Hard Keeper - Page 1

Ok, all my friends out there in GS land. I need some help now. I have a young bitch (3 yrs old), who is an extremely hard keeper. I have a very tough time keeping weight on her. She's getting (between two meals a day) 3 1/2 cups of Royal Canin GS, 3/4 cup of Force (dehydrated raw food from Honest Kitchen)and Synovi G3. Now, to compound the problem, she has a bit of IBS, so I have to be very,very careful about changing her food.It takes nothing for her to get massive amounts of bloody stools. Some guidance would be great. Oh, yea - she's been checked for everything that can possible incur money by my vet(blood and stool workups). She's healthy according to her labs.

you would know what you can and can't give her but when I have a puppy that is growing fast and looking lean, or an older dog who is having a harder time keeping weight on, I add canned food (high fat/calories) to the daily diet - just a little at first, but it really helps get the weight on. I take the canned away and don't feed it at all, if the dog doesnt' need help gaining weight. and/or instead of adult food, I feed puppy food - again, higher calories and protein might help. molly

Do you have any recommendations as to what canned food? The puppy food is a thought,too. Thanks!

Was she tested for EPI?

What color is the blood in the stools? bright red,dark red or more brownish red?

Fly, at 3years old she should be a developed eater. Whats missing? Just get her? Stress an issue? Put her on your choice of dry, then cook rice, ground meat, celery, onion and garlic with some green beans and add to her dry.the bloody stools is something your vet should be able to treat one way or the other. Again somethings missing here? I would only feed a 3 yr old once a day, but I would make it appetizing.

flygirl, You said it really... what I mean is that bloodwork and vet both agree SHE IS HEALTHY !!! Some dogs are just leaner, I know you hate it, So do I ! But just the way it seems to go. tell stupid people who make snide comments to shut the hell up and look at her vet records before they say something even more stupid, and let it go. Not to say you can't try the other stuff but your feeding regimend sounds more than adequate and her labs are good, Honestly I would not muck with it, you start adding things she won't use or does not need you might have a mess. just my thoughts. :-) Best of luck to ya what ever you decide.

Echo, a bit of IBS would not = massive amounts of bloody stools. Something is being missed here even if the vet's tests so far don't conclude that. Sounds like the work up needs to continue.

I would put her on a cottage cheese/potatoe diet for a while to see if that settles things a bit. The potatoes boiled in salt water slow down digestion, the cottage cheese is predigested protein. Ratio of what you feed is 1:1, the total amount depends on her weight. I would guess about 2 cups each per day but could easily be 6 cups per day. This will give you a baseline. Then add butter and see if you get a reaction. Start with 1 teaspoon, work up to 1-2 table spoon. Then add other food items one at a time to see what gets the reaction. Example, add rice, and see if there is reaction. The omit rice, add beef. Then omit beef, add chicken. Omit chicken, add soft boiled eggs (egg white firm, yolk soft). Etc. First thing I would add is a vitamin supplement like Nupro or Nuvet. If it works, leave it in as part of the test. There are some diets out there for sensitive dogs. Fish and Potatoe by Firstmate might work, or Eagle Holistic Fish or Duck Formula. Or go with the no gain like Evo or Orijen. I would still do the home made cottage cheese and potatoe test first, its easy and uncomplicate to do, to determine what your dog is reactive to as some of these prefab diets are loaded with all sort of ingredients. I would not worry about her being lean, some dogs just are. I would worry about the reactions such as bloody stool. Test the stool for e.coli. Consider the possibility of cancer (of the bone marrow?). Is the bloody stool already digested blood (black stool) or fresh blood (coming from lower part of intestines and is therefore undigested)? I don't believe bloody stool is part of EPI symptoms, but digestive enzymes might be helpful nonetheless. Could be that the digestive tract is disturbed by yeast or unfriendly bacteria, so adding acidophilus should also see some improvement. First you need to stop aggrevating the digestive tract though. Hence the suggestions above.

Fly, I kind of agree with Echo but there is something missing. How long have you had her? Been this way over a period of how long? Something just started? Changing Vets is another alternative for some different testing.