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BPO Growl & Howl Forum => Groans, Gripes, Brags & Boasts => : Lyn April 19, 2006, 02:57:20 AM
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I literally feel like crying my eyes out and then doing horrible things to my neighbor. Although pms might have a 'little' to do with it. :-\
As most of you know Bubba's weight is a huge issue for me. He's still too thin.. although he has put some weight on it's not much. :( I'm still working with my vet on this and we are going to do some more tests shortly.
This whole weight thing stresses me enough.. but just a few minutes ago I was taking some pics of Bubba in the front yard and my nosy a-hole neighbour says that 'If you can't afford to feed your dog you shouldn't have him!! 'Look at him he's skin and bones, your starving him' Excuse me!! Well I lost my mind and threw a full cup of coffee, cup and all at his head and told him to go 'bleep' himself. Probably not the most mature thing to do but in the heat of the moment I did it.
Afterwards I started comparing pics from 2 and a half months ago to now and he does appear to have lost more weight but on the otherhand seems to have better muscle tone.
Here's at 12 months
(http://67.18.37.14/95/148/upload/p484748.jpg)
And taken today 14.5 months
(http://67.18.37.14/95/148/upload/p484749.jpg)
But the pic that really had me upset was this one. I don't know if it's the angle he's standing or what. His sides look like they are really sunken. :'(
I hope my vet can figure this out and soon.. cause I can't much more of this I'm abusing and starving my dog crap. :'(
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First off Bubba is very handsome :)
I know how you feel. I have had the worst time getting and keeping weight on Grey. It got to the point where I didnt even take him out cause everytime I did I got the "Why are you starving your dog" comment :'( I had nights when I couldnt sleep cause all I could think about was Grey and how skinny he looks. Grey is now over a year, still pretty skinny, but he doesnt look as bad as he us to look. A couple of weeks ago he was looking great, nice and think. But now he is back to being thin, I think he is growing again [not that he needs to] It could be just the way he is growing, but if its a health issue I hope your vet finds the problem. With Grey it was just him growing and still growing. So I know how you are feeling.
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Yay Lyn for sticking up for yourself!!!
People are so stupid sometimes....i f you weren't taking care of him he'd look so much worse. His haircoat looks really good so you're obviously taking good care of him. He does look a little thinner but you are doing all you can to fix it. You should be proud of yourself many people would have given up ages ago.
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Hang in there, girl!
You are doing everything to help Bubba...
hmmmm..... perhaps the B-man just has a super high metabolism... something I wish I had! :)
As for your neighbor. To h*** with him... It is none of his business and it doesn't matter one bit what he thinks or what anyone else thinks. Your neighbor is a miserable, ignorant,mean-spirited tool who doesn't have a clue what he is talking about!
What is important is YOU know you are doing the very best for Bubba and THAT is what matters!
Stay strong!
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I don't think he looks bad at all!
I think that sometimes people get "skinny" confused with "fit". I think he looks fit - I don't see ribs or protruding hip bones! He's also probably at that 'teenage' stage where he can eat and eat and never gain weight (like teen human boys do).
Maybe for your own peice of mind, you might like to see him gain a bit, but I do not think (from the pictures at least) that there is any threat to his health at this point.Â
(And I think your neighbour deserved that cup of coffee!!! >:()
I can almost tell you now, that I'm going to have the same kind of trouble with Teddy.
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I agree with the previous post, he doesn't look too skinny! My fawn dane didn't fill out until three, until then you could count his ribs.
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i replied to your previous post will also reply to this the same and add something.
i have had several male newfoundlands that were this thin thru the growth stage, they were healthy, no loose poops, just how they grew, i would much rather they be thin, than overweight, esp for our breed.
now, on to the issue of diet, i mentioned that pork formula back to basic food is doing huge favors for GSD and Boxers with irritable bowel syndrome.
you might want to try that.
i had a GSD with Pancreatitis that was a rack of bones when she went thru her heat cycles, my parents dog, the vet wouldnt spay her thinking her to high risk, and the neighbors said the same thing to me, i went up to them, and politely explained, that, she has pancreatitis wich affects their weight and is why she is skinny, and, they were actually embarassed they accused me. :)
so maybe you could go and tell him you are dealing with health issues next time so it does not eat away at you and just makes you even more frustrated.
