# Despite Good Appetite But Losing Weight Steadily



## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

Bumping up


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## LusciousLeah (Feb 23, 2012)

MikaTallulah said:


> Bumping up


Thank you Mika for your concern. Much appreciated


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## AmberSunrise (Apr 1, 2009)

Are there oils you can add to his diet? olive oil, fish oil etc. This will help up the calories and possibly help his coat.

How about vegetables(ground up or cooked) to help with vitamins & minerals?

When my dogs (fed primarily raw) need additional calories, I add starchy or grain type foods like potatoes or rice or barley etc Can your guy tolerate any of these?


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## Jackson's Mom (Aug 29, 2011)

What about adding some organic (has to be organic) apple cider vinegar to his food? That helped my dog with his skin problems tremendously!


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## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

Did your vet check for diabetes?
Losing weight while hungry is hallmark symptom. Also dry flakey skin is common.
I had a diabetic cat for 11 years, definitely treatable


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## LusciousLeah (Feb 23, 2012)

Sunrise said:


> Are there oils you can add to his diet? olive oil, fish oil etc. This will help up the calories and possibly help his coat.
> 
> How about vegetables(ground up or cooked) to help with vitamins & minerals?
> 
> When my dogs (fed primarily raw) need additional calories, I add starchy or grain type foods like potatoes or rice or barley etc Can your guy tolerate any of these?


Hi Sunrise,

I add primrose evening oil, MSM and kids probiotic into his food. Yes he can eat rice and I gave him brown rice though I'm not that fond of giving him rice. So, I upped his meat portion instead. His brown rice is just 50g only and yes I add green and red oak salad into his meals too.




Jackson's MOM said:


> What about adding some organic (has to be organic) apple cider vinegar to his food? That helped my dog with his skin problems tremendously!


Yes, every alternate days I will add a teaspoon of Bragg's ACV for him too. 




Jennifer1 said:


> Did your vet check for diabetes?
> Losing weight while hungry is hallmark symptom. Also dry flakey skin is common.
> I had a diabetic cat for 11 years, definitely treatable


Hmm...diabetes? That's a thought. Anyway his result came back today and everything is within range. So, the vet advice me to upped more of his portion and monitor him. Seriously, my boy has a voracious appetite but previously when he was on lamb/mutton/bison meat, just 200g-250g of raw and he would be sufficient and every other day I would give him a lamb shoulder (quite meaty as treats) But now as I've mention even 1000g a day and he is still thin.

Guess I'll continue to monitor his health as what the vet suggest.


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

Does Leah have soft stool consistency? If so, I strongly urge you to do the specialized digestive enzyme testing conducted by the Texas A&M University GI lab: Gastrointestinal Laboratory - Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences

My now 9 year old Golden was always hungry, eating up a storm, but consistently had soft stools and was losing weight. His coat was affected as well. He was also hypothyroid, but those panels showed he was medicated correctly. His vet did the digestive enzyme panel at A&M and our diagnosis was a cobalamin and folate deficiency. Once we got those levels to normal he started gaining weight with solid stools, until we gave him a Comfortis tablet and he crashed- major colitis episode and he lost about 5 pounds before recovering. After a month long recovery he's back to consistency and normal (for him) weight. 

Good luck!


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## LusciousLeah (Feb 23, 2012)

Dallas Gold said:


> Does Leah have soft stool consistency? If so, I strongly urge you to do the specialized digestive enzyme testing conducted by the Texas A&M University GI lab: Gastrointestinal Laboratory - Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences
> 
> My now 9 year old Golden was always hungry, eating up a storm, but consistently had soft stools and was losing weight. His coat was affected as well. He was also hypothyroid, but those panels showed he was medicated correctly. His vet did the digestive enzyme panel at A&M and our diagnosis was a cobalamin and folate deficiency. Once we got those levels to normal he started gaining weight with solid stools, until we gave him a Comfortis tablet and he crashed- major colitis episode and he lost about 5 pounds before recovering. After a month long recovery he's back to consistency and normal (for him) weight.
> 
> Good luck!


