My dog can't hold weight

Ayla

My 4 yr old dog (mix of Alasatien, Rottie, Lab & Akita) has always been a slender but healthy dog. He's also always been an indoor (ie: sleeps on the bed) kinda dog. In April we moved to a mobile home while our house is being built and he's been forced to live outdoors. We're located on a farm and he has loads of land to roam & animals to chase.

My question is this...since moving to the farm he's looked *really* skinny (to the point that he doesn't look healthy anymore). We're feeding him 4x the amount of Eukanuba Maxi/Adult every day and even throwing in the odd can of wet food just to try and "fatten" him up.

I know his worming is up to date, so it's not that he has worms.

Any ideas of what we can do to get his weight back up? Any food to suggest (we're paying €60 every 3-4 weeks as is for the Eukanuba). Any idea what could be going on? I know he's more active than he was, but he just doesn't look healthy now. Thanks for your help.

peasant

Rather than stuffing him to the gills with food, I'd suggest to have him looked at by a vet.

He might have an over-active thyroid or something.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1

This is a no brainer really. Just take him to the vet.

Ayla

Geez, thanks guys. The vet...hadn't thought of that :rolleyes: Please note the sarcasm...I care very much about my dog and would take him to the vet immediately if I thought anything was physically wrong with him

I posted this with the hope that someone out there also has active/farm dogs and would have some pointers for food high in caloric value that helps keep weight on.

By the way, I'd imagine an overactive thyroid seems unlikely since it's all happened within the last 3-4 months. Of course I could be wrong..

flynnc

if he is more active he is burning more food off. I have the same thing with my dog he is now on pro plan performance for more active dogs

peasant

Why not an overactive thyroid? ...he was slim while he was lazy and warm, now he's very busy and cold and subsequently beyond slim, no matter how much you feed him.

I'd get it checked.

Dyr

plus akitas are prone to thyroid problems..

bb37

Hi Ayla,
Where is he getting his water from?
My partner's parents had a similar problem with a very active dog, untill I noticed he was drinking from a barrell in the garden and throwing up soon afterwards alomst every time.
They've removed the barrell and he's now back to a healthy weight.
You say you've moved...check out for any sources of stale or stagnant water you might not have noticed

fits

As in humans, unexplained weight loss can be a symptom of a much more serious illness. If I were you, I'd bring him to the vet.
You're feeding him an awful lot for him to be underweight....

Vegeta

How long does his worm dose last and when was the last time he got one.

The first thing that jumped to my mind was worms.

Or as the guys have said if the problems continue seek professional help

Amimad

Ayla,
I'm suprised nobody has sugeested that your dog may be stressed. I like my dogs to look fit & healthy.


My dog came back form Kennels last christmas & although he had eaten as normal, he had lost enough weight that he looked like skin & bone. I had been feeding Ardan Grange & still do from time to time but have found a protein rich raw food diet(chicken wings, lamb bones, heart & liver) has done the trick. He looks great. We did however have a little set back when we moved house( sound familiar). But after a coulpe of weeks he settled down & his wieght is back to normal

good luck
Ami

Ayla

Amimad -

Thanks, that was actually what I was thinking (but feeling nutty for suggesting)...stress. This poor dog has been through so much (moving over from the States, having to lose his "first born" status as we had our daughter and finally having to lose his place in the bed for a barn. All this has been over the last 3 years, but still, he does "wear his heart on his sleeve (?)" and I've been thinking it has been stress.

He has a very sensitive stomach and the last time he had meat we had to bring in the prof cleaners & get him injections to settle his digestive tract enough to stop the....fun. We had given him a *very* small bite of cooked beef, and he was only a pup, so maybe raw meat now that he's older would be ok. Do you worry about broken bones getting stuck in the throat?

I know people who put their alastians on a raw meat/veg diet and the dog's have been very well off for it. Any one else try this? Any suggestions for meat/veg?

Amimad

Well, I haven't worried so far, I tend not to give the pup as many lamb bones.
To start with just give him the odd raw chicken wing, I had no problem changing over from dry food but I still wont feed both at the same time(just my preference). As for veg,I'm too lazy to pulp it up & since most of the research I did(online) seems to suggest that there's no nutritional value in veg for dogs, I haven't bothered.
If anyone out there can correct me on that I'd be more than willing to learn something new.
My dogs have been full time on raw meat for about 6months now & all 3 seem to be better of for it.I'm glad I changed.
I had previously uped Timmy's dry food quite simiular to the amount you had & seen no major change, when i changed to raw feed I gave him the fattier bits for a while & he bulked out. The cost is probally simular to Dry food. For example I went to my butcher on Mon, spent €45 & got about 1 1/2 weeks worth of food but thats for 2 adult dogs & 1 ,7month old bitch(all very active). I put the fresh meat in rough daily portions & freeze it ( the dogs have there own freezer:D )

Sigma Force

Monitor is excercise and his diet for a couple of weeks. To see how much he is working off etc. He should really be fenced in even fencing off a large area so you can keep an eye on him. Unless you own all the land around (for a mile or so) it's not a good idea to allow a dog to run free with no supervision. He could pick up anything that farmers put in their fields esp. poison meant for rats or larger mammals etc.
With a sensative tum he could also be throwing it up somewhere or have the runs hence why fencing him off in one particular area might help establish wether or not he is.

If it's strictly just he's more active now then there are diets out there for more active dogs. Or perhaps a change in food might help some dogs do well on Hills or Burns or the one you are feeding but it might be worth trying.
If he has a sensative tum I would avoid giving him anything but the dry food, some dogs feel better after some bio yogurt. Helps line their tums.
I don't give my 2 bones although some people do feed their dogs on a raw diet, there are so many diff options out there. I just stick to dry food though esp for the sensative dog the occasional pigs ear is ok for her but even that can make her poops a bit runny.

Tbh if he doesn't look healthy it is a good idea to take a trip to the vets, even a well looked after dog can come down with something unseen. He could be hiding something more serious.

Ayla

For those who posted on this thread, I have an update...

We discovered what the problem was and why my dog wasn't holding weight. And it completely surprised us...

Rats. They were eating all of my dog's food. We've taken care of some/most of them, and ensuring that my dog actually eats the food we put out for him, and - whala, he's back to his chipper self. His weight's up and we're not having to buy 15 kgs of food every 3-4 weeks. Problem solved!

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Ayla wrote:

Geez, thanks guys. The vet...hadn't thought of that :rolleyes: Please note the sarcasm...I care very much about my dog and would take him to the vet immediately if I thought anything was physically wrong with him

I posted this with the hope that someone out there also has active/farm dogs and would have some pointers for food high in caloric value that helps keep weight on.

By the way, I'd imagine an overactive thyroid seems unlikely since it's all happened within the last 3-4 months. Of course I could be wrong..

has he been wormed and vaccinated. he could have cought somthing from the new surroundings

Schlemm

Ayla wrote:

For those who posted on this thread, I have an update...

We discovered what the problem was and why my dog wasn't holding weight. And it completely surprised us...

Rats. They were eating all of my dog's food. We've taken care of some/most of them, and ensuring that my dog actually eats the food we put out for him, and - whala, he's back to his chipper self. His weight's up and we're not having to buy 15 kgs of food every 3-4 weeks. Problem solved!

Madness! Once he's got the weight back on, feed him at the same time every day and take away his food after a set period of time...say 10 mins...if he's not eating it and he'll soon learn to eat at the right time plus you'll reduce the risk of rats getting at it. Make sure his vaccinations are up to date too as there may be a risk of catching leptospirosis from the rats.