How do I pick up my dogs weight? since I’ve rescued her she has been underweight. When I got her she was skin and bones, didn’t want to eat or move but now she plays, eats twice a day and is taking joint & immune system vitamins from prosense & Doctor fosters since she’s old. she’s still underweight I believe because her stomach area is smaller than her rib cage but you can not see her rib cage so much as she used too. I’ve tried different foods and no help either. I’ll attach current pics.
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She actually doesn't appear to be underweight based on the pictures shown. I'd have to examine her to be sure, but the biggest indication that she is not underweight is the fact that she appears to have well-developed muscles. Dogs of this breed tend to be naturally lean and put more weight on their muscles rather than their ribs, or belly.
If I was concerned that she was underweight, then I would first want to rule-out a disease, or parasite causing her to lose or not gain weight. It's best to have a veterinarian evaluate her, so you can ensure she's healthy and ensure that you are not going to feed her unnecessarily.
Dog obesity is a big problem in the U.S., which means that the average person thinks a fat dog is at ideal weight; and a dog with an ideal body condition, or a lean body condition is thought to be starving. The truth is that the lean dogs are statistically healthier and live longer than overweight dogs. Some dogs (much like people) are able to naturally maintain a lean body condition. I suspect Lulu is one of those dogs, but would urge you to have a veterinarian examine her to make that call.
Below is a link to a body condition scoring guide. This is what veterinarians use when assessing whether a dog is overweight or underweight. We prefer them to be at a BCS of 4 or 5, but some are naturally at a 3.
https://www.wsava.org/sites/default/files/Body%20condition%20score%20chart%20dogs.pdf
At this time, I recommend feeding her normally and would not recommend a diet change until she can be evaluated by a veterinarian.
I hope that helps and all is well with Lulu.
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