Skinny Skye

Hi there was just wondering if anyone has experienced any dog thats like my Skye.

Skye is a BC and is quite tall for a collie and weighs just under 16 kg. She will be 7 in two days and has always been very skinny. By skinny I mean you can feel most bones in her spine and all her ribs its horrible.

We have took her to the vet countless times in her seven years about her weight and the vet has said that she is underweight but its not a health problem causing this, as she is a very healthy, fit and quite muscular despite her skinniness. At every check up we are told the same, they say since her weight doesn't really change it's nothing to worry about.

The thing is in my house there are 3 BC's in total and Skye is the skinny mini! At first we thought maybe the other two were eating her food but our dogs are typical BC's in that they are grazers so when you put food down to them they will pick at it throughout the day. Also none of them are particularly interested in food, they will take it or leave it, even the nicest of treats! They are not food aggresive or food possesive AT ALL. Skye never really wants to eat when she is in the house although it drastically changes when we are at training, so much so that I can't train her with food as she harrasses people badly for it! But take the same food inside and she is not interested what so ever.

The vet suggested that maybe she simply was not interested in the food we were giving her as we were simply feeding dry food so we went from dry > different brands of dry > dry mixed with wet > all wet > natural diets > raw meat and veg > cooked meat and veg! And she would be interested the first time she got it then the interest would dissappear by the second time. So we went back to feeding her Beta Active dry food as this seemed to be a slight favourite.

My dog then suggested that we were fussing over her too much so we should put her dinner down for a couple of hours then lift it whether she has ate it or not, which we tried and it made no difference she simply didn't care whether she got it or not.

The vet then suggested that maybe she felt intimidated by the other two dogs as they get fed in the same place, which we thought was unlikely considering Meg is 16 and is completely unaware to anything going on around her and Jazz is submissive to Skye and would not force her way in to eat Skyes food. But anyway the vet suggested we feed her in a different place to the other two. So we tried feeding her in the living room while the others were getting fed in the kitchen... no response, then we tried feeding her outside... no response, we even tried putting the other two outside and keeping her in but still no response.

Sorry for rambling on a bit, well a lot haha, but anyone experienced a dog like this?! Or is my dog the first dog who is self conscious about her weight?!

my parents dog is exactly the same, she is a Collie X. Has always been skinny, never really interested in food (made her a nightmare to train!) Always has loads of energy and is quite skittish. But she is fine, in fact she is now 16 and does not look like an oldie at all.

Well its a relief to hear its not just Skye! The strangest part is though that she LOVES food too much when she is at her training that's the main part that baffles me! People always think Jazz (1yo) is older than Skye (7yo) haha! It's just frustrating always hearing "Don't you think she is a bit skinny?"! As if I am starving my dog!

Thank you anyway

ignore other people, as long as you know she is eating then it's ok. I'd rather have a skinny dog than a fat one! You are more likely to have her for years to come x

Precisely! Thank you! She better be here for years to come don't know how I would cope without her thanks again x

Blimey, tell that to my five BCs! I've never heard of BCs being 'grazers' and know a lot of them in the agility world. Mine get fed twice a day and wolf it down, always have done, and are always ready for treats. I would definitely try restricting meal times again, for longer this time, and see what happens. It's possible that your dogs don't attach much importance to food as it's always available. Perhaps even try no food at all for a day?

HAHA! Well this is what I hear from all my BC buds at agility training and the breeder which I got my youngest off said they are grazers as well. But then again if one of my three did not have the same grazing attitude then I'm pretty sure they would all scoff if so that one dog didn't eat it all! I think it's mainly that all three of my dogs are really relaxed about food, eg. if I am eating something I can leave it lying on the couch and come back and the dogs won't have went near it. Maybe they just don't feel pressure from the other two to scoff it down?
We done the restricting meals thing for about 3-4 months the last time and nothing really changed, and we have used this technique more than once throughout the past 6 years she is a funny one.
The funny thing is though, the food isn't available all day, they used to get fed in the morning so we changed to feeding them at 5 after the have had their morning walk and afternoon walk therefore should be hungry! and the food gets lifted before we go to bed?
I couldn't really do no food for a day because I doubt the other two would be to chuffed (one being a young dog and the other being a very old one) haha!

I just don't know... Maybe its just the way she is.

It sounds as though you have really gone into the problem! As long as she's healthy, I wouldn't worry too much. As other posters have said, she will probably live longer! My 13 year old went for a booster yesterday and the vet said how nice it was to see an elderly dog whose weight hadn't been allowed to balloon and to keep her as she is. Mind you, she still does some agility so she's pretty fit with it!

Yeah... She is a healthy and very fit dog and her weight doesn't really fluctuate, if it did I would be more worried . I hope she does live longer! The vet always says if they got her in as a stray by looking at her lovely shiny white teeth she would put Skye's age around 3 or 4! Not bad for a 7 year old! Haha, maybe she is just a dog who is self conscious about her weight, health and fitness... ! I agree agility definitely keeps them in great shape and keeps their brain active that alone probably extends their life!

Thank you

My old rescue bc Kip was just the same - not at all interested in food. The only time he really wanted to eat was as he was about to walk out the door for a walk - then he'd be willing to bolt down a bowl of anything.

So sometimes we'd feed him directly before a walk, but if we did, we'd only take him round the block and wait for his meal to go down before he got a proper walk.

I agree with the others though, if she is healthy and happy, don't let it worry you.