Ok, first off I'm very sorry for the spelling, but My boxer has been really thin sense I got him (over 6 months ago) and not matter what I feed him he never get's any better. I'm so unhappy with this! And he has loos stools most of the time, so I ask myself what is going on here. I know what your thinking and yes we have ad about one vet check a month and he is healthy other than being to thin and we de-werm him and have him tested and we have only found werms one time. back to day one, when I got him at 9 weeks I put hime on raw ONLY, he loved it of cours but his ribs would not go away. So I did so many things I could think of and what everyone was telling me. Add lot's of ground beef, that did not work and he acted sick (very loos stolols bloating not active and lots of noises coming from his tummy) for weeks so I took him off it. Than they said at some cream or high fat yoger but that did not work and again he acted like he was sick. So than and he was just getting so skinny. So I put him one Blue Buffalow kibble. He started to go up for a little bit but than that stoped. He still has loos stools alot of the time. I have tryed three kinds of dog food and four difrent raw diets and I get the same from all.

So about three weeks ago I took him to the vet and said I need to knoe what is really going on her. Will a health check and 100 ? later she told me that he must have a very hard time digesting protein and thats way he is skinny and he has loos stoll cause it just goes right out of him. So than she said I must get hypoallergenic dog food and that will be the only thing to fix it. Well, firts of all, I don't like him being on kibble and second have you ever seen the price on that stuff? Pareina's hypoallergenic dog foot is no joke $94.90 for a 30lbs. I can't do that. Is this the only way? Do I need to gie him to some one that can feed him this?

Could you show a few pics of how thin the dog is? Does he ever vomit? When you say loose stools, do you mean like pudding or like watery diarrhea? Has he been tested for Giardia or Coccidia?

At nine weeks, it's fine to see ribs. Fat puppies often do not become healthy adults. Did he have the loose stools when he was that small or is this more recent?

IME, the number one cause of loose stools is too much food. Not too much protein or anything else; just too much FOOD, period. How much do you feed him per meal per day?

I would skip any prescription foods at this point; it doesn't even sound like the vet really knows what's wrong w/him anyway. Could he have EPI? Did she rule that out?

Please give me an example of a raw meal you would feed him. Maybe we can help fine tune a raw menu that would work for him. Regardless of what's wrong w/him, fresh food will not harm him.

i have a dog that has fish allergies, and will vomit/mudbutt till he drops several pounds..but it doesn't sound like this is whats going on...

a proper raw diet shouldn't have those results...

if all you tried was ground beef, possibly mixed with dog food....well, that can and likely will make your dog sick.

same with just cuts of beef, or just chicken breast ,and a plethera of other things many people think is "feeding a raw diet".

what exactly have you tried feeding your dog, can you give us an example of what a meal would consist of??

you mentioned trying beef-maybe he can't tolerate beef, or chicken(in most dog foods). have you tried having venison or rabbit be the sole protein source???

that is the idea in the L.I.D diets, it's a limited ingredient diet.


if you choose to do a. "allergy" kibble, no need to buy the stuff from the vet made by purina/royal canin/ hills....

DVP's Natural Balance makes 3 formulas that may help-Duck and Potato, Venison and Sweet Potato, and Fish and Sweet Potato.

abotu a third of the price as the stuff at the vet, and its not made by the same componies that make purina puppy chow....

His stools ever senes he was 9 weeks as been on and off pudding and water it go's from day to day and is still going on. The raw I had him on for about 3 months was just chicken 1/4's with a little plane yogert and alfalfa V-E and fish oil. I could never get any lbs on him with that, and thats when some on on here said I should stat doing more beef than chicken but still some chicken.That did nothing. Than do to my health I switch to kibble. But TO NOT SUPRIZE THAT DID NOT DO MUCH, but he did get thicker on that than he did on the raw (Now please don't get me wrong, I am a raw feeder and I know thats much better and thats why I'm not sure how he started looking better). But he did not gain enough and the stools staid the some. The only thing the vet said is that if the food did not work that she would do a blood test for thyroid problems but thats all she said.

As you can tell I don't know much about dog health problems so if you could be in greater detail that would be great.

Have the blood test done.

I had to Boxers with thyroid problems. It's common in the breed.


We need to see pictures of how the dog looks when he is "thin".
If he wasn't vomiting or having diarrhea on the raw food, why take him off? Because he was thin?

I'd rather have a thin dog than a dog that is constantly sick, wouldn't you? Get the dog healthy, ie, no vomiting and diarrhea, and we can worry about getting weight on him later- and he may not even be all that thin.

In today's society, just like people, our dogs tend to be overfed and overweight. We aren't used to seeing dogs trim and fit, the way they are intended. Healthy dogs at a proper weight can look painfully thin when they are compared to the average overweight dog.

Are you taking him to the vet on post? Don't trust Army vets. Take my word for it- they're good doctors, lousy nutritionists.
They all recommend Science Diet and AvoDerm.



BTW- the standard of weight for adult male Boxers is in the 60-70 lbs range.
How much does your pup weigh?

 Quote: Christi Collett

I have tryed three kinds of dog food and four difrent raw diets and I get the same from all.

7 different diet changes in 6 months? Is that ok?

Christi, I'm just asking not criticizing. I'm still fairly new to this place and learning but that part of your post stuck out to me.

I took the post to mean that even on raw he wasn't 100% ok.

Christi: were you leaving a lot of skin on the chicken? Did you change his raw food a lot? How much is "a little" plain yogurt? Some dogs have a dairy intolerance.


I know nothing about Boxers, but I'd have bloodwork done to rule out a few things, although isn't a thyroid condition highly unlikely at 9 weeks old?

I want pictures of this dog. I'm not convinced that he's not just a high-energy, thin, young dog. I have to feed Caleb by the ton, lol, to keep him from looking like something out of National Geographic or Animal Cops...and he's healthy as can be.

OK, he was NO better on raw and he was thinner on raw too. This is not the post vet telling me this, I go of post now. He has never thrown up that I know of on eather. I switched to dog food cause I was hoping that he would gain some pounds and trying to see if it would not make him so sick. I'm going to do the blood test in about a week. A far as yogert I gave him about 1 tbl a day for about 3 weeks and than I did not do it any more hopping that maybe that was making things bad but it did not change anything. I know that changing his diet as much as I hav is not good nor what I want for him but I just know that in some way he's not ok and people keep tellingme it's what he's eating and so I change it to try and help. He was one the same raw diet for about 3months and after a little playing arounnd I put hime on dog food and he has been on the same food for adout 4 3 1/2 months and STILL not chang and so if I pick something and stick with it he's still just as bad.

Intolerance and allergy are 2 separate things.

If anything, these symptoms would be "intolerance", so NO to the hypoallergenic dog food. I still DO NOT think this is intolerance, though.

Christi,

Please get pics of the dog for everyone to see.

Tell us exactly what you were feeding him when you fed raw. Fat left on?

How many times did you feed per day on raw?

How much were you feeding on raw?

How much were you feeding when he ate kibble? How many times per day?

E.T.A.: I know that this is really frustrating. You are getting alot of the same questions over and over again because we need specifics.

It helps to know what test were done, the results, and exactly how the vet interpreted those results to you.

Hang in there.:smile:

Jenni, you may have missed this from the OP.

the dog is 8 months old. They got him at 9 weeks.

Also someone else thought the dog was fine on raw, but she switched because the dog was too thin. That was only one reason; the other is that the dog has had diarrhea ever since they got him. Apparently he has NEVER had a solid stool.

Hope this helps!