Weight Loss And Peeing In The House....

[Guest LolaNLucy]

In June Lola was 68.7lbs. She's always been thin but recently I noticed she looks too thin. All of her ribs are showing as well as her spine. She's eating a total of 4cups a day of TOTW and is getting a couple tablespoons of wet food mixed in at each meal. I increased the amount but it hasn't helped so we went to the vet today. She was 60.1lbs but she looks awful. They did a fecal and didn't find anything so they drew blood as well. The blood work is being sent off so we won't know the results for 2 days. She has no loss of appetite or any other symptoms that I've noticed.

 

Then Lucy has been peeing in the house recently. She was treated for a UTI in Sept and again in Oct and she does fine when she's on an antibiotic but within 2wks of finishing she starts peeing inthe house again. We'll walk her and then go out for 2hrs and find a puddle on the floor. Today there was no trace of infection in her urine so they also drew blood on her. If they don't find anything in the blood then both girls will need xrays next week. The vet didn't want to give her a longer course of antibiotics until all other possible causes were ruled out.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2009 by LolaNLucy

[Burpdog]

did they culture the urine? Could be she is not on the right antibiotic and/or not long enough.

 

I'd worm them anyway. Many times you do not pick up whip from one fecal. Panacur

[Guest Energy11]

Might want to culture both urines. Also, sometimes, "vet's office fecals" aren't always accurate. In the small samples they look at under the microscope, the worm larve, etc., doesn't show up. Vets can send the fecals out to the labs, with a larger quantity, for a better read, too.

 

Are your dogs, especially Lola, drinking more? Excessive drinking and peeing can be signs of kidney disease, and metabolic disorders like Diabetes, and sometimes, Cushings.

 

I would see what Lola's blood work shows, and go from there. In the meantime, maybe culture BOTH urines and have the fecals sent out. It's a start.

 

Good Luck!

[Guest 3greysinPA]

oh no... ... no advice here.. just wanted to send hugs... to you and the hounds... and hoping that things get better very soon.

[Guest mcsheltie]

I have two dogs on TOTW and I can not keep weight on them. All ribs & spine are showing on ours too. Both are below their track weight and I am switching them to something else. They are eating 4-5 cups a day (60 lbs girls) and plus a turkey neck (which weighs 1 lb) a couple times a week.

 

Check out their web site, the kcals per cup are low. Approx 360. Other kibble we have used are in the 450-550 range. That is a big difference.

 

I have a boy who kept getting UTI. The last time they used a big gun antibiotic and kept him on it for three weeks. Hasn't come back since.

[MerlinsMum]

Crap :(

 

Your girls have been on my mind since yesterday.

 

How worrying for you. I'm keeping you & the girls in my thoughts, Tracey, please keep us posted. :goodluck :goodluck :goodluck

[PrairieProf]

I'm so very sorry your dogs are sick.

 

Beth is on TOTW and I recently learned she'd gained weight -- she is generally around 59-60 but has jumped up to close to 63. Some extras of turkey necks and tripe on top of 3 cups of TOTW may have been part of that. But anyway I've cut back on her kibble to 2.5 cups until she's trimmed down -- so it's certainly not universal to lose weight on this food! 4 cups does sound like a lot to me for a female grey, which would make me suspect there is another factor influencing her weight.

 

(I've read the point on other boards recently that TOTW changed to a smaller kibble size this summer without changing how it lists calories per cup, yet more kibble fits in a cup now so in theory the listed calorie counts may be lower than the reality.)

Edited November 17, 2009 by PrairieProf

[Guest LolaNLucy]

Thanks everyone. Both girls are on the same food and Lucy hasn't had any problems keeping her weight on and Lucy is getting 1 3/4 cups twice a day.

 

Too much going on all at once. The vet said we could call tomorrow at 5pm to get results. Of course this is all happening when I'm getting ready to go out of town for the 3 day breast cancer walk.

[Guest LolaNLucy]

The vet wants to rule out tick born illnesses so he's running tick titers on both girls. If nothing comes up on Lucy he will start her on a 6wk course of Baytril to see if that knocks out whatever is causing her to pee in the house.

 

As for Lola, if nothing comes up from this we will do xrays and go from there. We've had her fecal sample tested again and still nothing came back in it. Bloodwork came back mostly normal but there is cause to suspect tick borne illness.