# Saluki gaining weight



## Karin.L (Apr 6, 2012)

So, some of you may have read my thread about irresponsible dog owners.
Basically, their saluki is TOO skinny. Ribs show, as do all the vertebrae on her back. 
Appanrently she just "won't gain weight"
And when I asked about what she eats I get told "everything" (pedigree dog food, tuna, raw chicken)
They have a yound PBT who she is often wrestling with .basically, the question is: an easy and effective way to make a saluki to gain weight
Thanks for all your help  
(Also- today I commented on how long the claws were, and "yeah but the quick is too long" and when I said when you cut the claws, it retrets, she goes "really?!?" Seriously! Wtf! How can you have dogs if+ aaagh$ anyways. Yeah. Thank yoou  )


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

if you can get them to feed her fattier cuts of protein, it would help.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

As an owner of a sighthound I can tell you: sometimes it truly is HARD to make them gain weight. To make my IG gain 1.5lb a few months ago I started feeding her straight fat- pork belly- as treats along with the rest of the raw diet. She typically eats around 1lb of raw a day, less if it's beef. She's actually a smidgeon overweight for her breed now- or maybe just I like her on the leaner side- but I want her to lose a couple of ounces.

Pedigree is not good for gaining weight because it is a low density kibble. Grain based, and low fat compared to something like Orijen which is way richer and healthier. High protein and high fat is very important especially for a dog that will not gain weight.

Tess before:









She has gained 1.5-2lb since that picture.


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## Sprocket (Oct 4, 2011)

My sister has a "sight hound" type dog that always seems very underweight. 

They use to free feed him and I suggested feeding 2x a day and pulling it if he doesn't eat. He gained a few lbs but they are lazy people and resorted back to free feeding. Skinny dog may he be.


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## bilalb268 (Apr 27, 2012)

Ollie around 8 year old saluki x real character » .... into foster, in the kennels although gaining weight he was miserable and this resulted


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

That sounds pretty normal to me for a sight hound. They are just like that, on the thin side. At least everyone I have ever seen has been.


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## magicre (Apr 7, 2010)

well, they have metabolisms i'd like to see bottled and sold to me.


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## CoverTune (Dec 20, 2011)

Another vote for "that's normal for a sight hound".


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

Caty M said:


> As an owner of a sighthound I can tell you: sometimes it truly is HARD to make them gain weight. To make my IG gain 1.5lb a few months ago I started feeding her straight fat- pork belly- as treats along with the rest of the raw diet. She typically eats around 1lb of raw a day, less if it's beef. She's actually a smidgeon overweight for her breed now- or maybe just I like her on the leaner side- but I want her to lose a couple of ounces.
> 
> Pedigree is not good for gaining weight because it is a low density kibble. Grain based, and low fat compared to something like Orijen which is way richer and healthier. High protein and high fat is very important especially for a dog that will not gain weight.
> 
> ...




I have my chi who is built like Tess! I want a wippet and my husband tells me we already have a mini one, our chi. She's so active and high metabolim, I can't use poultry as her base diet at all nor venison. I had a bunch of venison and that that with chicken would be great, oh no she lost weight in a week and so now those protiens are added to pork and beef. Higher fats and richer meats are my first suggestion and I also give some egg and plain yogurt. The yogurt is for probiocts but it has fat and calories too so it helps. The eggs seem to help too. But as already said, sight hounds are thin. They are built that way, but I haven't seen a pic so perhaps she is underweight even for a saluki.


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## Caty M (Aug 13, 2010)

How much exercise does this dog get, also? Tess doesn't go outside much in the winter, she gets very cold here in Canada, so she gets a lot more long walks in the summer (daily). She definitely slims down. 

Re, I would love to have her metabolism! 

Aud, Tess also can't have lean meats as the base of her diet, it's funny because I got a small dog because it would be cheaper to feed LOL, yet she eats the same as an average 50lb dog!


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## AveryandAudrey (Sep 20, 2010)

Ya my little girl eats almost as much as my pei! And my pei is 45 pounds haha. I tried to upload a pic to show her thiness but my blackberry is being dumb tonight. Audrey won't walk on a leash really so she doesn't exercise that way. But she runs laps in the yard with my other dogs, plays toys ALL DAY, and wrestles the other dogs, and is jumpy bouncy 24/7. At night I have to pick up her toys out of reach because I'll hear her at 3 am playing all loud if I don't and I can't sleep. She's insane... And yes she's always cold, plus she has pattern balding alopcia (sp?) So her underside from her chin down is bald.


The hard thing is with thin build dogs is that even when they gain a little weight, they drop it super fast again. Would you be able to sneak a pic of the saluki and post it? A lot of people feels my dogs are too thin (even my pei is fit but not plump at all) and I hear it a lot. But the vet is the first one to tell me they are is such great shape, so I don't worry. I know how much they eat and I know their builds and feed them accordingly. Sighthounds often look scrawny! They are built for speed- muscle and no fat.


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## sozzle (May 18, 2011)

Well last week when I weighed Stanley we realised he had lost 2kg/4.5lbs in 4 weeks and a couple of people have commented, two of them greyhound owners say he looks really good and that I should keep him at that weight. I'm not sure. I think he lost a bit because it was school holidays and we did a bit of extra exercise and possibly not enough fat in his diet, now the weather is colder I believe greyhounds can lose easily although he is rugged up (pyjamas) every night as it's autumn here.

Talking of food, the little bugger stole his food off the freezer before it was fed to him, (he's not done that before) a big bowl of horsemeat, tripe, egg and a bit of dogroll. I had it ready for husband as I was going out and I do the food prep for him.

So obviously he can't be trusted and I will go back to putting it on high shelf if I need to get it ready early.

Opportunists the lot of them!!!

I still love him to bits though.

For my sins.


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## Zen2765 (Jun 27, 2012)

Hello
I know this is an old thread but just wanted to respond
I have had sighthounds for a very long time. I've also been involved in showing dogs my entire life...
Sighthounds can be impossible to get weight on and keep it.... You can think that you have a solution and the next day your dog looks anorexic... I have a beautiful Saluki girl that probably weights 30lbs. I call her my supermodel! It doesn't matter what I feed her or how much I crate her she is just skinny. I take my hounds to the dog park almost everyday and almost everyday I hear comments about my girl. She is what she is... Someday I'm sure the weight will stay but I don't lay awake at night wondering why my naturally skinny saluki looks skinny
Now... With that being said my girl has nice plump muscles on her legs and her head is meaty so she is not emaciated just super skinny


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