weight issue - Page 1

So I am having some trouble with my rescue, Pixie. Some of you may remember previous posts about her as she has had some health issues as a young dog. The current problem is that she cannot keep weight on. She is now 2 years old (as of Jan 6th) and weighed in at 61 pounds today. We had her up to 65 a few weeks ago. We were concerned that is might be epi and had several blood tests done which indicated her normal but at the very low end of the range. She currently gets B12 injections every other week and is on pancreatin(enzyme) and a raw fod diet. She eats about 3.5 pounds per day in 3 meals. She has very little muscle tone and you can feel every rib and vertebrea. Any ideas about how to keep weight on or bulk her up?
               

add slightly more wieght to her total daily food and give it 4 times if you can....   freeze one meal after incubating and give it to her in a keenel at bed time if you can't fit in an actual 4th meal.  are you incubating her food?   did you test her for IGA deficiency?  was she symptomatic bsides wieght loss?   are you also aware of metagenics intrinsifactor B12?  there is another oral supplement, but that is what I used with my guy.  you did not mention if she had normal stool...

Darcy

Are you mixing the pancreatin in with her food and letting it sit for a period of time before feeding it to her?  Raw diet is fine, but you may also need to increase the amount of enzyme you use, since the whole concept is that the dog has insufficient natural enzyme production to adequately digest their feed...

PROVIDED that her bowels are working normally (info you do not
give)  I wouldn't worry so much.  She had problems, she didn't carry
enough weight to start with, she is now 'better' and getting a regular
diet plus supplements.  She is just turned two years - give it a while,
she may just be 'catching herself up'.

Muscle & tone takes a while to build, it won't happen overnight, and
will mostly depend on you building up her exercise, gently and gradually.
There is sometimes a human tendency to want everything to happen
'yesterday';  and also one that wants to fuss and attribute 'illness' to any
dog who has a slower development for one reason or another, IMO.
Some dogs are naturally thinner than others;  and she does not look
too scrawny, or sick, in the photos.

When you ran her EPI test did that include bloodwork that shows liver and kidney functions?  That would be my next step if not.  Sometimes less supplementing is better; but has she improved with the B12 and the pancreatic meds?  If not I would not give them unless you do see some improvements.  I remember  your post re her but it did not seem that long ago.

Basically you are reconstructing this girl and she may never carry any extra weight;  her body might not let her; how is her energy level?  You could give her a round of Panacur or even Drontal Plus to be sure it is not whip worm or something like that.  Sometimes very, very hard to detect and really plays havoc on the dog body and weight.  Maybe you could post your menu for her and we can all look it over and possibly come up with something to help her.  I am willing to try if you post.  And are you measuring her food out to now 4% of her body weight which would be about 2 l/2 lbs for her maybe 3 lbs if she can handle that.  I feed raw also and found myself overfeeding my guys, so it can work both ways.   Found myself needing to weigh their foods just to get myself back on track with what l lb. of meat really looks like, etc.    Beef definitely carries more calories than say chicken of turkey;  about twice as many calories, that may be one option. 

Just a few of my thoughts.  HOep we can help.  But weight gain takes time like HUnd said;  and to reconstruct her I could guess could take at a minimum of 6 months after the increase to maybe even a year, give or take.  Plus she is just past her teenage stage and metabolism's change as they mature.  Was her thyroid OK.  T3, and free T4 or whichever way it goes??  That is a pretty simple I believe fasting bloodtest.

Food for thought,  Nan

Dog looks fine. Unless you have proof of EPI (symptoms + diagnostic test), dont bother. 
havent you noticed, some humans are thin, some muscular and some overweight....and most dont have EPI.

Some tend to be skinny and some fat. If the blood work is coming OK I would not worry about it. She looks good to me. 

So, yes we are letting the enzyme sit to activate it. Prior to the enzyme and B12, her stools were very cowpie-ish- loose and yellowish. She also eats anything- from leashes to plastic tile spacers, even the girlfriend's brand new leather heels. I won't go into how much trouble I was in for that :)
 When she was sick previously, we tested for thyroid issues and she came up as ok. Most recently we did the ctli blood test, which is what indicated she was low normal overall, but in the significantly low range for B12.As for the previous illness, nothing was ever pinpointed as to the cause- it was guessed as either a reaction to the lepto vaccination or an unknown inflammation of her salivary glands.
She plays with my other dog, but doesn't seem overly energetic. Definitely not as energetic as other 2 year olds I've had or worked with.

I belong to a great group of EPI dog owners at K9-epiglobal@yahoogroups.com

If you join up there are so many experienced EPI dog owners that can help you. They helped save Maya's life a year ago. 

I get my enzymes from enzymediane.com at 1/3 the cost of vet enzymes.
I order the B-12 capsules with intrinsic factor ( the B-12 has to have instrinsic factor or I can't be absorbed by an EPI dog )

You have no idea just how helpful this group has been.  I would highly recommend you come on board.

We discuss foods, SIBO, probiotics, B-12, and all of the things you have questions about. 

. There is no reason why a dog with EPI has to be skin and bones. With the proper diet and enzyme ratio, B-12 levels your dog should be an ideal weight without feeling any ribs.

Here is Maya today.

I wrote about Maya's journey and it is on a german shepherd website.  I have attached the link below and I hope it helps.

http://www.total-german-shepherd.com/EPIanddogs.html