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The doghouse

If you're worried about your pet's health, please speak to a vet or qualified professional.

Original poster

My dog is too thin

59 replies

SirVixofVixHall · 18/04/2023 17:21

Just that really, I am really worried and I wonder if we are missing anything. She is having more bloods at the vet this week, she has seen the vet regularly about this, and is getting weighed every couple of weeks.
She is prone to colitis, and a few years ago started regurgitating her food undigested. This stopped after a few months, she hasn’t done that for ages - she had investigations at the time which showed nothing apart from low B12.
Since her first episode of colitis, she has lost weight and not regained it. She should be at least 13kg. She went down to 11.5 and was that weight for quite a while but this past year or so she has lost another kg, and has gone down a little bit more from 10.5 to 10.4 over the past fortnight.
She is very thin, ribs sticking out, hipbones protruding. She is on three smallish meals a day , we changed food as suggested by the vet as she kept getting loose poo or diarrhoea on her old food. She has been on this new food , (arrives frozen, basically chicken with vegetables, no grains), for about six months and it doesn’t irritate her gut, it looks as though she is digesting it, yet she is slowly getting thinner.
I am wincing when I stroke her or pick her up, as she is so much lighter than she used to be. She is on the recommended amount of food for an underweight dog of her size to gain weight. If we increase it much more or give her anything extra eg biscuits with grains in then she gets diarrhoea, so we can’t just give her more food.
Any thoughts appreciated. She is averagely active, snoozes a lot at home but will run on her walks. Not a hyper dog like a collie.

OP posts:
TheFlis12345 · 18/04/2023 17:25

Is the food she is on raw? Our dog was a bit underweight and the vet was concerned he wasn’t absorbing the nutrients properly so asked us to top it up with plain cooked meat. We did that for a month and he put on weight and has maintained it ever since.

shiningstar2 · 18/04/2023 17:30

My ds was advised by her vet to mix plain boiled rice with her dogs food because of stomach issues which included diarrhea. This seemed to work for her dog. 🤔

Paperbagsaremine · 18/04/2023 17:31

No answers (IANAV) but sympathy. My dog was given appetite stimulating drugs recently- I don't know whether it would be worth asking the vet about those.
I take it extra fat aggravates her digestion? We have resorted to peanut butter and cheese in an effort to keep our dog's weight up when he was losing a lot.

The trouble is that vets are all up to their eyeballs in work right now, so you have to chase, chase, chase to get appointments, referrals to specialists etc - not their fault, just simply too many pets not enough vets.

How old is she? I am sorry to say that with one dog his persistent gut issues turned out to be incurable cancer.

DustyLee123 · 18/04/2023 17:31

Have you tried satin balls ?

coffeecupsandwaxmelts · 18/04/2023 18:16

Is the vet doing anything about her low B12?

If you give her more food but over more meals, does that still give her diarrhoea?

ringoutsolsticebells · 18/04/2023 18:19

SirVixofVixHall · 18/04/2023 17:21

Just that really, I am really worried and I wonder if we are missing anything. She is having more bloods at the vet this week, she has seen the vet regularly about this, and is getting weighed every couple of weeks.
She is prone to colitis, and a few years ago started regurgitating her food undigested. This stopped after a few months, she hasn’t done that for ages - she had investigations at the time which showed nothing apart from low B12.
Since her first episode of colitis, she has lost weight and not regained it. She should be at least 13kg. She went down to 11.5 and was that weight for quite a while but this past year or so she has lost another kg, and has gone down a little bit more from 10.5 to 10.4 over the past fortnight.
She is very thin, ribs sticking out, hipbones protruding. She is on three smallish meals a day , we changed food as suggested by the vet as she kept getting loose poo or diarrhoea on her old food. She has been on this new food , (arrives frozen, basically chicken with vegetables, no grains), for about six months and it doesn’t irritate her gut, it looks as though she is digesting it, yet she is slowly getting thinner.
I am wincing when I stroke her or pick her up, as she is so much lighter than she used to be. She is on the recommended amount of food for an underweight dog of her size to gain weight. If we increase it much more or give her anything extra eg biscuits with grains in then she gets diarrhoea, so we can’t just give her more food.
Any thoughts appreciated. She is averagely active, snoozes a lot at home but will run on her walks. Not a hyper dog like a collie.

What are you feeding her exactly. Have you tried raw with tripe??