Hi Dallas Gold,

I'm so, so sorry for the late reply. I don't live in state so your suggestion of me testing him for enzymes is of no use. My country doesn't do all these test either. Truth to be told, our vet practises are still at its infancy stage.

My boy's stool is beautiful. Firm, ok a little bit hard maybe due to me feeding him the bones of the turkey with meat. Months back his stool was watery and I read from here to give pumpkin to him. So, I got him pumpkin. Fresh pumpkin which I steamed first (they don't sell canned pumpkin over in my country). The steamed pumpkin works wonderfully for my boy. I add that to his food for only 2 days and from then on his stool was firm which I was very happy about it.

I've also upped his food portion and he has put on weight again but I think his body system is slowly rejecting this protein - the turkey - as new problems started to crop up which I've just started a new thread asking for help again!

Anyway I do thank you for your reply in trying to help me.


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## GoldensGirl (Aug 2, 2010)

Diabetes was my first thought, too, but it sounds like your vet has tested for that. Hyperthyroidism can also cause rapid weight loss, though Goldens are more likely to be hypothyroid than hyper.

You might contact Dr. Jean Dodds at Hemopet (Home) for suggestions. She does a lot of work with canine allergies and autoimmune conditions. I understand that she is very generous in responding to email messages.

Good luck and please keep us posted.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Your vet should be able to draw the blood and send it via over-night delivery to Texas A&m. 

My vet did it and we don't live in Texas either.

Worth mentioning to your vet.


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## LusciousLeah (Feb 23, 2012)

Penny's Mom said:


> Your vet should be able to draw the blood and send it via over-night delivery to Texas A&m.
> 
> My vet did it and we don't live in Texas either.
> 
> Worth mentioning to your vet.


Er...I don't live in USA at all. I live in Singapore. Even if my country vet will draw the blood (which I doubt they will) it will cost be a bomb. I couldn't afford that


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## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

Have they done a fecal to test for parasites?


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## LusciousLeah (Feb 23, 2012)

Hi Jennifer,

What kind of parasites test are you referring to please?


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## Millie'sMom (Sep 7, 2012)

I don't know if you can order this into your country, but you could contact them. My understanding is, that the company is very accommodating. With the Canine Life muffin mix, you add your own meat, vegetables and fruit to make a well balanced meal.

Canine Life


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## DNL2448 (Feb 13, 2009)

Check for EPI (Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). A friend of mines Golden was recently diagnosed with this and the symptoms sound like what your dog is having.


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## Jennifer1 (Mar 31, 2012)

LusciousLeah said:


> Hi Jennifer,
> 
> What kind of parasites test are you referring to please?


tapeworms, whipworms, etc...


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## Dallas Gold (Dec 22, 2007)

DNL2448 said:


> Check for EPI (Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia). A friend of mines Golden was recently diagnosed with this and the symptoms sound like what your dog is having.


Agreed and this is part of the A&M lab testing. Here is the website to the A&M gastro lab. Get your vet to email (or perhaps you can) this researchers/professors to see if they can recommend a similar type of testing for you in your country so you can get it done locally. The test is a PLI/TLI test and part of it tests for Exocrine Pancreatic insufficiency and the other part tests for things such as cobalamin levels and folic acid levels. My guess is you are dealing with something like this. The cobalamin/folic acid levels can easily be managed once you get a diagnosis. EPI is harder to normalize, but there are options. 

Gastrointestinal Laboratory - Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences


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## LusciousLeah (Feb 23, 2012)

Hi everyone,

Just to update everyone about my boy's health issue.

Ok, my boy put on weight again but his skin allergies and ear infections are still rampant. So, I called my vet and talked about the possibility of my boy might be slightly hypothyroid and no surprise there my vet flatly refused to do a thyroid test on him and he will not draw his blood out to send to US for diagnosis. He said my boy at 23 months old is just far too young to be suffering from hypothyroid and hyperthyroid would be completely out of the question because according to him only cats suffer from hyperthyroid. I did read in this greatladydane.com that even borderline result of hypothyroid is still no good for dogs as this will affect their health still. 

So, I guess I'll have to find another vet who is willing to do a hypothyroid test on my dog.


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