# Spine sticking out?



## coco_little_bear (May 30, 2012)

I noticed that Lilo's lower spine has started sticking out recently. You can feel it when petting her and it has also become a bit visible. I know that you should feel the ribs at a healthy weight, but is being able to feel the spine normal too? Coco was so round and muscular, I never felt hers. lol

She's eating well and is at a good weight btw. I posted a thread a few weeks ago about her losing weight, but I think my scale at home must have been malfunctioning... because I took her to the vet to be weighed the other day and she actually put on quite a bit, she's 1.9kg now.


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## LouiseyC (Jan 15, 2013)

My Milo was the same up until a couple of months ago! He is one year old on the 19th, so maybe it is her age? She may just need to fill out. I too was really worried about Milo, I took him to the vets but she said he wasn't an unhealthy weight and it just looked worse than it actually was. You could see his spine too. He wasn't like it when he first came home, so maybe he was just losing a bit of puppy fat?


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## coco_little_bear (May 30, 2012)

Oh that's good to know! That's what I suspected, that she might have lost her puppy fat, but hasn't filled out yet. She wasn't like that when we first got her either. You know how the internet is though... anything you research comes up with the worst case scenarios so I thought I should ask on here. hehe


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## Wiz (Feb 2, 2013)

My little polo is such a piglet you can't see his spine or feel it but juniors is the opposite He is 8 months older but very fussy eater you can feel his spine and hips How's things with you now 


Sent from Petguide.com Free App


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## SarahJG (May 25, 2013)

I don't know for sure - I'm no expert - but I agree it might be that Lilo's dropping the puppy fat. At 7 months, Frodo has also really gone lean and streamlined recently. He's a completely different body shape to Florrie: where she's quite sturdy and compact, he's built like a mini whippet (she's bred to KC standards, and he isn't). Because I'm feeding a semi-raw diet, I did worry that he wasn't getting all the nutrients he needed, but he was weighed at the vet's a week ago, and she thinks he's fine. He's now 6 lbs on the dot, and you can feel but not see his ribs. I think it's probably normal, and the extent to which the spine protrudes is probably due to the body shape of the individual dog. Someone on the forum who is more experienced than me may correct me if I'm wrong!


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## coco_little_bear (May 30, 2012)

Yeah, I guess I'll have to wait and see how she develops during the next few months. Coco was very round and sturdy too. She was very muscular for a chihuahua, probably due to being 1/8 miniature jack russell. I could feel but not see her ribs too, but never felt her spine. Lilo has a very different body shape. Saying that, I looked at pictures of Coco when she was 6 months old yesterday and she had a skinny lanky phase too, though not as bad.  



Wiz said:


> How's things with you now


If I'm honest it's been a difficult summer, but it's getting better slowly. Thanks for asking. Today marks 4 months since Coco died and it still hurts so much. I've felt like there's a massive hole in my life ever since. We've come a long way with Lilo and she's turning into such a good dog, but the lack of affection (at least compared to Coco) means we feel like there's something missing even if we love her. So I think a second puppy is in the cards. We've been having serious problems with our housemate too which hasn't helped... but we're moving at the end of the month so hopefully there will be a fresh start soon.


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## Tink (Oct 14, 2009)

Jazz is very lean compared to Tango. You can feel every vertebrae and every rib and the lower vertebrae are more pronounced than the higher ones.

She's extremely healthy, but burns off the calories quickly because she's overall more active than Tango. They get the same amount of exercise, but even normal activities like playing, jumping on and off the couch, running around the house etc. Jazz will take two steps to every one of Tango's! She is never still. Tango is at his ideal weight but definitely has more padding than Jazz does. They're just different.


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