Midnight (SKINNY chihuahua) is now

Could indicate pain -- depends on where the 'hunch' is and many other things.  Honestly?  This dog needs a vet visit that's complete with fecal (to rule out parasites as the possible cause for weight-loss) and bloodwork to see things like a full thyroid and more.  Weight *loss* can be really worrying. 

I know, I've been trying to convince her to get him in, her hubby is jobless and they're all living with us (4 of them) including their dog. I can't afford her dog's vet visit, I'm already paying for his food and taking care of him as if he were mine, in terms of daily care.

I have 3 dogs of my own.

His weight, I'm wondering, if it could be more of the fact we totally cut out grains for him, I'm slowly putting some back into their diet, but I keep forgetting to make sure he gets some daily, as my dogs don't care if they get grains or not.

I'm definitely worried about this hunched up walk, he's a small chihuahua, so his whole body looks hunched up right around where his belly would be.

These dogs do take a monthly Interceptor preventative for heartworms, Ringworm, roundworm and hookworm, IIRC, but I don't think it covers tapeworms.

I'll get her on the bandwagon somehow, as I've already told her if he has something and passes it to my dogs the bill will be $$$$

it really doesn't sound like a food issue to me, it sounds as if he hs a serious health concern. He really needs to be seen and have some bloodwork/stool sample/in depth exam to find out what's going on. There's not much wiggle room with these little guys.

I agree---sounds as if it is less likely a dietary issue, but more like it may be related to a spinal/disc issue.  I certainly would be seeking a vet for a more significant answer.  Good Luck.

Thanks...we just received his card today from the vet stating that his rabies vaccine is due, perhaps this is a good cue to get her to take him in. She wants to, she's not of the neglectful type, she's just real short on cash, we were going to check with the Maxfund foundation as well to see what kind of financial assistance she can get.

you might check IMOM too. I don't know their policies, but we just did an enucleation on a little dog and they paid for most of the surgery

stanton

Dog appears healthy and not malnourished, but has taken on a hunch-back walk/appearance, sister said it's something *new*, she's had him for 4yrs, but her hubby says he's always done it....I'm not sure, but I don't remember him walking like this all the time. His spine is VERY easily felt, and seen, looks like a minature Rhodesian Ridgeback.

He runs around and plays like normal, but when he walks, the hunch comes back.

     I've never heard of another dog doing this so just had to chime in here! I have a nearly 3yo very tiny female (14lbs soaking wet) who spontaneously began walking hunched back about a year ago. Was the strangest thing. She runs, has lots of stamina, and has been used for hunting since she was about 5ish months old. She was just under two years old when we noticed she calmed down DRASTICALLY. Seemed to be tired all the time and started walking like an old lady Beagle almost on tiptoes and with the back hunched, tail constantly down. She very much appeared to be stiff and sore. We'd had her knees checked before but thought maybe since she was so small there was some luxation after she finished growing. Nope, knees checked out fine, very tight. She was about 19 months so we did OFA prelims, to which she got a "fair" rating. I know this bloodline has spinal problems, and while there are no genetic tests for it, we also did a spinal x-ray at the same time we did her hips. She did not appear to have any signs of intervertebral disc disease - I also have had three Beagles over the years who had moderate to very severe disc disease, and never saw a hunched back    So basically we were told she shouldn't be hunted ... blah, blah, blah. No definitive answers. 
      Now I *think* there was something in her diet that caused inflammation of the joints. I have no proof, this is only speculation. Even stranger still is the fact that there was glucosamine in what I was feeding her very high up on the ingredient list. I have bad knees myself, and found out years ago it affects me badly. When I take it, my knees feel very unsteady and wobbly - not painful, just very uncomfortable and I'm worse off with it than without. Again, I have no proof this was the problem but it did coincide with feed change, and one thing I've learned is that food is a mighty powerful tool to shape health & everyday behaviors.
     The female in question was switched to a different feed and symptoms vastly improved. But the tail was still down and we could see she was not as lively as the others. From time to time, that hunch would return. Honestly, it never really went away 100%.
     About a week ago I changed brands of feed and while all the dogs have improved her hunched back is GONE. Completely normal gait, tail WAY up in the air, she is probably one of the most active I have now!!!!! She tends to be a very hard keeper, if the wind blows the wrong way, she looses weight. I can usually get fat on her, but she does not muscle up very well. I am seeing fat being replaced by lean muscle, and if that has anything to do with it, I honestly don't know. Can't even say a food change might help your sister's Chi, but may be worth a shot. The Vet could not find anything structurally wrong with her so basically all we were doing to fix the problem was guesswork. She was on low dose Rimadyl for a short while, and it did help some. Which is why I think inflammation may have played a role.
     Good luck with this, and keep us posted on how his Vet visit turns out!

That's the thing I don't understand, every week they get something different to eat, it's never the same meat, same veggies, etc.

You're not strange at all, I too have noticed different foods affecting dogs differently.

Hopefully something'll change, I'm taking him off from homecooked for the most part, and putting him on a puppy dry food to see how he does.

My aunt had a toy poodle awhile back that always walked around all hunched up like you explained and she took it to the vet and had alot of different test run besides the usual x ray and blood work and found out that she had spinal degeneration.

My female boxer has hip dysplasia in both hips and she walks around like that too sometimes when she is not feeling good.

Hope everything works out