i have a female black lab and she is skinny as heck. the vet said nothing is wrong healthy as can be but looks so skinny its almost gross. she ALWAYS has food in her dish and she only eats a few bites here and there. its the same food as she has always had never been changed. any ideas?
what brand are you feeding her?
Maybe a puppy food which typically has a higher fat content. Pour a small amount of bacon grease over the top. 
Heck…I may not even resist that! 
RR
Satin Balls are supposed to work really well.
Assuming that you don’t want to go the “human food” route, your dog may be telling you that it does not like what you are feeding it.
IMO, foods like the standard off the shelf, Purina, etc, are NOT good for dogs. They contain alot of wheat, grain content which is bad for your dog. That leads to digestive problems as well as allergies (to food) and numerous, numerous other problems. Your dog may be saying that it wants some good old fashioned protein and not veggies. I will catch some heat about this comment but I believe that it is true based upon research.
Do your research on grain based doog food and then go to Pet Smart, or some other pet store, and buy a bag of high quality pet food like a combo of venison/sweet potato or fish/sweet potato (smell of this one will put you on your heels) or other options and see what happens.
It will cost you a few extra bucks but you are talking about your buddy. My Springer got to where she would eat hardly ever (bowl would sit full for a day or more) and now, with the new food it is gone in minutes. If anything, I have had to exercise her more or cut back her portions as she loves it.
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Maybe a puppy food which typically has a higher fat content. Pour a small amount of bacon grease over the top.
I’m no vet but make sure if you do do the bacon grease thing, that it is a small amount.
I just about lost my dog from overdoing the fat on his food and he developed Pancreatitus and we almost lost him, $2500 later might I add. This can happen when the Pancreas will overproduce enzymes and can actually digest the dog’s internal organs.
A good reason not to feed dogs (or at least my dog) table scraps.
If you dog vomits, keep a close eye on the dog, too many times and bring it in.
Get her married and have a few kids. That’ll do it for sure.
But really, we got a white Shepard who’s rail thin too. People always say “Don’t you feed this thing?” We took him to a vet and they gave us some stuff to mix in his food so he gets all the protien out of his regular food. Plus suggested a bowl of ice cream every night before bed. None of that worked though. He’s still skinny but very happy and healthy.
Now our fat little Jack Russell….that’s a different story.
thanks guys. i feed her kibbles and chews now. looking at the bowl of food i gave her this morning and it looks like maybe two bits out of it. i guess i will have to switch her food on her. anyone know of somewhere in brainerd to get some good food for her like u guys were talking about and not the cheap purina stuff? i want a fatter dog. lol
How much does she weigh?
My Dad has a Chocolate lab that is rather large for his breed but very lean. If you looked at him you would think he was starving, but he eats, and weighs out at a very healthy weight.
I myself would never feed my dog table food. I believe it sets a bad precedent. We have a pug that requires special food to maintain a healthy weight and also for allergies he has. We purchase this through our vet for quite a price.
I guess what it comes down to is if you don’t trust your vet find one that you will.
Feed him some wedding cake, worked great for my wife!
No I’m kidding my wife (who’s a beautiful saint) she weighs a little less than she did before we were married, My son is 8 months old 
and she looks great ( shameless bragging)
Realistically I look into an allegry test for the dog, spendy but it might explain somethings.
What worked for my dog was to mix a half a can of canned food with the dry food. Mix it well so it coats all of the dry food. They will lick the bowl clean! 
A couple of questins for you;
1. How old is the dog? If it is under a year and a half sometimes its hard to keep weight on a dog until they are full grown.
2. How active is the dog?
Also you might want to try a regular worming program, i know you said the vet said there is nothing wrong but sometimes they don’t know everything. You might also try a 26/18 dog food (18% fat and 26% protien). Always look to make sure corn in not the first ingredient you want to see something like chicken or a meat base. There are a lot of good dog foods out there but they are not cheap!!
A fried egg over the dry stuff might work too.
that dog looks perfectly healthy.
here is my 3 year old BLM, he is tall and long, but weighs 80 pounds of pure muscle, and eats 5-6 cups of food a day. he has the same build as your female basically.
consider yourself lucky that you got a dog that maintains its weight, and it will definitely pay off later in the dogs life.
Has she been tested for giardia? There’s tons of different strains and they can all cause weight loss. Normal worm testing doesn’t usually catch this.
I would also recommend a food switch. We’ve been happy with Pro Plan for our dog. Eagle Pack makes some great foods. Diamond is supposed to be good food at a reasonable price.
