My dog Koda is 11 mos old and seems to be vary skinny, He eats Purina dog chow which is a higher priced dog food for my area. He seems to be acting fine vary happy and bouncy but his weight still is of some concern to me. We took him to the vet where he had all his shots and de-worming meds about 4 mo ago. Im not sure if its where he's shedding so much this time of year that is making him look so thin of if i need to switch to a different type of food but any advice you all have would be great.. Thanks

While Purina is generally expensive, it's not that good of a food.

Check out this:
http://www.dogfoodadvisor.com/

Maybe you'll find a better food that's also affordable around you c:

A better quality food might help with keeping weight on.

How old is your Husky? They are often lean, lanky, and generally skinny for some time when they're young. Around 3 years old they'll start holding on to the weight. As long as you can't see the ribs and generally can't feel them during normal petting, they're ok.

Shedding also makes them look a mess! Mishka is growing back in but she looks horrible during a blow!

As Caitlin said, Purina is not a good food at all. It's full of fillers that your dog really can't digest and they use meat byproduct as their protein source which means you get whatever went into the grinder (beaks, feet, etc). There are MUCH better foods out there that are still very reasonably priced. www.dogfoodadvisor.com is a great site and will give you lots of good information on food. You ideally want to go with a 4,5, or 6 star rated food, and you'll generally need to feed less (fewer fillers) so the cost will even out in the end.

As far as the weight goes, adolescent Huskies tend to be on the lanky side. We get comments from time to time about how skinny our girl is, but really she's at a good weight. The actual weight is dependent on the size of the dog (ours weighs around 45 lbs and is 22" tall), but as long as you can't see the ribs or hip sticking out he's probably fine.

I think using the word "husky" to describe an overweight person or a size of clothing to fit little chunky children has planted the idea in our heads that huskies should be "husky". They are actually a rather lean breed.

As others have said, 11 months old puts you right in those lanky, "teenage" years. Even though I do not think Purina makes a very good dog food, I believe the problems you would see from feeding Purina would be OVERweight issues. All that corn, for example, that is used as a filler is just a starchy carbohydrate that would put on flabby weight over time (just my thoughts). A food with more meat protein and a better source of that meat will help build healthy muscles!

My sister-in-law keeps commenting on how skinny my dogs are. I finally had to educate her that dogs are suppose to have a waist line. Her comment back to me was she is so used to seeing big fluffy huskies in the movies.

I would check out that food link, my first reply is always do you belong to costco and if so do they carry nature doman there? Its a good grain free food for those on a buget.

2nd thin is as stated you have a teenager on you hands, like most teen boys that eat and eat and never gain, that a husky for you at this age. He will "fill out " after 2yrs old like most men do and will realize they can't eat like they used to! Pleas don't over feed your husky, its goo to see a waist line in them. Take a look at all our members huskies and for the most part they are all great examples of healthy huskies at the age they are. A huskies coat thickness will trick the eye as well, that why tring to feel for ribs and hipboans is always better then just looking.

Sorry for any typos, on phone and treadmill!

Oh and Welcome!

Anything seen on tv for dog food is 99% of the time crappy... It's like human food, all u see is fast food all over tv, definately not good foru, it's like that w dog food.. I've bounced around like 4 foods for looking for the best and cheapest and settled on taste of the wild.

Like everyone has said, huskies are still skinny at 11 months, so unless he's super-skinny it's nothing to worry about.

I may have mis-read your post, but you might want to talk to your vet about a de-worming schedule, since it's not a one-off thing. De-worming against roundworms is usually once a month, and if you live in an area with heartworm that would be once-a-month too. The same tablet would do both so you could talk to your vet about what is best for you. I'm not suggesting this is a problem, it's just something that everyone has to think about.

Thank you everyone for your advice, I have to say that it has set our mind at ease in realizing that Koda is still a healthy pup that will fill out more in time. And thank you for the advice on the dog food as well we will be looking into finding a different brand

Ghost i will look into that monthly de-worming tablet thank you

Usually the heartworm medication will take care of roundworms.

We use Trifexis, and it does take care of both heart and intestinal worms, as well as fleas and ticks.