Nutrition Q & A: Dobie Can't Gain Weight
My Doberman is 1½ years old and eats regularly. She has a healthy appetite for canned food and water, but she’s not gaining any weight, and you can actually see her ribs and tailbone. I’ve been working with my vet, but we can’t figure out what’s wrong.
―Lyn
The first thing we recommend, Lyn, is that you provide your dog with a high-quality food. In addition to canned food, you may want to make dry food available to her on a free-choice basis, at least until she reaches a healthy weight. She should also be on a parasite treatment and prevention plan to ensure that parasites are not contributing to her lack of weight gain. Parasites can sometimes be present, even when they’re not identified on routine screening tests.
You should also keep in mind that there are other potential health problems that could prevent your dog from gaining weight, including absorption and metabolic disorders. We encourage you to continue working with your veterinarian to identify the problem. If your vet is not able to identify the cause, then we recommend you turn to a specialist for additional help.
―Lyn
The first thing we recommend, Lyn, is that you provide your dog with a high-quality food. In addition to canned food, you may want to make dry food available to her on a free-choice basis, at least until she reaches a healthy weight. She should also be on a parasite treatment and prevention plan to ensure that parasites are not contributing to her lack of weight gain. Parasites can sometimes be present, even when they’re not identified on routine screening tests.
You should also keep in mind that there are other potential health problems that could prevent your dog from gaining weight, including absorption and metabolic disorders. We encourage you to continue working with your veterinarian to identify the problem. If your vet is not able to identify the cause, then we recommend you turn to a specialist for additional help.
Labels: ASPCA, Pet Care, Pet Nutrition
posted by ASPCA at 1:48 PM PERMALINK
7 Comments:
i guess the first question is have you wormed dobie?
I had a dog that had the same problem, I spent alot of money on vet bills... then someone stole my lovely dog before we figured out what was wrong. =( I hope you find a way to help her gain wieght. She doesn't have any health problems, does she? I would get tests done for any possible outcomes.
I recently signed my 4 pets with ASPCA pet heath pet insurance. I felt comfortable knowing that ASPCA was a sponsor. I was charged my quarterly premium on my credit card, but no policy came in the mail. After many calls with request for my policy to peruse, I told them to cancel, as I felt uncomfortable I had nothing in writing about my plan. Although they offer 30 day money back garentee, I was told "the check is in the mail" and they could not credit my credit card!. That check never arrived!Two months later, I had to have an attorney write a letter. After five months I was finally credited. If this pet health insurance cannot send a policy, I can imagine how they are with making any payments!I feel confident the ASPCA would not support such a company.
I had the same problem with my Yorkie. I had him checked and wormed at the vet and still couldn't get him to gain weight. She explained that some dogs have higher metabolisms than others. She suggested to me to put him back on puppy food. I only feed my dogs Nutro products and since putting him back on Nutro puppy food it has made a big difference. I have Nutro dry food available whenever he wants it. I hope this helps.
i had an older dog who drastically lost 20 lbs last year and would no longer eat the dog food i was giving him. the vet said he had less than 8 weeks left to live.
i put him on a diet of meat, chicken, vegetables, dairy and oatmeal. i supplemented it with a pet vitamin.
he gained about 10 pounds and kept that weight for about six months.
he then began to get thin again
i had all sorts of test done and there was no resolution to his problem.
sadly we boarded him and one of the staff gave the wrong food and the dog ended up with a bloated stomach.
we never knew what caused the weight lost.
advice keep trying healthy holistic foods and cherish the moments you have with your dog.
also consider that recently there has been a problem with dog food, which they recently discovered, we really don't know how long the problem has exsisted.
your dog may have ingested something a few months ago that may be causing on going problems.
best of luck with a solution i hope it is positive!
We have a cat that started losing weight out of nowhere. We fed him kitten food, but he didn't get better. Then we had him wormed. We found the fragments like the vet told us to look for (my poor kitty!) but he still wasn't gaining weight.
That's when we added flax oil to his food. He started gaining weight within two weeks, and is the healthiest he's ever been.
I encourage you to try it for your pet.
Allowing your dog to eat free choice is in theory a good thing, but does not always work. I had a doberman that I could not do that with.. all she ate was dry food but she bolted it down! For dobermans you do not want this happening, especially because of their predisposition to having twisted stomachs! You could try putting her on a fat diet. Adding a bit of good oil to the food would help, and keep your dog shiney too! And remember as well: although they should not BE too skinny, there are meant to look sleek and muscular. :)
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