Guest Cardiffcouple Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Need suggestions on how to put weight on Ben. Ben is our 6 year old who we adopted last July. We have been working since then to get his poops out of the Big D stage and looking somewhat like “regular” poops. We went through Wellness Lamb & Rice, TOTW Pacific Salmon, pumpkin, sweet potato, Metronidazole, all vet tests except for colonoscopy. All of this introduced gradually and properly. Neither Ben nor Mercy (our other grey we adopted with Ben) ate with gusto. About two months ago our vet suggested we feed him (and Mercy) a high nutrition high calorie food from them. Can’t remember what it is called but it’s in a white bag. Both Ben and Mercy ate like it was the greatest thing ever. Within two days their poops were totally normal. We were so thrilled! But then Ben began to lose weight. After about a month our vet said to add one egg white a day (the kind in the box only we got one without additives like garlic, etc). That didn’t work so we added two eggs (whites) a day. He still lost weight. They suggested adding rice last week and we did for two days and now he has the runs. To heck with the rice. I bought some chicken breasts last night and we are loading him up with the kibble and the breasts. I’m sorry this is so long but Ben looks terrible! His ribs are sticking out and his spine looks like a mountain ridge. I am very worried. Our vet said the next step is the scoping. Ben is a very quiet, non-demonstrative dog so we can’t tell if his behavior has changed. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thank you! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Batmom Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Can you figure out how many calories per day he's getting in the food? Could be it's just not enough. Quote Star aka Starz Ovation (Ronco x Oneco Maggie*, litter #48538), Coco aka Low Key (Kiowa Mon Manny x Party Hardy, litter # 59881), and mom in IllinoisWe miss Reko Batman (Trouper Zeke x Marque Louisiana), 11/15/95-6/29/06, Rocco the thistledown whippet, 04/29/93-10/14/08, Reko Zema (Mo Kick x Reko Princess), 8/16/98-4/18/10, the most beautiful girl in the whole USA, my good egg Joseph aka Won by a Nose (Oneco Cufflink x Buy Back), 09/22/2003-03/01/2013, and our gentle sweet Gidget (Digitizer, Dodgem by Design x Sobe Mulberry), 1/29/2006-11/22/2014, gone much too soon. Never forgetting CJC's Buckshot, 1/2/07-10/25/10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3greytjoys Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Is there any chance of letting us know the name of Ben's current food, calories per cup, quantity he eats daily, and how much weight he's lost? How many ribs are showing? Do you know where he raced, and lived before you adopted him? Did you ever see any blood in his stool? Sounds like the vet must have already done multiple fecal tests to rule out Giardia, different growth stages of hookworms, etc.? Just for reference, a good visual Greyhound weight indicator is being able to see the last 2 ribs and feel the third to last rib. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OwnedBySummer Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Sorry your baby is doing poorly, here's hoping he feels better soon. I have a Satin Balls recipe from a greyhound kennel, that I'm told is wonderful. I have never had to personally try it. Here it is: Ingredients: 5lb. Fatty ground beef (fattiest you can find) ½ lb. Cream cheese 1 Small jar of natural peanut butter (nothing but peanuts in it) 12 Egg yolks (not the whites) 2 cups Oatmeal, soaked for at least 2 hours (better overnight) in 18% cream 1 cup Wheat germ Directions: Mix everything up in a large bowl, you'll have to use your hands to do this, just dive in. When well mixed, roll into ping pong sized balls and place on cookie sheet. Freeze, put into a bag and serve 4 with each meal. Quote Lisa B. My beautiful Summer - to her forever home May 1, 2010 Summer Certified therapy dog team with St. John Ambulance Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
