Malnourished Boxer running out of ideas

[fortifiedwithtea]

Boxer bitch will be 4 in October. We are first time dog owners. We thought getting KC registered dog would ensure a healthy dog, how wrong could we be!

she is allergic to everything environmentally and food. We have had her allergy tested and tried allergy therapy, cost hundreds and didn’t work.

She also has chronic pancreatitis. One major flair up.

we are feeding her the game variety of Butternut box. She is having 3 pouches a day. Been on it a decent length of time but now she has started to drop weight again. Poo is black. Blood tests reveal its not pancreatitis those levels are high end of normal. Weighs 23kg, looks very skinny.

Daughter (24) considers her , her dog but my DH pays for all food and vet care.

Daughter asked vet for a print out of most recent blood test. Basically results show dog is malnourished. Vet says because she is allergic to the meat her body is not absorbing the nutrients.

what do we do now? The dog’s health is affecting our daughter’s mental health. She is obsessed and worries about the dog all the time to an extreme degree. Daughter wants to refer dog to a specialist. I put my foot down. We can’t afford a Noel Fitzpatrick type vet. When I say we have paid out £1000’s I am not exaggerating. Daughter thinks the dog will waste away in front of our eyes to the point she will have to be pts. I think we just need to find a way to get a few more calories into her.

anyone got any suggestions?

If your dog is insured, you could ask to be referred to a vet nutritionist.

If not, you could try an online vet nutritionist. They seem to cost hundreds rather than thousands.

Have they tested for epi? If poo is black pretty sure that is blood so stomach ulcer or something.

Black poo is indicative of old blood, which would indicate the dog is bleeding somewhere within the intestinal tract.

I do not think your vet is helping by stating it is just malnourishment - yes the dog is but that is a symptom not a cause. The dog may or may not have allergies, which may or may not be the cause of the issues, it is very easy to just contribute all problems to an allergy.

It could be a number of issues and I agree with other posters I would be finding a gastro specialist and asking for a referral - get your vet to try one of the large vet schools such as Liverpool or Glasgow, depending on where you are in the country, or look for specialists yourself.

I would also contact the Boxer breed clubs asking for assistance, they are normally very knowledgable and experienced.

Think of vets as GP's they are not specialists - you need to find one who is and most importantly can help the dog.

Also test for giardia. Its a parasite that is increasingly common in the UK, and causes severe issues with the intestines.

You can buy a test online but if positive you will need medication from your vets.

You need to go back to your vet.

If the vet feels that it is allergies they should have suggested a feeding plan - if not go back to them to discuss this in depth - there are solutions

Chopping and changing food will not help but will cost you loads of money (been there with one of our dogs) and be very hit and miss.

Ask for all the tests that the vet has done - then do your research.

EPI usually has pale coloured stools but easy to test for it to rule it out. Pancreatitis will cause black poos as does general IDB

You will not necessarily need a specialised but Fitzpatrick is not the one you want for gastric issues anyway.

A course of B12 (cobalamin) injections may help not cure but may help the gut in the short term

Prescription diets can be a live saver for some dogs (People on MN hate the prescription diets) but Purina HA may help in the short time to just get weight back onto your dog but again this does need to be discussed with your vet. This is hydrolyzed food which means the dog will not have any allergic reaction to it as the proteins are broken down and will cause no reaction from the dogs immune system.

Are you insured?

Good Luck I hope you find a solution soon

I used to have a dog that was allergic to some meat, grains and other bits.

He thrived really well on fish4dogs. It’s fish and potato based

Oh and ignore the posts that say chappie! They always pop up on these threads.

Chappie does not list chicken as an ingredient but says meat derivatives - basically any old bits of an animal and will usually include chicken.

I have been feeding mine Bentley's Taste of the Ocean, he's lost weight on that because he needs a high meat diet according to the vet (so the opposite of yours). It is kibble, fish based obviously and grain free. But it does have a small amount of salmon and some salmon oil I think. Not sure if that would be any good for you to try?

Fish4Dogs

Innocent hound- v expensive , you can get sample packa but they are tiny so I would get a few if your thinking of trying

Natures Variety

Yora- they do insect based dog treats and they do dog food too

Have you looked at the allaboutdogfoos website? That may bring up some other food choices suitable for your dog

A different brand of dog food is highly unlikely to solve the OP dog's issues. Especially as many of those suggested contain ingredients the OP has already said the dog can't eat.