Beer & a couch works for me……
big G 
One of my labs is an outside dog and Native put weight on him even over the winter! Also, we give our dogs raw eggs over their food and they look good.
–Whitey
Great lookin’ dog, Perch! 
-J.
You deffinately got some great advise here. I would deffinately switch the food. Just be sure to switch it SLOWLY. Start by mixing it with her old food. 1/4 new food and 3/4 old food for a couple days and then 1/2 and 1/2 for a couple days and 3/4 / 1/4. If you just up and switch it she could get an upset stomach and diaria or even worse pacriatitus. Good luck and let us know how things turn out. She’s a beautiful dog.
My dog was ultra skinny when young. Vet recommend Eukenuba because of high fat/calorie content. She bulked up then we put her on regular food. Seriously though, if she has a clean bill of health then dont worry about it too much.
thanks everyone. i am going to give a few of these a try and see how it goes. she is a year and a half old now so still young. and loves fetch big time.
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Great lookin’ dog, Perch!
-J.
thanks Jon!
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Has she been tested for giardia? There’s tons of different strains and they can all cause weight loss. Normal worm testing doesn’t usually catch this.
I don’t know if a dog can get giardia this time of year, that is usually a “swamp water” thing.
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One of my labs is an outside dog and Native put weight on him even over the winter! Also, we give our dogs raw eggs over their food and they look good.
–Whitey
I used to run hounds a lot and had some dogs that would maintain weight easily and others that couldn’t keep weight on no matter what I did. Pay a little extra for dog food, not the off-the-shelf stuff. That food is meant for “lap-dogs”.
Also before I would put a raw egg over the food, I would do a little more research on it. If I remember correctly there can be digestive issues started in doing that practice. Makes there coat nice and shiney from the protein but has hidden negatives. Check with your vet.
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I don’t know if a dog can get giardia this time of year, that is usually a “swamp water” thing.
She could have had it for quite a while. A lot of times they don’t present much for clinical signs. And it can be very tought to get rid of, as well. Something to ask your vet about, at least.
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thanks everyone. i am going to give a few of these a try and see how it goes. she is a year and a half old now so still young. and loves fetch big time.
she still has 6 months until being physically mature, she might fill out quite a bit over the next 6 months to a year.
the big thing is – does she lose weight? if she maintains weight and is healthy, then you have nothing to worry about, just like how there are skinny people, and well, people like me… 
the real concern is if she is losing weight.
I’m assuming you are saying the dog has always been skinny and not all of a sudden lost a bunch of weight? I wouldn’t worry about it if the vet says she is fine, especially at that age. Maybe change the food if she does seem to like it. I think several brands now have breed specific food for high energy dogs like labs. It could just be marketing, but check those out. Someone else may have mentioned it but I think they say you should be able to see the ribs on the dog but they shouldn’t look like they are protruding out. I have a German shepherd and he is a picky eater. Everybody always asked if I feed him enough because he was so skinny (yet was over 70 lbs). The vet said it was perfectly normal for a growing dog to be skinny. Now he is 4 (or maybe it is 5??) and I am a little worried when I take him in this year for his annual exam the vet is going to ask me how his 
got so big.
I say take advantage of the dog being skinny. It won’t be too long until the vet starts lecturing you about the dog being too fat!
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thanks guys. i feed her kibbles and chews now. looking at the bowl of food i gave her this morning and it looks like maybe two bits out of it. i guess i will have to switch her food on her. anyone know of somewhere in brainerd to get some good food for her like u guys were talking about and not the cheap purina stuff? i want a fatter dog. lol
That dog looks to be in FINE shape. If that pic is up to date and that’s how your dog looks now, it looks perfectly healthy to me. To many people over feed their dogs…they’re FAT. The owner will say they think their dog is healthy and the perfect weight, these people are uniformed. Their dogs are overweight.
Yours looks healthy…exactly how it’s supposed to look.(judging from the pic)
BIRDDOG
I have a 7 yr old male that we just got back down to around 87 lbs. he was as high as 98. Be thankful that your pooch isn’t as food aggressive as mine. i’m sure he would eat himself to death if he could. your pooch looks fine to me also. some dogs are different.
Fish, a great place to start your research on dog food is http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com. It compares many of the major brands and is a real eye opener. Give it a try. Well worth the time.
I checked and there are no Pet Smarts or Pet Co’s near Brainerd for alternative foods. You can go to Petco.com and order. We use the Natural Balance line of dog food but our Springer has allergy problems and that line is designed for that (but can be used for any dog).
Good looking pup you have there. Great smile for the camera.
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