4My2Greys Posted June 8, 2011 Share Posted June 8, 2011 Assuming the food he is eating has sufficient calories to maintain a dog his size, has he been tested for Exocrine Pancreatic Insufficiency? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest dobiegrey Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Just went through this with my Dobie on March 5th had normal blood work, than he started losing weight dramaticly and on April 20th had blood work done that showed he is a "raging diabetic" just 6 weeks later. He has now been on insulin and it has taken a month to figure out the right dosage but he is doing wonderful looks like the same dog and is picking up weight slowing but surely!!! Unless he JUST DID blood work have it checked again like I said this happened in a matter of 6 weeks!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytlady94 Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Exocrine Pancreatic insufficiency was the diagnosis for my Renie and your description Of Ben made me think of her. Are you anywhere near a vet school? Quote Greyhound angels at the bridge- Casey, Charlie, Maggie, Molly, Renie, Lucy & Teddy. Beagle angels Peanut and Charlie. And to all the 4 legged Bridge souls who have touched my heart, thank you. When a greyhound looks into you eyes it seems they touch your very soul. "A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more then he loves himself". Josh Billings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Figmama Posted June 9, 2011 Share Posted June 9, 2011 Hope it's just a food issue but when our 12 year old lost weight I took him into the Vet and we did a lot of testing and x-rays. At that time, it was found he was losing protein in his urine and he had high BP. He then went on BP meds, Pepcid and I started feeding him Natural Balance Fish and Sweet Potato to cut down on the phophorus. Unfortunately, some weeks later I felt a lump in his throat and back to the vet we went. He was diagnosed with Lymphoma. Not meaning to scare you but may be a sign something else is going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Stripeyfan Posted June 11, 2011 Share Posted June 11, 2011 Kelly was diagnosed with IBD last year (as a result of worm damage) and went through pretty much the same thing - ribs sticking out, spine like a stegosaurus. It was awful. The vet tested him for EPI and malabsorption and the problem was found to be malabsorption - basically his small intestine was unable to absorb certain nutrients so even though he was eating a ton, he was starving. In the end we treated with pred and ABs to get the inflammation under control and he slowly regained the weight. However he has had to stay on a low dose of the ABs as without it he flares up again. He gets oxytetracycline and when we had to swap it for amoxycillin for a week to treat a UTI, he noticeably lost weight again because the amoxy wasn't as good at keeping the GI inflammation at bay. Also, have you tried splitting Ben's feeds into several smaller ones per day? If there is GI inflammation he may be able to digest his food better this way. We now feed Kelly 3X day but at one point I think he was having 5 meals a day! Really hoping this is something treatable and you'll be able to find a food/meds combo that works. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kathyr Posted June 15, 2011 Share Posted June 15, 2011 Any update on Ben? After reading what he's going through, I thought you were talking about my Guinness. Losing weight etc, going for a weight check on Thursday and testing his urine. Guinness is on rabbit food from the vet and the vet has increased his daily food intake, which I'm not happy about. Hope Ben is feeling better Kathy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest spsjohnson Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 Sorry your baby is doing poorly, here's hoping he feels better soon. I have a Satin Balls recipe from a greyhound kennel, that I'm told is wonderful. I have never had to personally try it. Here it is: Ingredients: 5lb. Fatty ground beef (fattiest you can find) ½ lb. Cream cheese 1 Small jar of natural peanut butter (nothing but peanuts in it) 12 Egg yolks (not the whites) 2 cups Oatmeal, soaked for at least 2 hours (better overnight) in 18% cream 1 cup Wheat germ Directions: Mix everything up in a large bowl, you'll have to use your hands to do this, just dive in. When well mixed, roll into ping pong sized balls and place on cookie sheet. Freeze, put into a bag and serve 4 with each meal. LOVE this recipe!!! We had to get 28 pounds back on our girl after she went for a two week trip in the woods without us. We are still 5 pounds shy of the weight she was before she took off, but with the visual cues in the earlier post, we maybe at optimum now. Julie gets three of these meatballs with her dinner kibble and wet as well as breakfast and a lite lunch. Think I will drop the lunch and see if we can stabilizer her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greyhead Posted June 28, 2011 Share Posted June 28, 2011 (edited) How's Ben doing? Our Spencer had/has a situation similar to Stripeyfan's Kelly: history