What to Feed a Whippet

This is the heart of feeding the breed. Whippets are sighthounds, built for speed with little body fat, and a healthy one looks far leaner than the average dog. The AKC spells it out: sighthounds carry low fat stores and unusual metabolisms, and people routinely mistake a correct-weight one for underweight. The AKC's chief veterinarian makes the same point, that on a lean breed the hint of the last rib is not cause for concern.

The practical standard from breed authorities is consistent: on a correct Whippet you should see the shadow of the last rib or two but not all of them, two or three vertebrae along the topline but not every bone, and a waist and hip points that are felt but not buried in fat or dimpled. The widespread owner belief that a correct Whippet should show no ribs contradicts the breed clubs, and it is precisely the pressure that turns a healthy sighthound into an overweight one. Standard body-condition charts like the 1-to-9 scale still apply, but read against the leaner sighthound build, a fit Whippet simply looks more skeletal than a fit Labrador at the same score.

Because the breed runs so lean, owners and even some general-practice vets get this wrong in both directions. One vet pressures an owner to fatten a perfectly healthy Whippet; another waves off a genuinely sick, wasting dog as “just a Whippet.” Knowing the difference protects your dog from both mistakes.

Normal-lean looks like the shadow of the last rib or two, two or three vertebrae visible, ribs easily felt under a thin layer of flesh, a defined waist and tuck, and firm, dry muscle over the frame. Genuinely underweight is different in kind: every rib visible and protruding, each spinal bone individually standing out with loose skin, a sharply sunken belly, prominent dimpled hip bones, and a clear lack of muscle. The deciding signs are change and behavior. As the AKC advises, unexplained weight loss, muscle wasting, lethargy, or a dog that stops wanting to move warrants a vet exam to rule out parasites, dental pain, or disease. Do the check with your hands, not just your eyes.

Plenty of Whippets are easy to feed, but the breed has a real reputation for fussy, intermittent eaters and for hard keepers that struggle to hold weight, especially the athletic ones that seem to burn everything off. Metabolism varies so much that two Whippets of the same height can need quite different amounts.

The fixes that actually work: choose a quality, calorie-dense food so the dog gets more nutrition from a smaller, less daunting bowl; feed on a schedule rather than leaving food down, putting the bowl out for 20 to 30 minutes and then lifting it; and resist constantly switching foods, which only teaches the dog to hold out for something better. To tempt appetite and add calories, owners commonly add a little oily fish such as sardines, a bit of cooked egg, or plain lean meat. Keep any such extras under about 10 percent of the diet so the nutritional balance holds, and if a normally good eater suddenly refuses food or loses weight, see the vet rather than just piling on toppers.

Keeping a Whippet lean is not just about looks; it works with the breed's unusual physiology. Sighthounds carry far less body fat than typical dogs, and that has a real medical consequence: fat-soluble anesthetic drugs have little fat to redistribute into, and sighthounds also metabolize some drugs differently. As Clinician's Brief notes, the strongest evidence is in Greyhounds, but it applies across sighthounds including Whippets.

This is not a diet problem, but it comes from the same low-body-fat build, so two things follow. Always tell your vet your dog is a sighthound before any anesthetic procedure. And recognize that fattening a Whippet to look like a “normal” dog works against a body that is meant to be lean, which is one more reason to hold the natural weight rather than push past it.

Whippets have the deep, narrow chest that is the main conformational risk factor for bloat, so it is worth knowing the signs, but they are not a recognized high-risk breed the way giant dogs are, and no high incidence is published for them. Cornell's Riney Canine Health Center notes any deep-chested dog can bloat, so the sensible precautions are worth taking: two smaller meals, slowing a fast eater, no hard exercise right after meals, and a floor-level bowl. A drum-tight belly with unproductive retching is an emergency.

Dental care matters more than many owners expect, because sighthounds as a group are prone to periodontal disease. A peer-reviewed study in Greyhounds found daily brushing reduced gingivitis, and the same applies to Whippets. Daily brushing, dental chews carrying the VOHC seal, and professional cleanings do far more for the teeth than any feeding trick, so build a brushing habit early.

Not unless your vet diagnoses a grain allergy, which is uncommon. The FDA has been investigating a possible link between grain-free diets built on peas, lentils, and potatoes and dilated cardiomyopathy, a heart condition. The causation is not proven, but most vets steer toward established, nutritionist-backed brands over boutique grain-free, choosing a company that employs a veterinary nutritionist and runs feeding trials. For a hard keeper, calorie density and palatability matter far more than whether the food contains grain.

Keep these away from a Whippet completely:

• Chocolate (darker is worse)
• Grapes and raisins (can cause kidney failure, even a few)
• Xylitol (in sugar-free gum, some peanut butters, and baking), which is rapidly fatal to dogs
• Onions, garlic, leeks, and chives
• Macadamia nuts
• Alcohol and caffeine
• Cooked bones (they splinter)

If your Whippet eats something on this list, call your vet, the nearest emergency clinic, or a pet poison helpline right away.

Every brand worth feeding a Whippet is easy to find:

• Pet specialty chains (Pet Planet, Tail Blazers, Tisol). Carry the calorie-dense, nutritionist-backed formulas that suit a hard keeper.
• Pet Valu and PetSmart. Stock the major puppy and adult formulas.
• Your vet clinic. The best source if you are genuinely struggling to keep weight on a Whippet and need to rule out a medical cause.

A nutrient-dense calorie-dense formula is often the easiest win for a picky Whippet, since the dog gets more from a smaller bowl. Read the calories per cup on the bag rather than going by volume.