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I know how you feel. Different breeds but I still feel like a bad owner. If Tsu weren't fluffy people would think I was starving her to death. I mean she is bony. I hate it and I am trying everything to get her to gain weight, but the b%^&h won't eat! She wants pressed rawhide and people food, no satin balls, very little canned food...I bet she eats 1c of puppy kibble a day and a can of food lasts her 2-3 days. She gets her geriatriac bloodwork in about a month and we will see what that says. Again, I am just lucky she is fluffy or people would think I was horrible.
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Thanks everyone. You all helped put me at ease. :)
I think I've just heard 'he's too thin' so many times that I feel guilty like I'm not doing enough, or I'm doing something wrong. I'm usually able to just shrug off any rude comments. But this just strikes a nerve.
I even dread taking him to the vet because I get the 'Oh look at that poor dog he's so skinny. Saints are suppose to be 'thick' dogs. I just want to scream AHHHH Shut up! $$@!#@!%$%@#$ LOL
I have mentioned to this guy before that Bubba has some sort of problem that my vet hasen't been able to figure out and he says 'yeah right' and walks away.
Bubba is actually super lazy. I don't know how he's buring off all the calories I've been giving him. He must have a high metabolism or something. Or maybe not properly digesting his food? Hubby and I were talking last night about maybe switching him to yet another kibble.
Thanks Sar!! I will look for the Back to basics pork formula.
LOL Tina, if you ever need someone to throw a cup.. I'm your girl. I hit him square on the cheekbone and I wasn't even aiming. :o I feel like such a tool now.. I realllly shouldn't have done that. But this neighbor has really been nothing but an annoyance for me.
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Lyn, most of us that have had more than one giant in our lives have had at least one that just stayed thin as a youngster. If they were horses, you'd call them a "hard keeper". Merlin was mine.
If your nieghbor is stupid enough to comment again, I would invite him to call the local Humane Society or anti-cruelty society and file a complaintif he is so concerned. I would be happy to justify myself and my dog's wieght issues, complete with vet reports to them and get an all clear, preferrably in writing. What I would NOT do is justify it to some snooty jerk who has way too much time on their hands to try and live in my back pocket.That way the humane society can tell him to mind his own business and you won't keep losing coffee cups. LOL
Stella
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Innova is very high in calories and I hear dogs love it, their "Dog" formula has 557 Kcal/cup!
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I asked my mom, who is a nurse, to look at the pictures and she said there's most likely something going on there. More than just metabolism. How much weight exactly has he lost? Could it be worms? If it's worms, he will eat everything you give him, but nutrition won't be getting to his body. A stool sample at the vet would answer that question. Otherwise, it has nothing to do with you! Remember that! Dogs get sick, like people do. Sometimes we lose weight, so dogs must too! And sometimes we are pigs and eat a ton and gain lots of weight, so dogs can too!
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Stella, The humane society/animal control here is useless. A little off topic but this same idiot neighbor just left his poor elderly dog outside in it's pen to die because he said he couldn't afford to euthanize it. I called the humane society and they sounded all concerned and said they would send someone out. Noone ever showed up and that poor dog suffered and died that night all alone. He doesn't give a crap about his own dogs yet acts so 'concerned' about mine. >:(
Saint and Mal mom, He's had at least 15 fecals done and been dewormed countless times. Plus had a blood test done around the time of the last deworming. Blood was normal.. but he did find tapeworms in the last fecal. Those are gone now though but he's has this problem since he was 9 weeks old. We are not exactly sure how much weight he has lost.. once we get into the vet I'll be able to weight him more accurately.
I was looking for Innova and Solid Gold 'bark at the moon' since both high in fat and calories. I just wanted to add some to Bubba's kibble, not completely switch him to it. But I can't find either one. I'm going to look for Back to Basics since Sar mentioned it and give it a try.
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Have you considered this to be irritable bowel syndrome?
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We dog owners can't win. If your large breed is stockier then people will tell you it is fat, and if it is slender then you are not feeding it enough!
