shocking experience at dog park
 

I took my dog to the park yesterday and there were 7 Yorkies there! It was really interesting to see how different they all looked. Mine was the biggest there at 8.4 pounds.

One of the little ones was a really pretty male. He was very friendly and came over to meet me. I picked him up and was shocked at how skinny he was. There was no meat on him any where. Just ribs and spine and hip bones. His little tummy was sucked up nearly to his spine.

I must have shown my shock on my face because the owner started saying " I know he is skinny but I feed him a ton. I feed him cat food. The vet says he is fine. We thought he had a liver shunt, but the vet says he is fine"

This little dog is OBVIOUSLY not fine. I am surprised he had the strength to run around! If she is really trying to feed him as much as he will eat then something else is wrong with him and he can't live much longer.

She pointed out several times to the other dog owners that hers was the smallest. That and her comment that the vet says he was fine makes me worried that she hasn't taken this dog to the vet and is just not feeding him enough. I wished I had a bit of food to see if he snatched it up. She was with a man that had a Sharpei (sp?) that was even a little pudgy, but that doesn't mean that she wouldn't be trying to keep the weight and size down on the Yorkie.

It just broke my heart. I wanted to stick him under my shirt and sneak him home with me.

poor thing!! People always remark that bella looks like she doesnt eat either, but shes always eating!! I would go back and sneak the dog a couple treats;)

can you feel all her bones? I can feel Daisy's bones, but I also feel lots of muscle and her tummy is higher than her ribs, but not that much. I have to press firmly to feel her pelvis and her spine does not seem to be protruding. Is that how your dog feels?

This dog had a shiny cost and bright eyes, but there is no way his size is normal.

No i guess your right:) The only thing i can really feel now is bella's backbone. Poor thing!! I wonder what you can do the little guy....

I wonder why she was feeding catfood? That's strange. I think she wants a teeniw yorkie. That poor baby.

YAH.... thats just wrong....:thumbdown:mad:

Cat food & Yorkie's don't mix!!!:eek:
There is too much protein in cat food for Yorkies. I have heard it's not good for the kidneys and liver. The poor thing may have some kidney issues. I think (not sure) that too much protein depletes the muscle tone on animals and they can't keep weight on. Poor baby, if the "vet" is saying he is fine....then she needs a new vet.

I don't even think she has taken that baby to a vet. The lady may just be saying that so that she doesn't look bad.:(

~Kathy:animal-pa

did you ask why the heck she was feeding cat food?

Doesn't surprise me. Some people are just idiots.

My MIL just adopted a yorkie (hairless!) a few weeks ago. The foster mom was only feeding him an ounce of food a day in order to keep him small.

I don't know why people feed cat food to a dog:(, I remember a friend (ex-coworker) got a yorkie and his little girl told me that they feeding cat food, the can one I told him NO,NO big nono:mad:, thank God that they listen to me :thumbup:

I don't know about the excessive protein. I feed my cats and my Yorkie a prepared raw food diet that is essentially all meat. The kind I buy has ground bone in it too, but is mostly muscle and organ meat. HUMANS can have kidney problems from too much protein. Kidney stones are so common with people on high protein low carb diets that doctors call then Adkins stones. But the digestive systems of dogs and people are very different.

I agree that she made the comments she did so she didn't look bad.

I didn't, I was pretty stunned actually. You can't see how skinny this dog is because of the long hair. Touching him made my mouth hang open.

I assume that the reasoning is a finicky dog would be more attracted to cat food because it has such a strong scent. Cats are typically more picky and they need to be enticed to eat kibble with strong (artificial) scents.

Thank God for my healthy big girl!!

OMG! Why are some people so insensitive?! Is your doggy park monitored by a park ranger? If so, next time you see them I'd ask the park ranger to identify her and have the ASPCA or animal control called asap. If the dog survives that long.

I can't remember who replied that their MIL adopted a hairless yorkie that the foster was only feeding an ounce of food a day to, but that foster needs to be turned in too. No quality rescue group would stand a foster with holding food to keep the dog small. If it's to keep it's weight healthy then ok, but not to keep it small. Please, have you MIL talk to her rescue organization.

its not healthy or normal or ok to feed a dog cat food im sure she does not inform her vet of this either at all!

My Edie is 8lbs. There has been occasion where I have held 3 lb Yorkies, and they seem very skinny. But in reality, they are healthy. There is a huge difference between and 8 lb and 3 lb Yorkie, but both can be healthy. I think maybe you are just not used to how a 3 lb Yorkie feels.

I do think they should be on dog food, but did you say her vet knew about the cat food?

It is ok for a cat to eat a little dog food but it is not ok for a dog to eat cat food. Many years ago when I was stupid, I had a very picky Spitz. I fed him cat food because he would eat it. When I told my vet he really came down on me. He said it is just too rich for a dog. My dog was much healthier when I forced him to switch to dog food. My last dog before Sadie was a Shih Tzu. She would occasionally "sneak" the cat's food. I caught her every time because she would throw it all up. I don't give the cat too much greif if she sneaks some of the dog food, but I keep the cat food at a level that Sadie can't reach. For me it's up there with onions and other things that a dog just can't have.

Oh my!!!!! Thank God your MIL adopted him and got him away from an abusive situation.

cat food
 

My vet told me to keep cat food away from the pups...it's bad for them, not the right nutrition.....bad bad bad lady, shes lying:thumbdown

We have a healthy 7lb male, and a healthy skinny 3lb female. She is TINY. You can feel all of her bones and I guess to others she may look sick. She is healthy though, and she eats a TON. She just has really high metabolism. So the size of the dog wouldn't really be much of a concern in itself. But she feeds cat food? That's strange, and I can't imagine it having the nutrion that a dog needs.

I quoted her exactly, so you know as much as I do.

And as far as the weight: no this dog was emaciated. I have held many kinds of animals and so am using my whole life experience, not just comparing him to my bigger Yorkie. For what it is worth you can feel my dogs ribs easily as well but her body is muscular and the ribs are not pronounced. This dog was a skeleton with skin.

I free feed my boys, and my Fletcher is soooo skinny! He eats though, he always has food down for him, he eats Taste of the Wild. So good food, always available yet, he is all skin and bones! :( I did talk to the vet and he is healthy, he is just soooo skinny, you can feel his spine! I hate it! I would hope that noone would assume that I neglect/abuse or mistreat him in anyway. It would break my heart!

I've always heard that dogs eating cat food is a big no-no also. We feed our outside cats after the dogs are put in for the night just so that they don't eat the cat's food. I wonder if her vet knows she's doing that.

Cat food is okay for some dogs in some circumstances.
It is higher in protein (which may not be a problem) and fat (which could be a problem but not necessarily). It can be done but I would do it under veterinary supervision only. A very popular animal nutritionist sometimes recomends feeding canned cat food to dogs to help them gain weight.

If the Yorkie isn't being underfed, I'd wonder about EPI.

Maybe this is the case with this dog too. As I said their other dog, the Sharpei was even a little pudgy. It still doesn't seem to be "normal" for mammals though, it does not occur in nature in well nourished animals. Is this an effect of breeding little bitty dogs?

I wonder if the vet knows she feeds the dog cat food? Different animals have different needs.

Wel having a 3 lb yorkie and a few in the 6-7 lb range ,I can honestly say my 3lber eats a lot of high quality food and he never gets over 3.5.He feels like a bag of bones but I promise he does eat ,alot of it is genetics he is a well built small dog.
However feeding cat food is a no-no.

I about this, when I got Laci she was just 12 weeks old and the breeder has a little bit of origen cat food mixed in with her puppy formula, I always wondered why ???