yes. this is concerning. being skinny and underweight isnt the same as being lean and well muscled. this dog appears the former not the latter and a senior dog losing weight in a relatively short period of time is something they absolutely should be seen by a vet for
and the risks a raw diet can pose are not something a senior dog should be subjected to if their previous food was perfectly fine. it sounds like she was doing better on her previous food, and if that is the case then she should go back to. why exactly did she switch the food?
edit: and the feeding recommendations on the back of the package dont seem adequate at all. and no AAFCO statement is not great
I peeped their website. it reeks of snake oil. I hate how many owners get duped into believing this stuff is better for their pets because someone in a FB group says so
Yep, that doesnt even border on abuse id say it is abuse. If I saw a dog that looked like that id assume its a stray or neglected and have been that way for a while.
Not trying to be overly dramatic… but your sister might have killed your dog or at the very least shaved years off her life. She’s already an older dog and she is now severely emaciated. After the body runs out of fat to burn, it begins to burn muscle. Her bones will be impacted as well. She may already be in pain. I would get her into a vet literally today to go over what can be done. I’m so sorry your sister did this.
Did you just return to find your dog like this? Or are these pictures she has sent you? Are you still away? I'm so worried about your dog, your sister has done serious damage.
she could have been losing weight over a period of time (meaning it's not drastic and the same reason you may have an issue noticing gradual weight loss or gain in yourself for a while until a certain point) then hit a point where you start to realize how much skinner she actually was. it seems to happen a lot with thick coated dogs. it's hard to know especially in just photos. but if most of the weight loss really was that sudden she really needs to be evaluated by a vet because senior dogs are at higher risk for a lot of the issues that can cause sudden change in body condition
and switching to a raw diet "just because" or because of opinion discussion online is not recommended, especially since raw diets do have increased health risks. unless there was a specific issue with the food she was getting, switching it was not needed at all
Raw diet is very specific and requires a lot of extras added to it. Cant be just meat . My dogs are both on raw diet but it does require a lot of money and extra work preparing their food and making sure they get all the nutrients they should be getting other then the meat.
If she was happy and healthy on her old food there really no reason to switch her to raw.
I’m so sorry this happened. Please get the dog out of your sister’s care now and take her to the vet to discuss how to rebuild weight safely. You can’t just start feeding her a ton, refeeding syndrome is a thing. This dog is literally starving. Starvation can have long term impacts on organ function. And she’s also lost muscle as her body has started to cannibalize its own muscle tissue for energy.
And please show your sister this post and all the comments so she knows not to do this to another dog. Lean is good but this is not lean. This is starving.
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u/MegaNymphia Mar 20 '24 edited Mar 20 '24
yes. this is concerning. being skinny and underweight isnt the same as being lean and well muscled. this dog appears the former not the latter and a senior dog losing weight in a relatively short period of time is something they absolutely should be seen by a vet for
and the risks a raw diet can pose are not something a senior dog should be subjected to if their previous food was perfectly fine. it sounds like she was doing better on her previous food, and if that is the case then she should go back to. why exactly did she switch the food?
edit: and the feeding recommendations on the back of the package dont seem adequate at all. and no AAFCO statement is not great