Skinny Boy

[Mystella]

Back in Dec we took Jeffy in for his vaccs and discovered he had been losing weight. He was eating a good food but was eating 5-6 cups of it a day and had lost 7 lbs. Did routine fecal - nada, did 3 day fecal and giardia.

 

Treated and checked 2 weeks later and all clear. Did some food trial re possible allergies. Jeffy continues to eat like a horse and act hungry all the time. Took him back in for weight check - no gain, in fact he has lost another pound

 

Did blood draw this morning to check for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency

 

Keep my skinny, sweet boy in your thoughts please. they said probably a week till results.

[4My2Greys]

I hope they find what is causing this soon. I'll be keeping Jeffy in my thoughts.

[Time4ANap]

Hope you're feeling better soon, Jeff.

[Guest Stripeyfan]

Have they also tested for malabsorption? FWIW, Kelly eats 7.5 cups of food per day. He has malabsorption/IBD and on a 'normal' amount of food (especially as he has to have a home-cooked diet) gets scarily underweight. When we were trying to put weight on him after he lost 20lb last year (before we got a diagnosis), he had to go up to 9 cups/day to get the weight back on. We then reduced the amount as he neared a healthy weight. We also spread his feeds out - 3 smaller meals per day rather than 1 or 2, as it's easier for him to digest his food this way.

 

If the EPI test comes back negative (I REALLY hope it does!) it might be worth upping his food and feeding smaller meals more often to see if this helps. It's possible the giardia has left him with GI tract damage or a bacterial imbalance that's interfering with the way he absorbs his food. That could also explain why he's so hungry - Kelly was the same.

 

If it is EPI though there are enzymes you can add to the food which I've heard really help. Good luck and I hope you find some answers soon.

Edited March 5, 2011 by Stripeyfan

[Mystella]

Thanks all. I am not sure what i am hoping, that he does or doesn't - at least if it is EPI then I know it is treatable though not curable and is tricky and expensive . He definitely has malabsorption it is just a matter of why. If EPI is negative then it could still be SIBO. I am so not a patient person so the waiting for results is torture for me.

[RileysLegacy]

Carolyn, I will be thinking good thoughts for your boy I know exactly how you feel, I am going through the same thing with Jabari. It is SO frustrating not knowing what is wrong and having to wait for results.

[mychip1]

Good thoughts for Jeff.

[kudzu]

Well I will be routing for SIBO over EPI. Whatever it is I hope you find a treatable cause soon.

[krissn333]

Carolyn, this is a TOTAL longshot, but, have you had a full thyroid panel done? My kitty is HYPERthyroid and lost a bunch of weight in spite of eating almost ravenously all the time.

 

In any case, I hope you're able to find some answers for Jeffy

[tbhounds]

Carolyn, this is a TOTAL longshot, but, have you had a full thyroid panel done? My kitty is HYPERthyroid and lost a bunch of weight in spite of eating almost ravenously all the time.

 

In any case, I hope you're able to find some answers for Jeffy

Hyperthyroidism is seen only in kitties. It would be unheard of to find a hyperthyroid dog.

[Guest Lovey_Hounds]

Im not sure if you have done this, when we got Vegas we could not get any weight on him no matter what we fed him. Have you done a tick panel? it may be a long shot but you never know,we did one (and a million other tests) with vegas and he had Babesia.

[JJNg]

Hyperthyroidism is seen only in kitties. It would be unheard of to find a hyperthyroid dog.

Very, very rare, but not unheard of. In dogs, it's usually caused by thyroid cancer.

 

There are certainly much more common causes of weight loss in dogs that should be considered first. Has Jeffy has basic bloodwork (CBC/Chem) and a urinalysis done in addition to testing for EPI? Does he have diarrhea, soft stools, or large volume stools that is making your vet think EPI?

[Burpdog]

I'd worm him anyway even if the fecal is clear with panacur for 5 days. Sending good thoughts your way!

[Mystella]

Thanks all. Di he did have giardia so he had a ten day course of flagyl.

 

The vet is thinking EPI based on his condition and the symptoms I have told her about, tummy rumbling, loudly that you can hear across the room, voracious appetite, his food intake has increased by 2 cups a day and he is still losing weight, marked increase in BMs in both volume and frequency, some vomitting. He is still as happy and goofy as ever.

 

Yes on the basic bloodwork but she is doing another course for comparison as the last one was a while back.

 

EPI is just one of the things to be looked at, but it is the one I am waiting on right now, not very patiently might I add.

[turbotaina]

Sending good thoughts for your boy, Carolyn

[ml529]

Sending good thoughts for Jeffy.

[gracegirl]

More continued good thoughts for you and your boy. I hope you get answers soon...i KNOW how hard it is to not know what's going on.

