This is my little Penny. She is 14 months old and super skinny! I don't know who her father is ( we rescued her mother who was tied to a shopping cart in an abandoned parking lot) we had mom for 3 days took her to the vet who believed she had just had puppies because of how thin she was, then 2 days later Penny was born on my lap!
We feed her twice a day, homemade chicken and rice in the morning and Merrick dry food in the evening. She eats well, no poo/pee problems and has been to the vet to check for worms and other issues. She gets a clean bill of health, but I'm told to try and fatten her up!
Anyone ever had issues with this? Her mom appears to be a deer head and she resembles one, only she is very small, 7 inches tall and 1lb 9oz.

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chicken is a lean meat. Try beef, lamb, duck and fatty meats

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Thank you Jan896

Is there a reason you are feeding her 2 different things?

She will lose some nutrients in cooked food and being thin, she needs all that she can get.

One of my dogs appears to do fine on chicken but once (on the suggestion of her holistic vet) we swapped her chicken treats for duck, we have seen a nice improvement in her.

Agree with Christie. Even if it is with something like Stella & Chewy's treats, I'd try fattier proteins.

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She's so precious! She's very pretty. How lucky she is to have you rescue her. Do you have her Mom?

Orijen is another choice for food. Check out dogfoodadvisor.com . You might want to select one with a higher fat content, at least to get her started.

You are both lucky. She's very pretty!

I'd recommend raw feeding, I've had good success putting weight on chronically thin dogs by switching them to raw. You could also up the amount she's fed daily and, if you'd rather stick with kibble, Ziwipeak is a great freeze-dried raw food that you feed like a kibble.

As others have suggested, switching her from chicken to beef, lamb or another red meat may help as well, since chicken is leaner.

She's a wee cutie, hope you can get her weight up!

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I think this tiny little one was poorly nurished in the womb, and is just really a tiny little girl. I agree with the other posters. She just may be a skinny girl---just feed her a good 5 star food and see how she does. Good luck, and thank you for rescueing her Mom and her!

Welcome to the forum!

What a precious little girl you have. She definitely needs to put on some weight,
the spine should not be sticking out like that. I'll make this simple for you, you
have three excellent choices regarding nutrition...raw, Ziwipeak, Orijen.

If you are willing to research and learn, and are open to the idea of feeding your
dog a raw diet, then this is the ultimate choice imo, if done properly the benefits
of a raw diet are too numerous to name, everything from healthy insides to
beautiful outside.

If you like the idea of a raw diet, but do not have the time for shopping,
portioning, etc(which by the way becomes quite easy with a bit of practice),
then there is Ziwipeak, which is an air dried raw diet. It is as convenient as
kibble.

Finally, if you can not afford or find in your area Ziwipeak, then I highly
recommend Orijen, which is the best kibble on the market right now, by far.
It is high in protein and nutrients, it isn't cheap, but because it is so high in
the good stuff instead of nasty fillers, you need to feed much less since your
dog's body will absorb most of the food, very little will come out the other
end, you'll have the tiniest most adorable poops you've ever seen.

No matter which choice you decide upon, the key is to feed tiny amounts but
frequently. I would start with 5 tiny meals per day, then as the weeks pass
and your baby gains weight, you would eventually bring it down to 2 or 3.

Another important note, is you don't want your dog to simply gain fat, you
want muscle, and to get muscle you'll have to exercise your dog. Playing at
home is great, fetch, tug of war, etc. But frequent daily walks are a must
also, minimum three daily walks on-leash(morning, afternoon and night).

Make sure your dog has plenty of fresh water available at all times.
And for now stay away from all treats, just the food of your choice,
and nothing more.


Best of luck, and I look forward to Penny's progress!

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Adorable poops?! LS, I am laid out on the sofa laughing! I agree with you 100. % but I am still laughing at the way you described it!

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