Brie eating mutton shoulder

Delicious!

She doesn't look too skinny does she? She sure has a good appetite and gorged herself on mutton. Now she's sleeping.

She's not too skinny, looks about right to me.

She looks wonderful, Heather! Infact, not too skinny at all.. she looks -gorgeous-, I loved watching her leg muscles go! MMMMM, MUTTON!

oh wow! She's all legs!

She's growing. Her weight, size, and appetite are going to fluctuate. Her eyes are bright, her coat looks good, she obviously has energy and she's eating. Stop worrying she looks amazing!

Ok good! My trainer/mentor is always telling me she looks "way too skinny".. but then again she and I are used to seeing fat dogs all day at daycare. I still haven't decided if she's gonna grow into those legs or not. She's always been pretty leggy even at 9 weeks but it sure doesn't help they spayed her young either. She's almost as tall as Amos.

aww she doesn't need to grow into those legs! She's perfect. Maybe she's part foxhound!

She's not "way too skinny". She's just dainty (this is coming from a giant breed & bull breed owner, keep in mind! My perception may be a bit off). There's good muscle tone (especially in the shoulders), and even when she bends and moves you don't see the spine or ribs, the hips don't protrude at all. Even if the ribs poke out a bit, that happens in awkward growing stages. All things I'm sure you know. She really does look awesome, don't worry too much!

Heather wrote:Ok good! My trainer/mentor is always telling me she looks "way too skinny".. but then again she and I are used to seeing fat dogs all day...

You know, I've noticed now that we feed raw, everyone thinks all our pets are too skinny! Zaq, our eldest cat, used to be over 18lbs, now down to 13lbs.. my dad just commented today on "holy he looks too skinny!". He looks fine to me, he has the tucked in waist cats are supposed to have and you cant see his ribs/hip bones. I can feel his spine/ribs if I press so I know he's at a good weight now..

Weird.

ALSO! What does spaying early do that is bad? I've never done early spay/neuter, just curious..

Gah! I just went to my dad's house and my stepmom keeps saying "Heather, she is really skinny. Have you thought of giving her different food?" She means well.. but feeds Alpo. I'm going with all of you fellow raw feeders on this that she looks fine. This is my first raw fed pup so not only does she have the gawky growing stages like every pup but she's more muscle instead of fat (not a roly poly puppy) which I assume is what makes her look "too skinny" to everyone else. And the fact she has super short hair.

Kelly, early spaying and neutering is not really recommended because puppies need those hormones for proper growth. There is much controversy around the matter still but here's one link I found with some references to actual studies to support it's point of view. Early S/N The main thing I am concerned about is the fact she is growing taller than I believe she should and it could cause orthopedic problems later in life. I would've preferred to have her spayed at 6 mos (before first heat cycle) but coming from the shelter I didn't get a choice. Amos was neutered at 2 years (stray- not my choice that he was intact that old) and is more what the standard should be. I just worry about extra strain on her legs.

My vet actually recommended waiting until my dog was nine months to spay, said that the small breed dogs should be done at six months, and the larger breeds later, Great Danes, she does around eleven months. It allows them to grow with hormone regulation, but it's still important to spay before the first heat, to protect from mammary cancer. In summer, some breeds go into heat younger, so my vet will recommend and earlier spay for some, but not all.

Everyone has always thought my pets were skinny, that's only because they only know what fat looks like. As long as the ribs aren't showing and the hips aren't sharp, they are healthy. Shorter hair really shows how sleek they can be, and the rolypoly puppy doesn't show up on them much. But the legs sure do! I bet once Brie gets over her illness, she will round up a little bit anyway.

This is all good stuff to know!