How much should we be feeding our new skinny dog?

Maybe 3 or 4 cups. I give a cup or two of science diet and then some dry food.

I would feed 4 cups in the morning and 4 cups again at night till you see the vet.

Keep in mind that she may have worms contributing to her condition. Your vet will want a stool sample.

CONGRATS!

I thought in the beginning you could fill the bowl of dry food and let your dog eat and see how much he needs. But monitor so he doesn’t get himself sick. I am no expert though. I hope you get this figured out.

Congrats on the new pet. And thanx for adopting!

She will eat whatever she is given, and the feeding amounts on most bags are fairly generous, because that way they sell more food.

I hope this doesn’t start flame wars, but I’m not crazy about Science Diet either. Look for a food in which the ingredients listed first are meat and meat by-products, and where grain is farther down the list (I feed EVO, which is grainless, but expensive, and you don’t have to be as nuts as I am)

Let your dog slowly come back to proper weight by raising her caloric intake above the normative by a relatively conservative amount each day, perhaps in the form of animal fat. Cat food is not a healthy dog diet, but a half can of cat food a day, ¼ can mixed into each feeding of dry food will add calories and protein, and most of the nutrition will be coming from the dog food.

@Dog makes in important point about parasites: not only intestinal worms, but test for heartworm, too.

Kudos for adopting. I hope she becomes a wonderful member of the family. A lab/bloodhound is a really interesting mix of capabilities and behaviors – sounds like a really cool dog.

@pdworkin I’m just curious- do you have veterinary background?

And thanks, everyone. We really wanted a dog who needed a home. This poor girl had been in the shelter for over a month and is super sweet, mellow, beautiful, already knows some commands, and has only peed on the floor once :). I can’t imagine why people wouldn’t rescue.

If he doesn’t he is damn smart.

No, not at all, but my girlfriend is blind and has a Seeing Eye dog guide, so we are very conscious of dog health issues, as we wish to extend Jet’s life and health as much as possible. And of course, all this obsessive care slops over onto our pet doggy, Katie, too.

pretends to be a shelter doggy so @pdworkin will adopt me. }:^P

Keep this in mind also, bloat or torsion is a big problem in deep chested dogs and feeding huge portions at one time is a suspect in its cause. Better to feed smaller portions 2 or 3 times a day and use a dish that discourages scarfing, that is another suspect. Some say feed dry others say add water. Most food is extruded these days so swelling is not too big a problem, but it seems to me common sense says add a little water.

I don’t like dry foods in general so I don’t know the better brands but @pdworkin is definitely right about searching for one that has more meat and less grain which is another suspect in the bloat/torsion problem. Raw or Barf diets are the best but require more planning.

Sounds like an interesting mix, bet she is a big floppy critter. I have always liked bloodhounds.

And really don’t pack too much weight on her, it is not necessarily a bad thing to be able to see some vertebrae and ribs showing. Labs and big hounds can also develop hip probs so on the skinny side is preferable.

aww congrats, I saw the pics..so cute!

Just feed her like crazy until the ribs go away. Then follow the directions on the bag of food.

Sounds like a nice dog! I always added water to dry food, when I used it… I have been feeding my guys a raw diet for 9+ years. I think you would be better off feeding several smaller meals over the day than one big one. I also don’t think much of Science Diet. And yes, definitely bring a stool sample to the vet when you go. My female Lab is 75lb & lean; bloodhounds are a bit bigger than Labs, so your girl is definitely underweight, but you already knew that. :-) Good luck & enjoy your new friend!

Thanks again, everyone. :) We just love her so far and are super happy at how well she’s behaving and how sweet she is.
We decided to feed her 3 cups in the morning and 3 at night until we talk to the vet.
We did some dog food research last night and decided to slowly switch from Science Diet to a food that’s called Chicken Soup for The Pet Lover’s Soul (unfortunate name). Does anyone have thoughts on that food? It’s chock full of meat, no by-products, and lots of veggies. We hope she likes it, although I think she’d eat whatever we gave her!

@rooeytoo What kind of bowl discourages scarfing?

There are dishes designed to slow the dog down: link It always seemed to me that adding water to the dry food slowed them down quite a bit. If the water wasn’t soaked into the food, they would be drinking as well as eating, & if it was all soaked in, the food would be mushy & hard to Hoover. Also, even though it’s always advised to change their food gradually, not all dogs need it. Better safe than sorry, I guess, but the transition from dry commercial food to homemade raw food seems to go much more smoothly if done ‘cold turkey’.

Feed her twice a day until she sees the vet, especially if she is eating well.