My mom has a rescue greyhound with no known history. She is painfully thin - not just greyhound skinny but dangerous skinny :( she is also very lathargic and 'slow' when she's doing anything.

I did worry that she might have cancer but I took her to the vets a couple of weeks ago and he tells me it's her teeth rotting in her head. She can't really eat very well (even softened food) and has the worst breath you could imagine. To be honest she smells like a dead thing
:( 

She needs to have the teeth removed but the vet won't do anything untill she doubles her weight. Of course that's next to impossible with a dog who refuses to eat!

Any ideas before it's too late for Sally?

Could you not purify all her meals
you could also fed her chicken soup,rice pudding
add beef suet etc etc.
Keep her warm as being thin she will use up any reserves  just trying to stay warm.

I agree with Carolyn. You might add a little potato to the diet also. Possibly add a little Pilchards in Tomato Sauce into the diet occasionally to make it smell nice ans encourage her to eat. I would reduce the exercise right down for the time being to avoid her expending energy that way. Obviously the bad breath comes from the teeth.

Regards, John

Saluki who was on this board for a while some time ago also rescued a greyhound in a similar state.  Hers also had arthritis as well.  Once the teeth had been removed her hound improved and I know she also did other things as well for him but have not heard recently.

Has your vet taken a blood sample to run an anaesthic risk on her or is he just going by her size?  How about a liquid diet - puree something like eggs, liver (not too much or she will get the runs), milk (tins of condenced) , rice, chicken so it is really sloppy and see if she will lap it up.  Your vet will be able to prescribe something like this for you as Waltham do it in their recovery packs but it is much cheaper (AND you will know exactly what is going in it) to make your own.

If she is stiff then incorporate crushed glucosamine tablets and a little fish oil.  Herbs such as mint and parsley should help with her breath (a little).

Tohme or Christine (Spain) will probably be along soon and can probably give more advise for Sally's specific requirements

Christine

She gets basically no exercise as it is but I've suggested the menu change to my parents and they are willing to try it for a while to see if she improves. I hope she picks up soon though as it's awful to watch and mom kept her last dog alive until he was blind, deaf and incontinant :( :( :( I know she loved him but it would have been kinder to have him pts sooner.

Hi, don`t know what I can apart from what`s been said already. I helped with a greyhound rescued who was living wild & was very underwight a while ago but she didn`t have probs with her teeth like yours. I`d do what the others say & puree/liquidise all her food so she can lap it up, thin it out as necessary with chicken/beef stock. Cooked lentils in home made chicken/beef stock, lentils are high protein, add beaten raw egg, crushed clove of garlic & organic honey to it.If she can`t take that can you get hold of goats milk? see if she will drink that with garlic/honey added. Full fat cottage cheese & or yoghurt(goats) with any homemade stock. You need to build her up first then worry bout weight, but you can start her now with echinacea tabs & 500grs buffered vitC tabs 3 x daily asap. I`ll have a look in one of me books & see for anything else could help if you want :)

Christine, Spain.

I would definately get a warm fleecy coat on her to help her energy conservation, that way everything they put into her will go to building her up.  I would also feed her little and often and especially last thing at night - that way she can spend all night digesting her food and putting on weight ;)  In addition to the above mentioned foods they might like to consider something like Burns Canine extra/ Burns Canine Active (VAT free) or one of the other better quality foods soaked in a rich stock or milk to help her put the weight on without having to chew.  Its sounds like this Greyhound has had some much needed luck at last.

Hope this helps
Regards
Dill

Mom is  saying that it would have been easier to take one of my kids and give me the dog - but then I offered the 2 year old and she has promised to try the pureed foods for Sally ;)

Hopefully she'll pick up after a couple of weeks on this superdiet and the vet can get those teeth sorted.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions. :)