CMOTDibbler · 18/04/2023 18:24

I'd change her food to pure fish or chicken (fish is convenient as you can buy frozen white fish in the supermarket and then just nuke it for a minute in the microwave) no veg or grain, and full fat greek yogurt if she can tolerate it. A can of sardines a few times a week as well. Her meals need to be all fat and protein to give her the maximum calories you can.
If you can face another meal, add that in, and lots of treats of the dried sprat or pure meat variety.
Have you tried some pro kolin to give her some probiotics and gut soothing?

Borris · 18/04/2023 18:26

Has she had poo tests, ultrasound, endoscopy, gut biopsies? I'd be pushing to start those now if not

IngGenius · 18/04/2023 19:15

Is she having cobalamin injections? If B12 is low it is very common to have upset stomachs and poor absorption of food and then the dogs lose weight.

It may not be the primary cause but it does need to be rectified

What breed of dog and what is their age?

Original poster
SirVixofVixHall · 18/04/2023 19:35

She is a medium sized terrier, nine years old.
She did have B12 injections for a while, but her B12 level was ok when tested more recently, they will test this again this week.
She had scans but I think not an endoscopy, I will check though. I am not sure re the biopsy either. It was done at a large vet hospital, where she was referred by our vet.
She can’t have fish, so no sardines etc, no dairy. Her food is high quality and mainly chicken. We did used to give her dried sprats etc, but now if she has anything other than her food she gets colitis. Then she has to be starved for a day, so that just adds to the problem. I am paranoid about introducing any new food at all as I don’t want to trigger a gut reaction and make her lose even more weight.

OP posts:
Cupcakey · 18/04/2023 19:43

Did they check blood sugars? I have a diabetic dog and it was the weight loss that made us go to the vets. Presume they will have checked but wanted to mention just incase.
Hope you can get some answers x

Original poster
SirVixofVixHall · 18/04/2023 20:00

I think they did check blood sugars but I will ask. I am making a note of everything to discuss with the vet.
She is always hungry, as well as thin, that is also upsetting as I want to give her more food but can’t.

OP posts:
redboxer321 · 18/04/2023 20:36

Does her food travel through her quickly? I wonder if slippery elm might help.
Mine has suspected ibs and is doing really well on herbal supplements.
Have a look on Heathful Pets website and Aniforte, it might just help.
She was on pro-biotics but they don't suit her.
Hope you find a solution for her.

Leeeeeeeeeeeeeee · 19/04/2023 09:29

Sounds similar to my dog who has diagnosed IBD after scans/endoscopy & biopsies. He also has numerous allergies. He has steadily lost weight over the last 6 months, & while we away on holiday he lost 2.5kg and was horribly underweight, despite getting extra food. They think it was combination of stress from being away from us (even though he seemed happy) & we have just started him on pancreatic enzymes as they think we may also be dealing with EPI as he doesn't seem to be absorbing nutrients. He has gained back some of the weight but by us having to overfeed him. His IBD is currently only treated with Pre biotics & B12 supplements, as he had a bad reaction to everything else that was tried

Original poster
SirVixofVixHall · 19/04/2023 10:42

What is EPI ?
I think she will need more serious investigations again. She can’t be anaesthetised at our smallish rural practice, she has to travel several hours to a city vet hospital to have any treatment needing anaesthesia as she has a congenital heart condition. So that adds to the stress for her as she has to travel such a long way in a car after any procedure. Our feeling is that she is digesting her food but not absorbing it properly , I am not sure how to assess if her transit time is too fast, but her poo looks normal at the moment. It is common for her gut to get upset though, it does happen pretty often. Not helped by the fact that she is always hungry so she will eat anything she can steal, or even mud on walks . 😢
I will look on the websites suggested above.

OP posts:
Leeeeeeeeeeeeeee · 19/04/2023 10:48

SirVixofVixHall · 19/04/2023 10:42

What is EPI ?
I think she will need more serious investigations again. She can’t be anaesthetised at our smallish rural practice, she has to travel several hours to a city vet hospital to have any treatment needing anaesthesia as she has a congenital heart condition. So that adds to the stress for her as she has to travel such a long way in a car after any procedure. Our feeling is that she is digesting her food but not absorbing it properly , I am not sure how to assess if her transit time is too fast, but her poo looks normal at the moment. It is common for her gut to get upset though, it does happen pretty often. Not helped by the fact that she is always hungry so she will eat anything she can steal, or even mud on walks . 😢
I will look on the websites suggested above.

https://www.nutrixpetfoods.co.uk/blog/what-is-epi-exocrine-pancreatic-insufficiency#:~:text=If%20your%20dog%20has%20Exocrine,caused%20by%20pancreatic%20acinar%20atrophy.

