at wits end on wieght issues - Page 3

Managing a Shelter I can shed some light... Idiots like FAT dogs. (Here's your sign) Just tell those nuts to mind they're OWN. If they want to KILL they're dog by over feeding it your not going to complain at them so they need to leave you along, I personally in the shelter would rather see a lean dog than an obeise dog, Obeisity causes many more health issues than LEAN or even THIN. I am sure you are seeing to it that your dogs receive proper nutrition that is something I can appreciate very much !

Thanks Echo. I wanted to see something and test a theory so I bought my female in the last three days and she is crated already I see that she has picked up a couple pounds. so I think she is just running it all off out side. But Thanks Preston I will look in to that with my vet. I have OFA coming up soon So I will get all the lab work done then. I really enjoy this site sad to see the poodle doodles ads but hope it just stays at ads only

I Do Not Ussually Put My 2 Cents in, I Was All Ways Told Listen And learn But Here goes. I Had A Bitch That Drove My Crazzzzy . I Couldnt Get Weight On Her And Was Embarrased For People To See Her . I Spent Thousands On Test And Different Remedies . To Try To Get Her Weight Up. I Placed Her In A Home . The Woman Put Her On Something she gets at the greyhound race track . that dog now is beautiful. I will gete the name of it from her . I know it runs about 50.00 a gal. I Think it is called Thrive.

Oh And That Gene Called Taste Budds , There is Also A Defect That Is Call Short Arms, Too short to to push away from the table

Boet Der Haus - I like that!!!

Preston is absolutely correct in his post above about the EPI or other pancreatic problem. It can be and often is found in GSDs and is sub-clinical, meaning it may pass being diagnosed for a variety of reasons. The key is the stools not being firm and/or the dog being very thin. Lean is good, but too lean despite lots of quality food should suggest a problem. If the dog really has been checked multiple times for parasites and is clear, and different foods have been tried with no change, then one should be very suspicious of a pancreatic problem. Simply adding something like Prozyme to the diet in one way or another will firm up the stool and given over time, the dog will begin to gain weight. This is a dead giveaway that there is a problem with digestion. Once you see this better stool and the dog gaining, you know what is happening: the dog was not digesting the food appropriately before. I see this all the time in GSDs brought to me for one reason or another. Most of the time the vets have missed it and the owners do not understand what the problem is either. These dogs should NOT be bred, but because people look the other way or fail to seek an answer, too many are bred passing the condition on to their progeny. The bottom line is this: soft or light colored stools should be a clue you have a problem. Make sure the food you are feeding these dogs is low in fat as well. Dogs, just like humans, have firm stool when all is well. At least one of the posters above probably has a dog with this kind of problem.

hodie, you certainly have a lot of real world information about the GSD's important and often little understood health issues. You often provide helpful facts and background for us all. Thanks for the additional information about the soft lightening of the stools with mild EPI and the actual term "sub-clinical", and the recommendation of feeding foods with low fat content. What is your view of using inexpensive pig's pancreatin (one can buy at health food stores or wholesale in bulk) as a substitute for the $200 US dollar a month veterinary enzyme treatment? This was recommended to me by someone that this worked as well as the expensive enzymes from their vet. The method was to feed dog food for older dogs (low protein, low fat), add a small amount of dried pig's pancreatin (by sprinkling) to the dog's dry food and then keep increasing that amount until the symptoms subside and the dog puts on weight, the coat improves and the extreme prey dry abates back to what should be normal. When I once had a bitch with mild EPI I did this and her itching stopped (the vet Diagnosed an allergy to air born pollen which was shown wrong after I later order a TLI because the benadry Rx'd didn't help), and then her excessive prey drive abated, and her weight increased as desired and she became thrifty (efficient) in the amount of food needed (a much smaller amount was then needed). I had her spayed her after the DX was confirmed by TLI.

Hi Preston, Thank you for your kind comments. Are you in Great Britain? The literature suggests, and I think it makes good sense, that pig or beef pancreatic tissue freshly slaughtered can be used as a supplement for dogs with this type of problem. I have often had these dogs in my GSD rescue program. Despite living in a beef raising state in the U.S. I have been unable to find pancreatic tissue. Most butchers do not even know where the organ is in the body. So I am wondering if your pancreatin then comes from the tissue as some sort of dryed extract. I think if this is what it is, it probably is a good idea. And based on your experience, it would seem to have been helpful. Just as an aside, Prozyme is now relatively cheap in the U.S. I can get it for you or one can buy it over the internet. Many vets do double the price, so unless you have a vet who will not do this, buy it elsewhere. There are other similar enzyme replacements, some in tablet or capsule form and some of them are very, very expensive. However, Prozyme has always worked well for me with one small problem: some dogs do not like the taste (some are just fine with it). There are ways to deal with this, including buying gelatin capsules and then filling with enough (capsules would have to be large as the basic starting dose is 1/4 teaspoon per dry measure cup of food), and of course, one can hide the flavor by adding gravy. canned meat, lean hamburger or other things. Again, in my experience with many, many GSDs in or through my GSD rescue program, and with clients, I do think there are plenty of dogs where this condition is missed. Sometimes the owner does not even realize there is a problem until they bring the dog here and we talk. And plenty of vets seem to miss this too. The "proof is in the pudding". If the stools are not right, something is amiss. That can be because of the actual diet not being right, or some internal problem. If other factors are carefully ruled out, then a trial with something like your replacement or Prozyme likely will not hurt.

Dont like to see fat dogs myself, the Kennel Club in Britain have a Breed Standard for weight, that is between 60-80lbs for bitches and 70-90lbs for dogs. I agree with Blitzen when he says it is all relative to the size of the dog, I too have a large male who weighs around 95lbs, it is the correct weight for him. My vet once said that you should never be able to see a dogs ribs, if so they are too thin, but you must be able to feel the last two ribs without pressing too hard on the dogs side, and that goes for puppies too. Hope that is of some help.

hodie, I live in the midwest of the USA. The pancreatic enzyme I used on one of my spayed females was in a capsule that contained a dried powder (Twin Labs 4x strenth pancreatin. This was purchased from a health food store and when I inquired on the source, I was told it was supposedly refined from pigs. I was told that prozyme was based on refined plant enzymes. Is that so and do they appear to work as well as pig's pancreatin?