She's never had worms, we just gave her the dewormer liquid as a precautionary measure. You may be right about the food, we give her Atta Boy or something similar. She eats the same adult dog food that our 7 year old male eats. I wonder if that is the problem.

She does have dark, firm poop, it's very solid poop but you can almost see the food within it. I think I will take her to the vet, but I thought I'd check with you all first. Thanks!

Worms are very easily contracted. The best de-wormer is prescribed by a vet. I know it can get costly, but most times you can just go into the vet office tell them the age, weight and breed and they can recommend something for you with out looking at the dog. Just an additional question... does or has your dog recently had a flea problem?

Good luck! I'd love to know the outcome! :)

Is she spayed? If not, how does her abdomen look and feel.

She is not spayed, because we plan to mate her with our male when she's a few years older. Her abdomen is normal but as I mentioned, her ribs are prominent. And her tailbones stick out on the sides of her tail. You can definitely tell that her food is not sticking to her.

This just opened a whole new can of worms...

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Originally Posted by Aurora_Bell

This just opened a whole new can of worms....

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I'm not sure what you mean.

If you're referring to the mating thing... we've had our male for 7 years and we love him like a son. So if we want to have a legacy of him, and have plenty of family members that would like to have one of his other puppies, what's wrong with that? It's not like we're keeping them in the same area, selling the puppies or treating them cruel. I hope that's not the can of worms you are referring to...

I don't like preeching to people, but have you ever bred dogs before? Why if your dog is having health problems, would you want to breed her? I hope that you will get both make and female fully checked before proceeding to do this. Has your male had any genetic testing done? Are they both pure breds from breeders?
I know your main concern is our dogs weight loss, and Ihope it is something a simple as a food alergy or worms. Please make sure to do copious amounts of research BEFORE deciding to breed your dogs.

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Originally Posted by Aurora_Bell

I don't like preeching to people, but have you ever bred dogs before? Why if your dog is having health problems, would you want to breed her? I hope that you will get both make and female fully checked before proceeding to do this. Has your male had any genetic testing done? Are they both pure breds from breeders?
I know your main concern is our dogs weight loss, and Ihope it is something a simple as a food alergy or worms. Please make sure to do copious amounts of research BEFORE deciding to breed your dogs.

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I completely understand your concern. My husband has bred dogs all his life. The plan was to breed them way before this started happening - this change in her physical state happened within the last month or so. As I mentioned, we don't plan to breed them until she's at least 2-3 years old. So that's the least of our concerns right now. I'm more concerned with her overall health and why her food is going through her so quickly.

Well thank you for not jumping down my throat! It does show you have your dogs best concern at heart.
Check out this web site. I am not saying any of these things pertain to you, but have a look anyway.
I would still love to know the outcome of your girl!

Backyard Breeder vs Reputable Breeder

Clarification: when I said "The plan was to breed them way before this started happening", I meant that in response to the question "Why if your dog is having health problems, would you want to breed her?". So I'm basically saying that we didn't plan on breeding them knowing that she was having health problems. She was healthy when we considered her for breeding. But breeding was ALWAYS going to take place 2-3 years from now. Hope that makes sense.

Absolutely and I totally understood what you meant! :)

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Originally Posted by bree2g

She is not spayed, because we plan to mate her with our male when she's a few years older. Her abdomen is normal but as I mentioned, her ribs are prominent. And her tailbones stick out on the sides of her tail. You can definitely tell that her food is not sticking to her.

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When was she last in season? Are the animals kept together except when she is fertile?

You need to get her to the vet and find out if she is already expecting.

She may be eating everything she can and it is going through her system to fast for it to be fully digested because instinct is telling her to 'shovel it in'. All of the nutrients that she should be getting from her food could be going to build pups. Pregnant females need more nutrients than non-pregnant and males.

She was last in season about 2-3 months ago. They are together throughout the day, and then she is brought in at night and they are separated... hmm. Good but scary point. I thought there may be an easy answer to this question, but it looks like I'm going to have to take her in to be fully checked out. Don't want anything to happen to my little sunshine! Thanks everyone. I'll keep you all posted!

It sounds like you love both of them. :)

Good luck, I can't wait to hear more about how she is doing (hopefully, it will good news).

I'm a little late on this one but good luck bree2g, I hope you can get this problem sorted out.

We can't diagnose someone's dogs on this site, merely give an insight in to what might be happening.
With a skinny dog it's hard to say as there could be so many different things causing it.

My mothers great dane was going through a similar thing to yours. He had soft stools and no matter how much you fed him he wouldn't put on weight.
Turned out he had a digestive problem. His stomach wasn't producing enough enzymes to break down the food so it was able to be properly digested.
He was put on an enzyme powder that they just mixed through his food and now he is a healthy weight.

If you do still decide to breed her in the future I hope you come back if you have any problems or questions regarding that subject.