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My border collie bitch is really thin at 5 & 3/4 months old


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Hi I'm Ryan from Malta. Well I got my girl which is 5 3/4 months old and weights less than 10kg (8.7kg) and 17 inches height(shoulders) and I take her usually with me at the fields after work/school if I am not going for a run the thing is that some while ago while I wasn't paying attention I saw her eating potatoes along with the dirt. I started de worming her again with Drontal plus as vet suggested. Though no worms came out tho but I think she vomited during the night as I gave her the pill y'day. I am really confused about my next move I feed her arden grange and she loves it, I had a hard time finding the right food for her.

 

PS: I attached some pics of Maya taken yesterday.thanks

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She runs all day even herds the chicken during the day as I let them free roam she works an average of 3-4 hours daily herding the chicken on the fields which she does excellently after being trained with a professional . Could it be because she's sick that she is so skinny? I am really worried. She gets 2-3 cups of puppy food daily mixed with some performance arden grange.

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Try posting this question under the health and genetics section, you will get more responses. This section is for stock dog training questions.

 

p.s- If your chickens are free range, there should be no reason why your dog is working them. I would not allow her to work the chickens on her own, I might be reading your post wrong, but a dog working livestock alone, especially one this young, not a good habit to get into. The dog should learn to leave them alone unless you need to move them somewhere.

 

Samantha

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When I went at the vet tuesday to get my Naddi spayed, the vet told me she was perfect weight for her age and height. She's about 16.5" to the shoulder and she weight only 9Kg. She's 6 months.

 

Well my dog isn't herding or anything, but I hope it help you see that, even for a pretty active BC, your bitch seem fine :)

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Puppies are often skinny - what they eat goes into growth rather than putting on muscle. They only start to fill out when the growth spurt is over.

 

For example, out tall BC was his current height at 8 months when we got him and weighed 14.5 kg. He is now more like 19kg and not fat at all.

 

.

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My dog was really skinny when she was younger. Finally at about 3 she started to put on more weight.

 

I am taking care of an English Setter right now that is really thin because she never stops running. They feed her a lot because she just burns calories like crazy. She probably wieghs about 40 pounds and she gets a heaping scoop of food in the morning and 1 cup and a whole can of dog food in the evening.

 

I also took care of a German Short Hair Pointer that was really thin and it was because she never stopped running. They had to start feeding her a lot more, too.

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Thank you for the responses, currently I am taking her to herding classes. She's doing great now. I de wormed her again and well I found one big worm when she vomited two days after taking the pill. I have to de worm her again next week. She also gained some weight and it can be easily seen now.

 

Also I noticed she likes dry food containing fish, though can I feed her adult hood food instead of junior puppy or will it compromise her growth? She likes Arden grange sensitive/ Performance/fresh salmon of rice mixture daily over Arden grange junior ie she doesn't like orijen/ royal canine also orijen is a bit over priced but she's doing well I noticed a huge difference in a week now.

 

I really wish to thank you all, I've been going thru the replies and it's been very helpful. By the way she only herds the chickens back when they go near the water reservoir as they could risk falling in there and this winter has been rather a drought one compared to previous winters.

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At almost 6 months, I think she is well past eating puppy food. I've heard many people say that puppy food has too much protein and if it's fed for too long, it can cause bones to grow too fast, creating joint problems. Anyhow, I tend to switch over to adult food at about 3 months and they do fine on it.

~ Gloria


 

Also I noticed she likes dry food containing fish, though can I feed her adult hood food instead of junior puppy or will it compromise her growth?

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Also I noticed she likes dry food containing fish, though can I feed her adult hood food instead of junior puppy or will it compromise her growth?

 

You should try Acana Pacifica wich is made of 60% fish. It's an all stage food. Does smell very very fishy tho... I feed Naddi Acana Grassland, which is lamb and duck, and for the small amount of fish it contain, geez.... the cat get attract each time I open the bag :P

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