My 6-month-old Shar Pei is skinny despite eating. What can I do?

A fully grown female Shar Pei should weight between 40-55 pounds, so at six months of age, she should be weighing around 3/4 of her adult weight. Given her weight now, I would say that she may be underweight, but without seeing her in person, I can't say for sure. I would recommend taking her into the vet who can let you know if she is too skinny. I would make sure that she is being fed a puppy formulated food, as she needs more calories, protein, and calcium in order to grow.

There is not a photograph attached to this post. If she is too thin, I recommend to increase her food intake. Also make sure she is current on her deworming medication. Puppies at her age are lanky, they are like teenagers so being thin is normal. They don’t generally begin to fill out until closer to one year of age. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

I see that Hazel is around six months of age. It could be that she is teething, and it is painful for her to eat. You can try offering her wet food, or you can soften her dry food by soaking it in gently warmed low sodium beef or chicken broth, or warm water. I would try these methods first, and if she still isn't eating a lot, then I would take her into the vet for an exam.

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Smokey. The average American dog is quite overweight. So if you have one at a healthy weight, it will usually look too thin. You want a thin covering over the ribs when you run your hands along his sides. He should have a waist the curves in from the top and size views. There is a one through nine scale of body condition scores. A healthy weight is a four or five. Every dog food contains a different amount of calories per cup. At six months of age, he should still eat puppy food. Look at the side of the food bag for feeding recommendations. Keep in mind, these are typically too high for most dogs. His weight looks great in your picture, but it obviously hard to tell for sure. Your current feeding amount is likely adequate. I hope this information helps! https://www.justrightpetfood.com/blog/dog-body-condition-score

You should have Zena examined by your veterinarian to make sure she is healthy. At the same time you can get her wormed (worms could be a reason for not gaining weight), and vaccinated. You say her dam and sire did not look healthy....there could be a congenital problem that could keep her from gaining weight. Feed her a good quality complete puppy food for medium to large dogs and feed her according to the instructions on the bag.

Hello. Genetics can be pretty tricky to interpret in dogs, especially if each parent was a combination of breeds. As long as Bella is eating & drinking well, active & engaged with all around her, I would not be too concerned about how she looks when compared to her litter mates. Is she up to date on her vaccines, wormed on a regular basis & on heartworm preventative? If she is well cared for, eats a name brand food & does not seem overly hungry, then changing her food will not probably change much. She is still young, & truthfully, staying a little thinner is actually healthier than being overweight. If you are concerned, a good evaluation by your veterinarian would confirm if there are any issues to be dealt with. But, all sounds pretty normal. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

I would recommend a really good deworming since he is young. However it would be best to take a fecal to the vet to determine if he has parasites and if so what kind. If he does not have any parasites I would recommend a food change. I would try a basic diet like purina, royal canine, or science diet puppy food.