I have a 14 month old female who is very underweight. She is about 32lbs and you can feel her spine and are her hip bones. Her coat is very dry and thin. But she eats a lot! Between 3 and 4 cups twice a day! Also scrambled eggs on occasion. She is eating a mid of authority and blue. She has tests negative for worms and we dewormed anyway just in case. Any ideas on why we can't get our baby to gain weight or why her coat is so bad?!

You should easily be able to feel her ribs and spine, but not see them through her coat. Huskies are a slim build breed, and if she's 14 months and 32 lbs, she may not be underweight. If you can post some pics of her from top view and side view that would help.

To improve her coat health, you could try adding fish to her diet, or fish oils.

She is my third husky. She is my biggest in stature but my lightest. She is skinny. I know that for sure. I'm just not sure why or what I can do to solve it. Are there any health issues common in huskies that I can test for? I will try to get pictures on if possible.

Huskies can be different from one to the next - there's a husky I know of that's about 2 weeks older than Stark, and he weighs way more than Stark does (they're both 19 months). I remember reading somewhere that it can take anywhere from 2 to 3 years to fill out fully - it would just depend on the genetics of their particular lines. Don't forget also, a female husky weighing anywhere from 35 - 50 lbs is still perfectly within breed standard.

What sub-brand of authority/blue are you feeding her? Perhaps if someone here has dealt with the same issue, they it would be easier to recommend something that worked for them.

I know what breed standards are and for her body size she is underweight. That is not the issue in question. I've fed her grain free authority but right now she is on large breed puppy. I have a 1.5 year old on grain free puppy authority and a 2 year old on adult lamb and rice mini chinch authority.

I'm not sure how long you've had her, but could she have maybe gone through a growth spurt recently? I've seen some dogs look really awkward after one sometimes.

When I got Kenzi she was underweight too, though she was an adult. We mixed canned dog food with her kibble, gave her slices of cheese for treats and did low impact exercise so she didn't just burn off all that we fed her. It worked good for her and she's a healthy weight now. To put weight on in a healthy manor you have to do it slowly.

I've heard fish oil for coats and I usually give Kenzi raw eggs. You may not see a lot of change in the coat until she blows it depending on what route you go. You may try and oatmeal shampoo to promote healthy skin.

hello!

We are kind of going through the same thing. Although Gus seems to have a pretty healthy coat of hair. It's pretty dense in some areas, and pretty soft. I finally got around to posting pictures here: https://www.itsahuskything.com/t11273-feeding-and-weight-gain-pics#174872

Does your pup have good bowel movements?

No growth spurt recently and she's actually lost about 3 lbs in the past month or so. I feel like the weight issue and the thin dry coat Are connected. Also, her coat wasn't like this until after she blew coat about 6 weeks ago.

Have you tried satin balls? The raw meat, oils, and fats inside homemade satin balls will help put weight on her and get her coat back in order.

http://www.holisticdog.org/Nutrition/Satinballs/satinballs.html

I would call your vet too. Maybe something is wrong inside...

We've seen two vets clinics. 4 different vets. But they keep throwing out the easy suggestions. Worms. Giardia. Growing puppy. She was a very late bloomer as far as her first heat cycle too. So Everything combined I feel like there is something going on. Just didn't know if any other husky owners had these groups of symptoms as well.

1. Underweight (but eats a lot)
Loses weight easily but doesn't gain.
2. Thin, dry coat (started after she blew coat 4-6 weeks ago)
3. Late first heat cycle (14 months)

Could you perhaps switch food? You may have to switch to a higher calorie food. All good foods are great but not all good foods are great for all dogs! What works for one, may not work for the other.

How often and how much do you feed? You may need to split her food up into 3-4 meals a day so she can digest everything better!

I'm assuming you had her tested for Giardia and it was negative, right?

Correct. She was tested for worms and giardia and tested negative but we treated anyway just in case it was a false negative. She gets 3 to 4 cups of food twice a day. Yea, she eats a lot! I may try to change food I'm just skeptical.

Hmmm... this is a real stumper, thats for sure.

I would actually split that 3-4 cups a day into 3, possibly 4 meals and put some Satin Ball recipe ontop or start feeding eggs more often.

You could try switching the food to something too. I wouldn't do too many switch ups at once though. I'd hate for her to lose any more weight whilst transitioning foods and adding a fatty supplement and separating her food into more meals. I'd try adding more meal times first, then adding a supplement in a week and if that doesn't workout in 2/3 weeks, I'd switch foods and keep adding in the supplement.

Bae eats about 3-4 cups a day (depending on how much we run/exercise) but he is very, very active and hard to keep weight on. Its kind of a lot of food for him still, so I'll be switching to a higher calorie food and using the Satin Balls as a supplement. Hopefully, he'll eat less and stay on weight!

So 3 to 4 cups is a lot for yours and I'm feeding 6 to 8?! Geeze! I'm going to try to feed more frequently and do eggs every day. If that doesn't work ill try a new food. She just doesn't do well in the adjusting stages.. Would you recommend making my own supplements or are high calorie boosters comparable? And would It be too much to do a fish oil as well? I don't want to over load her with food, eggs, fish oil, and supplements unless all those things are good for her even in combination with each other. One more thing, how do you feel about brewers yeast? Anyone out there use it?!

I didn't see the question about stool answered. How many bowel movements is she having a day and what is their consistency? All the food in the world isn't going to do a bit of good if her body can't utilize it for whatever reason which seems to be the case if a small 32 lb dog is consistently losing weight on an average 7 cups of food a day. Is she passing everything she eats right out the other end? Have you tried a simpler bland diet to determine digestibility of certain quality foods with her? Have you done a full blood panel on her yet? If not, I would start there to get a better picture of her overall health. Also, at what point did her coat and weight become an issue? Satin balls for weight gain are all well and good, but they are a quick fix, not a solution to the problem.

Sorry forgot to answer the stool question. She only goes 1 to 3 times a day and its almost always hard. (The only time I remember her having diarrhea is when she got into a friends science diet!) I noticed the coat right after she blew coat about 4 to 6 weeks ago. As for her weight, I started to feel that she was thin a few weeks before blowing coat so we started weighing her. She at one point gained three pounds and within the next week lost it. It really became noticeable when she finished blowing coat since her coat was so thin.

Do you have any pics to post yet?

No. She's in heat now so the diaper covers her hips. But let me see if I have a body shot. It's hard to tell because her hair is a little longer but let's see

is it possible she has a very high metabolism? when I adopted rosa at 13 months she was only 31 pounds. its been 3 months now and she would eat roughly the same amount as your dog but hardly put on any weight shes up to roughly 36 pounds now which is getting more ideal but I just contributed it to her having a higher metabolism than my other dogs. she reminds me so much of myself since we are both hyper skinny things who can never seeem to gain weight as far as the coat goes have you cpnsidered raw eggs? we have chickens on our property so the eggs are always plentiful here. If shes actually eating all that food I wouldnt over worry, but I would ask around with friends to maybe find a reliable vet who can give yoi a definitive answer If the ptoblem continues.

Have they done blood work and checked for endocrine issues? Eating a lot and losing weight sounds like hyperthyroid to me. That would also effect the coat.

I was wondering about thyroid issues. I wasn't sure what the symptoms of that would be other than the obvious weight issues.

I would definitely get some blood work done. If she's eating 6-8 cups a day and still significantly underweight, there is a bigger issue going on. Even with the worst quality dog food, that amount would make any pup overweight.