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Underweight/Skinny Dog


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Hi all,

My Bassett hound Miss Berry is 9 years old. Since the death of my last beagle 5 months ago, she has lost a ton of weight and also has become a very nervous and anxious dog. She has always had issues with close family members passing away (both animal and human). Admittedly I have not weighed her, but I feel the most important thing is to try and get her on to a better diet to increase her weight and then start the weigh ins once I have transitioned her on to new food. If any of you have any suggestions on a good dog food that I can feed her as well as ways to deal with her fear and anxiety issues would be great.

 

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Hi Carrie,

 

Welcome to the forum. :)

 

Have you discussed Miss Berry's weight and anxiety issues with your vet?   

 

I would book a consult to check for illnesses that may cause or contribute to her weight loss and anxiety. They will want to give a physical exam, run blood tests, and so on.

 

Switching foods would be the least of my concerns, as the weight loss is just a symptom of underlying pathology whether physical and/or psychological. It's more important to get on top of the cause!

 

In the meantime you might like to try an Adaptil collar or diffuser, which emits a pheromone that dogs find calming.

 

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Thank you for the advice. She is booked in with the vet tomorrow afternoon. Berry has a long history and there have been three occasions where she has lost a mate. My family bought her as a present for my dad for his 60th birthday. The two of them were best mates for a year and then dad passed away suddenly. She went into a depression. Five years after that, she and one of my beagles got out, I found the beagle, he had been run over by a road train and my husband literally had to scoop him up off the road to bring him home to bury. We found Berry the day after, filthy and shaking way out in the sticks. My last beagle Brody passed away at the start of the year after being diagnosed with cancer on August last year. I am really feeling for the old girl and I have a pretty strong expectation that the vet is going to say that she is just a nervous/anxious dog.

I have just bought an Adaptil collar at your suggestion. Anything is worth a try right!!

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I don't have much help, but that's so awful about your poor beagle :cry:

 

Hoping the vet can help you out with Berry! 

I've never used it but as PK said, adaptil seems to be good. You can also get Rescue Remedy for dogs, my younger sister uses the human version for her anxiety and has done since she was a little girl, apparently it's really helpful for her!

 

What is she fed at the moment btw? As PK said, there is probably an underlying cause for the weight loss which needs to be adressed though. 

 

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Is she truly under weight or just light on at present.

The issue i would have at present feeding a nervous Basset up is she is at the right age where bloat becomes an increased risk ,i would certainly be looking at options to give her some comfort & minimize the stress that sadly does increase the bloat factor.

 

What are you feeding ,how many meals,is the dogs vision good,hearing good??

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I find adaptil infuser works much better than the collars.

 

my dog is constantly underweight, I give her "satin balls" (minus the gelatin and some foods switched out) and her diet is a mix of black hawk kibble and raw. I have recently started including Vets All Natural because someone told me it helps them gain weight (not the weight loss variety of course). It's only been 2 weeks, and she's gained 0.5kg but that could just be water retention I'm not sure yet.

 

Not the most conventional aid, but she's gained a whole 2kg since I got her a friend. I think he helps keep her calm at home or warm cuddles in winter lol. We really struggle with winter weight loss. But after your latest experiences and your dogs age, can see why antoher dog friend might not be best.

 

i have been doing dr karens relaxation protocl to foster calmness in the house.

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Yeah for putting on quick weight those satin balls are good as Thistle's mum said. 

We used some for Monty not long after we adopted him he went through a too skinny phase. 

I blitzed up kibble in the food processer so it turned to crumbs (or you can put it in a plastic bag and whack it with a rolling pin of course) 

Mixed that with cottage/cream cheese. 

Some mince (could use normal human grade mince, or maybe even some BARF mince for dogs) 

Some grated apple & carrot for extras, don't need them.

mix it up, make into patties or meat balls & freeze. Grab one or a few from the freezer the day before & feed it with the normal food. 

 

What is she currently fed? If you feed her supermarket food it could be useful for her general health swapping her onto a more "natural (super) premium" food. 

Like black hawk, meals for mutts, holistic select, etc. 

In my personal opinion (based upon the opinion of vet nutritionists etc) foods like Hills, Royal Canin, Advance, etc are full of junk and are a bit of a waste of money, they are slightly better than supermarket brands imo.

Monty was on Hills Science Diet at the RSPCA, when we adopted him we had to buy a bag obviously so he didn't get an upset tummy. It was so much more expensive than our usual food (black hawk) and I was tempted just to take a bunch of free samples to last the week :laugh:

But I bought it, opened the packet and there was so much corn in it that it smelled like Doritos... corn is really not good for dogs btw. And it was the first ingredient... :( 

When he was fed that, he had stinky breath with kibble grossness stuck in his teeth, his fur stank, he was oily & itchy, he was also a bit chubby (but then quickly lost too much weight soon after.) It also had sugar in which is totally unnecessary. 

 

Anyways. 

 

Sorry for rambling, Good luck with your girl  :heart:

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On ‎17‎/‎06‎/‎2017 at 3:23 PM, Papillon Kisses said:

How did you go at the vets yesterday @Carrie W-Taylor?

She went in yesterday and the vet offered me some Prozac. I said that I wanted to try the natural route first. He did a full health check on her and think he may have found a lump in her stomach. She is in at the vets now after fasting overnight to see if the vet can find anything. Blood tests are also being done to check for diabetes.

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