Food for puppy failing to put on weight

Cinnamontoast said:
Can you take a photo of her from above? I’d say RC is not the best thing to feed. Imo, it‘s not the best quality. If she’s pooing loads, obviously she’s not processing what she‘s getting. Possibly, she’s not doing well on the fillers in that food. I don’t personally see the point of beet etc. If you want to increase the protein, you could consider raw, but I agree with pp that you shouldn’t change the food just now until she settles.

I wonder if you could decrease her exercise for a wee while? I know 6 months is an age when you should be getting them out and keeping them stimulated, but I think she‘s burning off what she eats. My two were like rakes as babies, now it’s a fine balance of exercise v food due to medical issues so we can’t run them for miles. Food, therefore, is a fine balance.
Click to expand...

a bit blurry, she looks a little better from the side. The RC is vet recc diet started yesterday and temporary whilst she is poorly. (wasn't sure if you thought that was her permanent food...?) She seems much brighter today and we have had no explosive watery poo since 11am this morning, in fact no poos since then so hopefully the RC gastro intestinal food is doing its job.

edited to add that she weighs 11.9kg, is about 20 inches from base of neck to base of tail and about 18 inches high to shoulder
 

Attachments

  • IMG_2962.JPG
    IMG_2962.JPG
    29.1 KB · Views: 38
  • IMG_2968.JPG
    IMG_2968.JPG
    53 KB · Views: 38
Last edited:
I think your right to wait until you gets the results back, if it is something like giardia or campylobacter then she will pick up once it is sorted anyway and you won't need to change anything.
I have dealt with both in dogs and kittens and it can really pull them down.
 
I don't think she looks too thin, OTH, and she's shiny. Spaniel was as thin as a pup, he just burned through everything. He didn't poop that much though. I would suspect she's got a bug of some kind thats just been pulling her down for a bit and slowed her growth and weight gain. I think once you've sorted out the bug the growth and weight gain will be back more where it should be.

I would still try a different food because of all the poops though. I found Burns good for small poop!
 
I would ask for a fecal sample to be done. The RC might be having a settling effect because it’s so bland. A lot of people swear by the tinned Chappie, also very bland and great for tummy issues. RC has very poor reviews on https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory but I understand completely why you would keep her on it if she’s not pooing her guts out, which of course is very worrying.

Obvious dummy question: is she up to date on worming?
 
Cinnamontoast said:
I would ask for a fecal sample to be done. The RC might be having a settling effect because it’s so bland. A lot of people swear by the tinned Chappie, also very bland and great for tummy issues. RC has very poor reviews on https://www.allaboutdogfood.co.uk/the-dog-food-directory but I understand completely why you would keep her on it if she’s not pooing her guts out, which of course is very worrying.

Obvious dummy question: is she up to date on worming?
Click to expand...
Yes up to date on worming we are collecting three days of poop samples now so that they can check for anything not covered by wormer.
 
It’s so hard to tell with medium coated breeds from a photo but she looks well muscled. My sisters adult bitch BC is about 2cm taller than yours as an adult and when super fit is around 14kg, but more ‘pet’ conditioned is 15.5. That’s very frequent pooing though!
 
On the Hoof said:
Hi, just a bit of background first. Ripley my BC pup is now 6 months old. She was the smallest in the litter and has always been a skinny minny but I have raised weight issues with my vets on 3 occasions and just been waved away with words such as' BC, hyperactive, healthy pup, don’t worry….'
She has been on the breeders own feed since I collected her and I am told by a few people that the composition is very good so for those interested it is a kibble with 28% protein, 14% oils and fats, 3% fibres, 7.5% Ash, 1.1% Omega 6 and 3% Omega 3.
Ingredients are 60% Salmon/haddock/blue whiting; 14% Sweet potato and rest is beet, peas, potato and asparagus plus some other guff.

Ripley has basically only put on half a kilo a week since I had her but a month ago this rate started to slow down. 3 weeks ago she was weighed when I took her in after receiving some wasps stings and today we went back to vets as she has been poorly with a stomach bug for a couple of days. On weighing today she has lost .4kg since last weigh in, which really means that she has lost this plus what she should have put on during that three week period. She poos about 6 times a day and they are large, and I did raise this with vet 3 weeks ago and that didn’t seem to raise a flag for them, although today’s locum recognized that she is probably not getting her nutritional needs met and suggested changing to a hypoallergenic puppy food. She suggested either Burns/James wellbeloved/Arden grange or Nature menu.
So are there any other makes for sensitive tummys that anyone would suggest I consider? I do not know much about raw diets and I don’t have a very large freezer so that might not be the best way forward.
Thankyou for any suggestions

ps, exercise normally consists of 30-40 minutes first thing on tracking line so she can have a run about; walk in woods at lunchtime usually we pootle for about an hour maybe longer but this is slow walking on short lead and stopping to encourage her to sniff we might only walk 1km in total in that time; same again late afternoon. She is more tired after wood walks with plenty to sniff at than running around which just hypes her up.

Ps as I left the vets I wondered if I should have asked for blood test for thyroid problems ?? Having googled this now, hyperthyroidism seems rare in dogs and although she is majorly hyperactive and then crashes out I kind of assumed this was a puppy thing, esp BC. She does get massively overexcited and cant calm down and she has the attention span of a gnat. What do we think? Try food change first and see if I can get weight on her over next four weeks or should I push for some investigations?
Click to expand...
On the Hoof said:
a bit blurry, she looks a little better from the side. The RC is vet recc diet started yesterday and temporary whilst she is poorly. (wasn't sure if you thought that was her permanent food...?) She seems much brighter today and we have had no explosive watery poo since 11am this morning, in fact no poos since then so hopefully the RC gastro intestinal food is doing its job.

edited to add that she weighs 11.9kg, is about 20 inches from base of neck to base of tail and about 18 inches high to shoulder
Click to expand...

I am sure you're right in thinking there is a medical reason why your puppy isn't gaining the weight in a normal way. A lit of the comments she with you and have first hand experience of similar. I don't have any experience of a similar nature but wanted to let you know of a company in Devon called Forthglade. I first discovered it when searching out food for my elderly terrier who had pancreatitis. It was a very good option for him. Now I have looked them up again for my puppy (my dear Bobby moved onto better things in July 😥) My new puppy is doing very well in it. They do wet and dry food. From all my research I am very happy with what they produce....have a look at their site perhaps? I met them at the Kent show... Forthglade..good luck
 
RumbleTheTumble said:
I am sure you're right in thinking there is a medical reason why your puppy isn't gaining the weight in a normal way. A lit of the comments she with you and have first hand experience of similar. I don't have any experience of a similar nature but wanted to let you know of a company in Devon called Forthglade. I first discovered it when searching out food for my elderly terrier who had pancreatitis. It was a very good option for him. Now I have looked them up again for my puppy (my dear Bobby moved onto better things in July 😥) My new puppy is doing very well in it. They do wet and dry food. From all my research I am very happy with what they produce....have a look at their site perhaps? I met them at the Kent show... Forthglade..good luck
Click to expand...
Thankyou
 
Glad you have found the cause of her tummy troubles. Giardia is horrible, I had a friend who had it and he was really ill so not surprised she has been poorly. Hope the meds knock it on the head and she starts to put on weight and stops pooing for Britain 😁
 
Brain14 said:
If your feed does not help then try changing the feed. And best of all, consult your veterinarian, maybe the food is not suitable.
Click to expand...
splashgirl45 said:
have you read this thread, the OP has been to the vet and the dog is suffering from guardia!!!
Click to expand...
thankyou, I was going to post in reply earlier but I was less polite than you and decided to leave it alone
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top