Sorry I don't have a lot on info on this as this was literally less than a week ago when it was brought up to us. Our vet said it is a blood test but our dogs pancreas showed no problems in the blood test, but that there is margin for error, so we just started the enzymes to see if there was any difference to his poo quality & his energy levels. He started them Saturday & although his poo is still not great we are seeing less undigested food in there & he looks to the eye to have gained a little weight. From looking into ourselves we have seen there is in some cases a link between IBD and EPI in both dogs & indeed humans too

What is EPI in Dogs? Symptoms and Treatment for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency in dogs. - Nutrix Pet Foods

Want to know what is EPI in dogs? Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency in dogs is a disorder that needs a special food. Nutrix petfoods can provide that food.

https://www.nutrixpetfoods.co.uk/blog/what-is-epi-exocrine-pancreatic-insufficiency#:~:text=If%20your%20dog%20has%20Exocrine,caused%20by%20pancreatic%20acinar%20atrophy.

Original poster
SirVixofVixHall · 19/04/2023 12:19

Thanks so much for that, I will read it now. I hope your dog starts to put some weight back on, it is horrible seeing them too thin isn’t it ? I have had other dogs and they have all been naturally slim but not underweight. She looks Whippet shaped now when she should be much sturdier than that.

OP posts:
justgettingthroughtheday · 19/04/2023 12:32

Chicken is quite a common meat for dogs to be intolerant to.
If she is ok with poultry duck has a much higher fat content to chicken or Turkey.

I would be looking to find a veterinary nutritionist to advise and support. Most vets know alarming little about proper nutrition for dogs.

redboxer321 · 19/04/2023 12:56

If she's eating mud, then some soil based probiotics and the moor mud might well help her.
With regards her stools, you could try giving her some sweetcorn and seeing how long it takes to come out but as long as she's not going multiple times a day or soon after eating, then that seems ok.
Vet nutritionist is a good call. You can do that online too which will save her the stress of going to the city vets. Obviously that might be necessary but if it's not then all the better.

Spanielsarepainless · 19/04/2023 20:13

I've recently started my dog on YuMove probiotics and they have been a game changer. Slowed everything down, three nice poos a day and looking less bony.

Original poster
SirVixofVixHall · 20/04/2023 20:14

Well she had blood taken today, and the vet might well refer her to get scanned again. I will ask about a vet nutritionist, and also look at the moor mud and Yumove. I have just bought her some probiotics but not started them yet.

OP posts:
eatdrinkandbemerry · 20/04/2023 20:48

My dog had serious colitis all his life and was very touch and go whether he would even survive to adulthood.
We tried every prescription dog food going but he was always losing weight. The vet advised we just have him boiled chicken and rice eventually because in his words he would thrive or dive!
He lived happily until the age of 15 x

Bluebells1970 · 20/04/2023 20:55

My eldest was really prone to colitis when younger, and I'm pretty convinced it was stress related with him. He's got terrible separation anxiety, and when I changed jobs so he could come to work with me, it took a while to click that he hadn't been poorly for ages.

We went through all the usual awful vet recommended diets etc but he's really happy on Forthglade dried (can only be the Duck variety, not the poultry ones) and natures menu country hunter sachets of wet food as a topper. We also went through lots of Pro-kolin tubes as that is all that ever settled his tum. I still always have one in the cupboard.

Theoscargoesto · 21/04/2023 08:41

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by poo and wind improvements on yumove probiotics so far as my dog is concerned. It’s even prompted me to get some probiotics for myself. I can see that that seems like a much too simple answer to a worrying problem. In weight terms I was thinking if you feed or treat (you said dog is hungry) often then you’re increasing intake and I wonder if small amounts often are better tolerated-good idea to see a nutritionist

Original poster
SirVixofVixHall · 23/04/2023 17:02

Theoscargoesto · 21/04/2023 08:41

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by poo and wind improvements on yumove probiotics so far as my dog is concerned. It’s even prompted me to get some probiotics for myself. I can see that that seems like a much too simple answer to a worrying problem. In weight terms I was thinking if you feed or treat (you said dog is hungry) often then you’re increasing intake and I wonder if small amounts often are better tolerated-good idea to see a nutritionist

She is on three meals a day now, at an amount that should help her gain weight. I might try a small increase in the meal size, but there must be an absorption issue as she should at least be maintaining her weight but she isn’t.

We will hopefully get the bloods back this week so I will update then.

OP posts: