My 1-year-old Boxer's bones are showing. Is she underweight?

I recommend googling Purina body condition scoring chart and determining if the the degree to which you can see and feel her ribs is consistent with the lower body condition scores. If so, increasing her daily food ration slightly and re-assessing her body condition score in 2-4 weeks is advised. Good luck!

If her ribs are really sticking out and there is no fat or muscle, then see your vet. There could be a medical cause for her condition. If your vet clears her, increase the amount of food offered until she is at an appropriate weight. Ask your vet how to perform a Body Condition Score (BCS) on your dog using the 9 point scale. Ideally, she should have a waist when looked at from above. Her ribs should be seen and easily felt under a layer of fat/muscle. From the side, her chest should tuck up into her abdomen.

Some young, growing, active dogs require more calories then other dogs. If she feel she is lean then i would up the amount of food you are feeding or add in another meal per day. I typically recommend increasing the amount fed by 25%. You can spread this extra amount over the meals. You can also try supplementing some extra protein sources like chicken or ground turkey. You can also look up the calories (kcal) in her diets to figure out if she is getting enough. The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical School has a good site about determining how many calories a pet needs. If you google Ohio State pet calorie calculator it should come up. This will allow you to figure out her energy requirement (kcal/day) and compare this to what she is eating. Keep in mind that she still may need more then what you calculate if she is not gaining weight as every dog is different. I hope this helps and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach!

Zeus might be suffering from a medical condition causing him to lose weight, possibly intestinal worms, food intolerance or an intestinal disease. i would recommend taking him to your vet in order to try an investigate this issue.

Is it when she goes through a heat cycle? I would get some blood work on her to make sure systemically there is nothing going on. I would also document when her cycles are to see if she is losing weight while she is going through a heat cycle since it can be hormones. Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

No, you should not be able to see every bone. A normal healthy weight dog should not appear boney. You should be able to feel the ribs with your hands, but not see them. I'm not sure the age of this puppy, but reasons for poor weight gain can be improper amount of food, poor quality food or parasite problems.

If she has not been recently dewormed I would start there as worms can cause improper weight gain. How much to feed depends on what food you are feeding her. Be sure she is eating a high quality PUPPY food and follow the instructions/recommendations on how much to feed by what the packaging tells you.