of hookworm, followed a year later by intestinal malabsorption, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, IBD. Hookworms have teeth and really do a number on intestines, which sets the dog up for the other problems. The first important thing I learned -- eight months and three vets later -- was that a negative fecal test doesn't mean the dog doesn't have worms. It just means the worms aren't shedding eggs, which is what the test looks for. If I'd known that at the start, I would have repeated stool samples tested every week for a month before concluding that he was worm-free. Would've saved a lot of trouble. The test for intestinal malabsorption is the cobalamin/folate test. If that's it, B-12 shots for life will take care of the major deficit. You can easily and cheaply give them at home. Maybe nothing I've said is relevant to your situation, but I thought I should mention these things. I'm so hoping you can get a handle on this. Spencer lost 20 lbs. throughout his ordeal, so I know how scared and helpless one feels until the cause is determined and dealt with. I'm sorry this is so long but Ben looks terrible! His ribs are sticking out and his spine looks like a mountain ridge. I am very worried. Our vet said the next step is the scoping. Ben is a very quiet, non-demonstrative dog so we can't tell if his behavior has changed. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Thank you! Btw, has Ben continued to be interested in ingesting Pomeranians and Poodles? Edited June 28, 2011 by greyhead Quote Mary with Jumper Jack (2/17/11) and angels Shane (PA's Busta Rime, 12/10/02 - 10/14/16) and Spencer (Dutch Laser, 11/25/00 - 3/29/13). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cardiffcouple Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you. We found out that Ben has high blood pressure. We have had lots of dogs with many ailments but we had never heard of high blood pressure in dogs. There is a lengthy explanation for the following but I don't remember it well enough to put down here. He was on a high protein diet and we had to transition him to a low protein diet. We are almost done with that. He has to take 1/2 baby aspirin a day so he won't have a stroke and he is on blood pressure meds. Started off with half a pill and went up to a whole becuse his pressure isn't going down. He goes back in this Saturday for another BP check. We took him back in this past Sunday because he looks even more thin. Turns out he hadn't lost more weight but he hasn't gained any, either. Because we can't add protein to fatten him up, and we can't bulk him up with carbs because that could cause stomach discomfort, we are adding olive oil to his diet, increasing gradually over time, to get fat into him. We are also having an acupuncturist come over to see if that will help bring down his BP. Our vet then had to tell us that she has been doing a lot of research on dogs with high BP and they generally only have 1-2 years. We were shocked. Ben just turned six. I went immediately into denial. My husband was very depressed. We have decided we will just take each day and be glad we have him. Make him as comfy and happy as we can. He is so skinny. I am praying that we can get his weight back up and keep him comfy. He is so sweet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytlady94 Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 (edited) Reds info he re And here If at all possible have your vet contact Dr. Couto or his associates at the Greyhound Health and Wellness Program, Ohio State University. Edited to add- click on the first link, it does work. So does the second. IPad's spell correction got in the way and I failed to notice. Edited June 29, 2011 by Greytlady94 Quote Greyhound angels at the bridge- Casey, Charlie, Maggie, Molly, Renie, Lucy & Teddy. Beagle angels Peanut and Charlie. And to all the 4 legged Bridge souls who have touched my heart, thank you. When a greyhound looks into you eyes it seems they touch your very soul. "A dog is the only thing on earth that loves you more then he loves himself". Josh Billings Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Cardiffcouple Posted June 29, 2011 Share Posted June 29, 2011 Reds info he re And here If at all possible have your vet contact Dr. Couto or his associates at the Greyhound Health and Wellness Program, Ohio State University. Edited to add- click on the first link, it does work. So does the second. IPad's spell correction got in the way and I failed to notice. Thank you VERY much! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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