[sobesmom]

Holy cow - that seems like a LOT of dogfood to me. My 83 lb. grey never ate that much. I know you said it was a good food - but maybe look at the calories and find something higher?

 

I hope it's just worms or something - they can elude a test.

 

But - it's possible - maybe a cancer? I don't mean in ANY way to worry you. But some cancers thrive on carbs. The more the dog eats, the more it thrives, and the dog looses. Maybe try a "cancer diet" for a while - total meat - no carbs, and see what happens?

 

An all-meat diet certainly won't hurt, in any case. If you're not in a position to do raw - do a crockpot stew - meat and sweet potatoes for fiber. It's not hard, or expensive - you just make up a crockpot full of cheap fatty hamburger, chicken, whatever, and a sweet potato, once per week, keep it in the fridge, and dole out daily.

 

Assume it's NOT cancer, it probably isn't - but put the dog on all meat with some fiber, for a while, and see if it helps. A meat diet is great for ANY dog.

 

It might help sort out the issues. And - your dog will LOVE IT!!!!

[Mystella]

It is a lot of food, Stella was 72lbs and she ate 2 cups a day. Jeffy is down to 62 lbs now He was on TOTW then a prescription Royal Canin and now Natural Balance

 

I don't mind cooking for him, for my goofy Jeffy the Pooh i would even be willing to use the crockpot (long story, I have crockpot issues) - except if it is EPI then too much protein is bad for him, no matter what I choose to do could be the wrong thing because we don't know what we are dealing with yet. Sooo frustrating! Yes the dreaded C word has lurked in my mind too but I am refusing to even acknowledge it, he is just a baby still and seems very healthy other than the metabolism from hell.

 

I know my vet will call me the minute she gets the results back, but I want to know NOW.

[gracegirl]

Continuing to keep you in my thoughts!

[Guest Stripeyfan]

Is Jeffy on any meds yet? I was researching long-term antibiotics last week because it looks as if Kelly will have stay on oxytetracycline for good (for his IBD), and found a greyt article about Tylan. On re-reading there is something in it about Tylosin also helping dogs with EPI. Link The site is Finnish but the article is in English, and is very thorough and informative.

 

If you do decide to homecook you will probably need to feed more than ordinary dog food anyway, esp to get the weight back on. Kelly had to gain 20lbs back last year and at one point was eating 9 cups of food per day (now down to 7.5!). We've also found feeding him several small meals per day helps him digest his food better.

 

We're keeping everything crossed here that you get a diagnosis soon!

[Mystella]

Thank you!

[turbotaina]

You know, Carolyn, we had a foster once who was a really, really hard keeper. I think we ended up putting him on tylan powder for a long time. I don't know if he's still on it (he was adopted), but he checked out negative for everything. Food would just shoot right through the poor guy, but in the end, with the tylan, we did manage to put weight on him. Hope you get some answers quickly!

[Mystella]

Okay vet just called me Jeffy does NOT have EPI or SIBO

 

that he does'nt but that we still don't know what issue is.

 

He is going to start a course of Tylosin (sp?) to see if he is responsive to that as next step so seems she is thinking along the same path as Marty, oops sorry, Tubotaina, and Stripeyfan.

Edited March 8, 2011 by Mystella

[NeylasMom]

You know, Carolyn, we had a foster once who was a really, really hard keeper. I think we ended up putting him on tylan powder for a long time. I don't know if he's still on it (he was adopted), but he checked out negative for everything. Food would just shoot right through the poor guy, but in the end, with the tylan, we did manage to put weight on him. Hope you get some answers quickly!

He was on Tylan and Flagyl pretty long term. We had the foster parent feeding him satin balls as well to help put the weight back on (she was doing them raw) and I believe eventually he was able to come off of the meds. It basically was as if his digestive tract had gotten ridiculously irritated and he needed a long time with the help of meds and an easily absorbable diet to calm things down. Which is why I was going to second the suggestion of the home cooked diet if you ruled out EPI. The thought being that the nutrients are more easily digestible, especially the protein in a raw or homecooked diet, rather than processed kibble. If he'll eat eggs, those are a fantastic source of easily digestible protein and I would recommend doing a mixture of cooked ground meat (if he can tolerate fattier meat I would do some of that, some chicken, maybe alternate or mix), sweet potato, egg, and possibly some green veg like green beans or greens (spinach, kale, etc.). And a multi-vitamin might not be a bad idea.

 

Really glad to hear the EPI and SIBO tests came back negative, but I understand how frustrating this type of thing can be. My only other thought is when you rechecked to see if the giardia was cleared up, did you do the fancy fecal that caught it initially or just a regular one. My thought honestly is that you just may not have cleared up the giardia yet. In which case, I would do a longer course of ABs along with the Tylan powder, and the special diet just to get weight back on him. Then recheck with fancy fecal several weeks from now.

 

I hope you get it sorted out.