I remember being in town with one of my other Newfs when she was about 2 years old. Some guy said "I bet he eats a lot" so I replied "No not really" and he said "Then you are not feeding him properly!" >:(. SHE was the right weight for her size, and a dog we had to keep an eye on as, just like me, she could pile on the pounds so easily!!
Think of it this way, if your St. is slender when it is young then it isn't going to be doing damage to it's joints ;)
Hope you can sort things with your vet, may be he will pile on the weight when he is older :)
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Lyn,
Cinder looked the same way as Bubba in those pics until recently. We switched to Natural Balance and it has put weight on her and she has kept it on. We also started by adding in satin balls and then went from there to making baked chickens and roasts for the girls. Of course, we make enough for ourselves also. He just looks like a big beautiful boy to me.
Kat
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Lyn,
Your neighbor sounds like a real jerk! I probably wouldn't have thrown the cup, but I have to say it cracked me up reading about it :D
I know you have tried many different foods and are working with your vet and that you are doing everything you can, so no matter what your stupid neighbor says, I want you to remember that you are a good puppy momma!
I hope that your vet can figure out what's going on soon - I assume he has tested for hyperthyroidis m, digestion problems, etc. Bubba has a healthy appetite, right? So it must be something about the way he is processing the food. I would probably up his calorie intake for now but hopefully your vet will find the cause soon. I have one other thought: Have you seen his parents? He reminds me alot of nikki's dog angus, who seems to be genetically skinny.
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To relay our expierence. When we got Halo at 5 and a half months he was very underweight. Only 50 lbs. Very skinny looking. I spoke with a breeder who recommended a certain diet that worked great. It was 2 TBS yogurt a day. 1 TBS a day. 5 cups kibble(eukanuba adult) a day. And pasta and veggies. No gassy veggies. I stuck with carrots and potatos. About a can of each a day. And boiled chicken, browned beef or browned ground turkey. He ate everything and put on weight and started growing after a week or two of this. It was split into teo meals a day. No treats, rawhide etc. The yogurt helped his digestion greatly and he never had gas. No he eats 6 cus kibble a day and 4 boiled chicken breasts. He's up to 165 now at 17 months. where he should be. The pasta really helped and he loved it. I boiled it plain, no oil or salt. And plain non fat yogurt. May be worth a try. Good luck.
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I don't think Bubba looks too thin. I've seen short haired saints before and they have all looked on the lean side.
I think some people are just too used to seeing fat dogs that they don't even know what a normal dog looks like anymore. If a dog is at a normal weight, he/she is "too thin". As far as I know, giant breed dogs should be on the thin side until they are older. Most can't keep the weight on even if they tried b/c they are growing so fast.
I do get asked by people who don't know any better why Gunther is so thin. They say he doesn't look like a "normal" dane. Well, he's not even a 1 1/2 yr old yet! Of course he's a bit on the thin side. As long as the ribs aren't fully visible and the hip bones aren't sticking out, you shouldn't be too worried about it. As long as he is actually gaining and not losing, he should be okay. I know it is hard, but try to forget about what others think and just concentrate on Bubba. If it is something medical, you and your vet will figure it out eventually.
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I think he looks rather nice and certainley not too thin LOL... 90% of dogs today are fat...yes fat and the best is when you hear people say it is all muscle...and you mumble to yourself no, it is all fat LOL
You boy is a baby and will be until 4... some are late bloomers in regards to 'beefy' dogs. On the outside, he looks 100% healthy to me
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I do have to admit that I haven't heard anymore popping and clicking coming from his hips in awhile. So I guess in that sense his light weight is a good thing.
It's mainly his tummy area that looks too tucked up and he's not very wide. So that makes him look even thinner. Everyone we meet comments on his weight, so I know alot of it is that I'm starting to believe what I'm hearing against my better judgement. Some people are nicer and say 'Well he just needs to fill out now' LOL He has a huge head and just looks so out of proportion. I've actually had people ask if he was a Saint/Dane mix. Saint head.. Dane body. LOL
shangrila, I know Bubba's parents well. His mom is tall to me for a female. But she's about 150ish. His dad is a tank, litterally. He's about 180+ish He's shorter than the female but twice as wide. So far height wise Bubba is kinda in between. But he looks more like his dad. Head shape ect.. body wise he doesn't look like either of them. But they are fully grown and filled out. From what I know of the other pups in the litter none of them are having any problems either. So that's also makes me feel that I'm doing something wrong for him to be the only pup with issues. Although I haven't spoke with any of them in awhile.
