How skinny is too skinny?

All the greyhounds I sit for are so thin you can see all their bones.  So, I'm a really bad judge. 

What did the vet say about her weight??  Where they concerned??  Based strictly on how much you feed, I'd say she probably needs more but not sure if she's quite old enough for more yet.

It's hard to tell from the pics.  She looks like she might be a BIT on the thin side but, as with people, I suspect that is a good thing.  As Willow said, I would talk to your vet.

With a short coated dog, you should be able to see the last few ribs in certain lights and at certain angles. If you can see all the ribs, and see the hip bones and vertebrae sticking up, that's too thin. When you feel the dog, you should be able to feel the ribs easily, and the dog should feel, well, hard to the touch. If the dog is fit  as well as in good weight, the thigh and shoulder muscles should be obviously visible, hard to the touch, and well-defined.

For a sighthound thin is in!
 
I've always wanted to say that.  On a more serious note, the amount of weight that the dog carries really depends upon the build.  When X sniffs the air you can see all of his ribs move.  Also there are three verterbra that you can see at all times. 
 
While I don't think that your dog is too thin, ask yourself about his eating habits, does he gobble it all up in just a few moments?  Does he leave the bowl with food still remaining?  Are his BMs pretty consistent? Is he fairly active?  How is his skin?
 
Appearance is only part of the package.  The ability for your guy to stay happy and healthy and active is the other.  If YOU think he's too skinny then he probably is too skinny.

I think since you can see the tail bone areas bones shes too thin, just a little bit though.  Thats just my opinion and I know thin is better, but I would think she needs to put on just a bit more weight.[sm=2cents.gif]

I used to use as a criteria to be able to put my fingers across the points of the pelvis, ie those pelvic bones  across the posterier part of the dog..if I could feel these bones very sharply then the dog was too thin, but if there was a solid bunch of muscle  between these bones and the bones were not real noticiable then the dog was ok...but  any method you use is good as long as you stick to it,.

The vet didnt say anything about her weight when I took her in, but he wasn't the usual vet at the clinic that I see. i'll probably be taking her in within the next week, so will ask him then.
It's really hard to tell whether her ribs are visible because she's so stripey, but when I touch her sides I can definitely feel all of them. Her hip bones don't stick out that much, though.
 
In answer to your questions, Xerxes:
Pocket acts like she's always hungry-she eats all her food up in about 5 minutes and then looks around for more. Her BM are pretty consistent- usually 2/3 times a day (morning, afternoon, night).
She's pretty active, although now that I think about it she's been lying around/sleeping a bit more than she used to- though that just might be because it's a lot colder at the moment or because she's growing (?)
Her skin is a little dry and flaky, but her coat is very glossy.
 
I'm worried that she might grow faster/too fast if I feed her more- or will this not actually be a problem?
 
The person with the greyhound x recommended free feeding her (that is leaving food out for her all the time) and giving her some pet chicken mince/veges instead of kibble several times a week, because that's what they did. Are they very good suggestions? I wasn't entirely sure how much value to give them because she also suggested that I switch to an even worse brand of dog food.
 
Thanks for all your replies/help!  I don't know what I'd do without this forum!
 

From the two pictures, your looks to be at a good weight. When we had Princess, I had two different vets comment on how fit she was, and to keep her like that. Of course if she lost any, she would be too skinny.
 
But like it was said in the previous post about the german shepherd. We're so used to seeing fat dogs, that the fit ones look too skinnny. It took 2 years for Beau to finally fill in. We had comments on a daily basis asking if we fed him enough. And that dog was a pig.
 
Those pictures are a little dark in the stomach area, but it does show that some dogs are meant to have a tiny tummy.

Is she part terrier too? You can generally see pitts ribs like greyhounds, look at the show dogs, the conditioned ones and you'll see that you can see there ribs. If the vet says she's healthy then she's healthy! As americans we tend to want to beef up our dogs but naturally they may not need to be so large. Again, as long as she gets a clean bill of health then its ok!
Here is Rory's ribs, if she were conditioned liek a working dog you'd be able to see them even more clearly then you do here.

Vinia IMHO he could stand to add a few more pounds.Thsi should be easily resolved by adding some fresh foods in with his regular meals,such as green tripe,lamb flaps etc.

What country are you in?

I have Italian GH's not big greys but it's normal to see a few vertabrae  and a couple of ribs.
Depending upon conformation you may see the horns of the hips too.
With sighthounds in general, they are so light boned it's often better to have less weight and strain on their skeleton. I don't know if happens often with the big Grey's, but with Italian greyhounds, leg fractures are not uncommon sadly. So a lean weight may help avert that.
I also think the deep chests of all sighthounds can distort our view of their body. The deep shape of the chest seems to make that 'tuck up' of their abdomen more noticeable which deceives your eye into thinking they are too skinny.

Not to say that there are not ones who are too thin, but it seems rare to me.
 
Personally, your dog seems a very nice weight to me. Lean and athetic, not bulky and not too ribby either.

From the pics I saw, she looks fine to me.  She could maybe have more muscle, but that will come with age.

hlb118 and sheprano: your dogs look like they're in great condition from those photos! Comparing them to Pocket, I would say that she's a bit skinner than that today at the dog park when the light hit her at a certain angle, you could actually see her whole rib cage clearly [8|]...
She does have some staffy in her- Pocket's only 1/4 greyhound (apparently), and she's also got some ridgeback and lab.  
 
Edie- I'm in New Zealand. I bought some pet chicken mince from the butcher's today that I might give to her (not entirely sure how to do it though)- would that be okay? or do I need something more nutritious? I asked the ppl at the butchers and they said that it was basically just ground up chicken carcasses, so it was mostly bone.
 
Also, I found out there's a pet shop nearby that sells Royal Canin for about the same price as Eukanuba (actually it costs little bit more). They didnt have the large breed puppy food there but they could order it in- would it be worth switching?
 
I realise that the first pic wasn't very good, so here's two more photos that I took today (I also just like showing Pocket off [])
 

Pic no. 2.....