Won't gain weight?

Topics, guidelines and tips for feeding Chow Chows.

Moderator: chowadmin

Post Reply
kayekan
Rank 0
Rank 0
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jun 25, 2014 6:54 am

Won't gain weight?

Post by kayekan »

Hi, I was hoping you all might be able to help me out.

I have a chow chow that's just over 1 year old. I picked her up from the pound at 8 months old. She has not gained any weight since I've had her. (in my opinion) she is only 40 pounds. She is a beautiful dog but I can feel her ribs, she is soooo skinny! I have had other chows before, she is he 7th chow I've had. I have another older chow too that keeps her company.

We took her to the vet because of the poor weight gain and also because while housetraining, her pee smelled really really stong, like ammonia strong. They checked if she was diabetic but the tests show she isn't. We sent in a fecal and urine test and the fecal test was normal, no parasites. The urine tests were just slightly diluted, but otherwise normal. She thought maybe she could have kidney problems but will need to be checked again in 6 months. They recommended doing a blood test to check if her enzymes in her pancreas is absorbing any nutrients, which will cost me arond $350. They want to monitor her weight, and give her something for parasites just in case the test was a false negative.

My question is, what would you all recommend for feeding my dog? I ccurrently have her on kirkland brand (costco) wet dog food, and either kirkland brand dry dog food (the more expensive knd) or another brand that I get from a friend's all healthy pet store (do not remember the name right now).

My dog eats very little in my opinion, actually both my dogs eat very little. I feed them both oncce a day at night and they never finish their entire bowl and sometimes leave more than half of it left. They both drink tons of water though. But only Precious, the baby, isn't gaining weight. I got my other dog, Boo, at the same pound and he was 8 years old, now he's 11 years old and has gained 15 pounds since i've had him and is healthy.

Any advice will help! Thank you!
chow315

Re: Won't gain weight?

Post by chow315 »

please have them check for a pancreas disorder. it is a blood test that costs about $100. it is a problem my dog has it is expensive and hard to deal with.if your dog has a pancreas disorder it means the dogs body can not process the food thus no weight gain. does he have alot of gas and or diarrhea? if this is the problem the treatment will be something like this antibiotics followed by pancreatic enzymes. i buy them in pill form from foster and smith. you put the pills in hot but not boiling water. they sit for 30 minutes, then add dog food, sit another 30 minutes then feed. we had good results in about 2 weeks. hope this helps
Post Reply