r/beagle • u/3DDoxle • 13h ago
Underweight beagle?
Hilltop - recent (Fall '26) 23.7lbs
Grass/Water 1yr ago (late summer '25) ~20lbs
Beagling his bro (March '25) ~18lbs
My concern is how skinny he looks today. He's also yoked for a 24lbs, 13" beag. He's easily jumping onto counter-tops with all 4 paws landing on top.
The other 15" 33lbs beag and 32lbs dox mix get 2/3rd cup of fresh pet, 2/3rd cup of fromm kibble, or 180g total, per day. They get a few grams of cheese sprinkled on, some very very light table scraps like a piece of bread crust from breakfast.
The white guy is getting 25% more of everything but he's ribs look a little too visible imo. He had worms when he got him in march 25, but not since. He's got a checkup soon as well.
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u/yandxll 13h ago
I’m a vet tech and he’s looking really good. Great job getting him to gain weight and keeping your beagles looking super healthy! My boy is a 33lb beagle and gets a cup of kibble along with duck jerky and treats. Fresh pet has high fat so if you increase that or the kibble he should gain a little more weight and hide the ribs. Though he looks like he has a more athletic build so a little bit of ribs showing is normal! He looks very well taken care of 🩷
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u/3DDoxle 12h ago
Ty It's hard to tell if he's genuinely hungry or just beagling
It gets very cold and snowy here, and the food has be tracked pretty closely to make sure it's keeping up or down with activity levels or we'll all get chunky
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u/radulosk 7h ago
Agree that true beagle physique is slimmer than most owners are used to but seeing the ribs is an indication of perhaps a tad underweight. Best to go by the feel of a vet though. I have a pair of ex research beagles who are small framed and at 7.5 kg the vet says they are perfect. For your beag perfection may be less than 0.5 kg if anything. Trust the hands of a vet not the eyes of Reddit to determine a healthy weight when you are already closer than average.
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u/3DDoxle 2h ago
My vet has a few hounds as well, but she tends to err on a half pound over vs a half pound under if that makes sense. I think all ribs visible most of the time is a bit much. But on the other hand I've never had a light color or extremely athletic dog.
We're tuning food every month or two to compensate for activity data from tractive. The 9½ yr old is still catching Frisbees and rabbits lol
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u/miserablenovel 13h ago
Is he full grown? He may just need more calories until he finishes growing. Ask your vet. Mine said this level of rib visibility was fine in a puppy as long as meals were regular and more than once a day but that was 18 years ago
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u/3DDoxle 12h ago
I think so, he was 2 in July, so about 2⅓ yrs now
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u/TheFuckboiChronicles 13h ago
Mine looked this for like a year after she had some gastrointestinal issues. Vet said to add in fiber (wheat bran and benefiber) to her meals because her digestive system being out of whack was just not absorbing nutrients. Fixed the issue immediately and now she’s a healthy weight.
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u/3DDoxle 12h ago
Jw what were the GI issues? He had worms bad after we got him, but that was settled over a year ago.
He's never had good poops though, better but not good
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u/TheFuckboiChronicles 11h ago
Our towns irrigation water had E. coli a few years back when she was puppy, that was the issue.
But once that went away, the issues you described (improved poops but still not good) was exactly what we experienced. Apparently she was so young it just wrecked her gut biome. She also couldn’t hold it in for long, she had to go out every few hours including the middle of the night and it was always an emergency.
Might as well try adding 1tsp soluble fiber (like benefiber) and 2tbsp wheat bran to every meal. Shot in the dark of course but easy to try. I have no idea why or how that worked, but after thousands of dollars spent on specialists that’s the only recommendation we got that worked, and it started working like the next day.
Those soft and frequent poop problems have come back from time to time and reintroducing the fiber for a few weeks alongside the probiotic kibble she already eats have solved it every time.
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u/leftfootshorter 11h ago
His body may just naturally lean heavily towards the hunting dog side of things. We had a GSP like that and until she was 10 yrs old, she always showed her ribs too- but she ate plenty! I think some of them just have an amazing metabolism and since you obviously watch his diet closely, it's not due to a lack of nutrients.
In all of the photos he looks trim but the first 3 you can really see how defined his muscles are. Seems to me like you got a handsome, swole boy who loves to exercise! He sure looks happy too.
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u/No_pajamas_7 13h ago
Shes closer to a healthy weight than the vast majority of beagles. They are slimmer than most people believe.
You would be upset if she put on 1kg, but equally you wouldn't be trying to fatten her up.
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u/tmgfamtpor 3h ago
I see the ribs in photo 2 but not elsewhere. Is it just an odd angle or are they always visible? My girl is a good weight and her ribs can be visible when she’s stretching for pets and then she’s right back to looking like a potato (again good weight, just angles).
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u/vanillaraptor 12h ago
If hes under 4 or 5 yrs and active, I think he looks fit and lean. If the activity and mood are good, keep up a healthy diet! I have a terrier mix who eats like a maniac, but always has riblets showing. Gristle.
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u/Junior_Bus_2307 11h ago
Our 5-year-old beagle has always been between 25 and 27 pounds and the vet has never had any concerns over her weight.
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u/marhigha 13h ago
He doesn’t look like a full-bred beagle? What is he mixed with?