I should print off all your replies and just hand them to the next person that accuses me of starving Bubba. Everytime I open my mouth I say or do something I shouldn't, so they can just read and I can keep my mouth shut. LOL
Sarnewfie, The list I gave my vet before had IBS and IBD on it, along with a bunch of others. We were working through the list. Some he scratched off immediately though. I'll have to check with him and see exactly which ones we checked for. I've lost track.
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Your neighbor is an @ss -- he sounds like he's envious because his dog died and he proved what kind of human being he is by letting the poor old dog die outside and alone. And he sees you outside "fussing" over your beautiful pup and he HAS to criticize you in order to make himself feel better. You might casually point out to him next time that you're working very hard to prevent your dog from having to die alone in the backyard! I wouldn't recommend throwing coffee cups again though -- your neighbor is probably the type to file charges against YOU.Â
As far as skinny -- he looks beautiful to me. Isn't it better for younger big dogs to be on the skinny side? Also, aren't there dangers in young pups growing too fast?
People are just stupid. I think if I hear "is that a dog or a pony?" one more time I'll scream. I think it takes me back to junior high school when I was 6' tall and all I ever heard was "jolly green giant" and "how's the weather up there." Once I was eating ice cream when this boy said that -- I spit it out on him and said "it's snowing." I have to admit, that felt really good (kinda like throwing coffee cups I would imagine).
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Yogurt won't hurt him a bit, especially if you get the health food store kind with active culture that we should ALL be eating, with all the processed food we humans put down our gullets!
Get some flavors that you can stand to share with him, and it will be good for both of you. ;)
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;D
Yep he sounds like he needed a scalding hot cup of Go Mind your own Business. And if you needed advice it would'nt be from him. I have Had people say to me about Bryce how much does he eat why would you want a big dog like that ? He's still a puppy then i blow there minds because i say yep and i would like 3 more just like him! Marina
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I can't stand it when people are ignorant just to be ignorant! >:( If people took the time to listen and at least try to understand things, the world would be a much better place...
I think Bubba is a handsome boy and he's turned out pretty good considering all of the troubles he's had. I'd tell your neighbour to go pound sand and find something better to do with his time than voicing his unwanted opinion! ;D
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Let me know if you need some help keeping up your supply of coffee cups. I'm sure we could all chip in when needed. ;) ;D
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LOL The dollar store had cheap mugs. I'll have to stock up. ;D My neighbor has a nice lump and shiner as of this morning. Ooops. ;)
Sarnewfie, The Back to Basics is only available in Nova Scotia. That's a long drive from Ontario. LOL So I called my vet again (lol) and asked him what I should try. He said to go with a fish based kibble. So I found Fromm 4 star dry. They make Whitefish and Potato and Salmon A La Veg. I'm not sure which one I should go with but both seem pretty good and don't contain any of the stuff Bubba is allergic to.
If the tests and fecal come out fine. Then I'll just have to stop worrying and hopefully his weight will catch up with his body size.
I'll have to get my hubby to airbrush me a T-shirt that says "Don't ask me about my dog's weight unless you want a beat down" LOL Or something to that effect. ;D
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Fromm four star is a great food line :) I was going to feed it to zoey but I couldn't find it in my area so I went with nature's variety.
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From the pictures he looks ok to me, but if you are concerned maybe he is too thin. It's been my experience with Giants that in the first 2 years or so they grow taller so fast that they just don't have a chance to fill out.
But my 3 yr old St./OEM X has a weight issue, we, like you, have tested for all kinds of things, and he never looks quite right. In build he's a lot like your dog. Unlike your dog, you CAN see his ribs (barely) and he's very light in the rear end. I boarded him at the kennel where I work recently, and had them give him Eukanuba Low Residue, as I was out of his food, and had no time to go to the store. Well, they were at the kennel 5 days, and I swear his ribs are less noticeable! Low res is a veterinary formula, supposedly for sensitive stomachs. I'm arranging to order some from work, it might be worth a try!