"Prescription" diet might work. Purina do a hypoallergenic diet where the proteins are broken down so the dog won't react. They have a pancreatitis one too. Worth a try. Never thought I'd use them but have one dog on the gastrointestinal one now and for the first time he is well in himself, poos are good and he is keeping weight on.

I would try the Purina hypoallergenic veterinary diet if it was me.

We had a boxer like this years ago, tarry black poo that absolutely stunk. She too was skin and bone until we got on top her feeding.
The vet recommended Chappie tinned food. She lived out a long, happy life just eating that.
The turnaround in her weight was amazing.

Ziwipeak dry would be worth exploring as it contains very little except meat.

We fed out boxer rice and Tinned Mackrell or sardines in olive oil. Scrambled eggs when he was poorly.
His 'main' nutrition was this https://burnspet.co.uk/dog-food-type/dry-dog-food/ they do a white fish and brown rice option.
Our boy lived until he was 15 but was the most accident prone dog I've ever known.
Also, I assume they haven't but I'm surprised the vet had no advice?

Try a fish and rice food. Just read the ingredients to check it isn't bulked out with other animal protein. Perhaps start by cooking rice yourself then with a little poached white fish after a few days, then a high quality kibble (most come in 2kg bags to try) adding a tiny bit more every few days.

My Lab (under 25kg) is also on Yumove probiotics and can't have chicken. He's on a salmon and rice kibble made by Pero, but labelled for a local shop and half the price of branded Pero. I pay about £26 for 12kg. Autarky salmon food is good too. Spend some time reading and comparing contents and cost. Amazon is good for this.

Vets don't seem to get much teaching on nutrition, I'm afraid.

Has the vet not recommended a diet. I had a dog with severe pancreatic he was on hills prescription diet. You can buy the food online no prescription necessary. Also my other dog has stomach issues chappie tins I was advised. Personally I would ask a vet. If your dog has issue you need vets advice what to feed.

I walk a dog who had similar issues. It turns out she can't digest meat properly.

She's now on veterinary diet of hydrolysed dry dog food - basically the proteins are broken down so much that the dogs' body no longer recognises it as meat and allows the dog to digest it as normal.

She can also eat vegetables and safe human foods like eggs, but you'd need to check with your vet in case your dog is allergic to those too.

You need a hydrolysed protein diet specifically for allergies. Some dogs do very well on these diets for life.

Purina HA or Hills ZD are the 2 that spring to mind.

@DogInATent the allergy testing was done through the vet so I would hope its not a quack list. The list was extensive and each food had a number by it indicating how allergic it was. From that list a course of injections was formulated somewhere in Holland. Again all done via our vet. It cost £££ and didn’t bloody work.

Daughter has calmed down a bit ( was reacting like the dog was at death’s door) she’s now looking at batch cooking and freezing. As many have suggested here work on what we know the dog can eat.

And no the vet hasn’t been a lot of help with diet. Just very quick to run blood tests at £600+ a pop.

Our large breed also lost a lot of weight on Butternut Box and Wolfworthy, he is now on Skinners, which wouldn't work for you, but he is now (4 months on) a healthy weight. He seemed to like Yora (insect based) when we briefly tried that, and I can't recall why we didn't stick with it.

@fortifiedwithtea - do you have the name of the company that did the testing? Allergy/intolerance testing with scores of how reactive the patient is is a pretty big red flag for human testing. At best it's into the realms of York Test voodoo, at its worst it's bioresonance woo-woo. If you don't have it already, ask the vet for a printed copy of the test results.

I would work out based on the dog's physical/mood reactions the list of foods it does/doesn't agree with and go with that. Identify the lean proteins that work, the veggies and fruits that work, and the carbs that work. And change vet.

Everyone above suggesting the hydrolysed prescription diet is giving good advice. Dog could stay on that for life, or could just have it for a few months to recover & regain weight.

We have Hills Z/D, there's also a Purina one.

Food allergy testing is not as reliable as allergy testing for sling problems.
The gold standard for ruling out dietary allergies is to use a hydrolysed diet purina and hills have been mentioned dechra and royal canin also make hydrolysed diets.
If the hydrolysed diet you can do a good food challenge, but actually the vast majority of owners whose symptoms stop with a hydrolysed diet just stick with it long term as it is suitable for adult dogs.

There are various home cooking groups on Facebook for dogs with allergies. It would be much cheaper to DIY. Is raw an option? There are companies that will consult and tailor a diet to your dog. Nurturing by Nature is one. Raw can be a good option for dogs like yours.