Quote: Angela Burrell

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!

No, I meant isn't a thyroid condition unlikely at 9 weeks b/c she was talking about him being too ribby on raw at 9 weeks. I know he's not 9 weeks now, which is why I'm not 100% convinced it's thyroid....if he's had this issue his entire life.

How far are you willing to drive to see a good vet?

There are some good ones in Georgia, but they're all about 2 hours from Benning.

 Quote: Christi Collett

I'm going to do the blood test in about a week.

Please post ALL test(blood, fecal, etc.) that have been done to try to diagnose this problem along with the results. Specifics.

Thyroid problems in a very young animal would be unusual. Also, dogs most commonly suffer from hypothyroidism, an underactive thyroid, of which a common symptom is weight gain.

http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=2+1597&aid=449

Hyperthyroidism is common in cats but rare in dogs. Weight loss is one symptom of an overactive thyroid. The most common reason for an overactive thyroid in a dog is a cancerous tumor of the thyroid gland.

I agree that a full blood panel is a good idea. I would also suggest doing a fecal culture to rule out bacteria that simple fecal floats and smears do not find. Certain bacteria can cause ongoing loose stools and diarrhea.

Thanks everyone for all your help. I'm trying to remember as much as I can. When I got him at 9 weeks he was thin. He was on puppie foood at the breeders. I put him on small chunks of chicken(I do not remember as to how much I was giving him at this time) with skin,bones and fat on it. Than when he was about 15 weeks we saw the vet and she felt as well that he was to thin and said I should just slowly up his chicken till he looks better. He started looking a little better a few weeks later and at that time I THINK he was getting about 8oz(thsi is when he was a little older and he was on this meal for about 3months) of chicken with all skin, bones and fat(I was told that if he was thin that I should leav all that on and it would help that) on it three times daily. He was on that for about 3 months giva uping the ckicken slowly to about 12oz to to get him to gain more, one time a day he got i tisp. alfalfa, i tisp yucca, i pump fish oil and one tisp yogert. I had now luck with that as far as lbs and stopping the soft stool. When I got him he was having very loos stools and I just thought it was the puppy thing and moving and so on, but it never went away.

After that diet I talke with some people on her and they said maybe I should back off some of the chicken and put in some ground beef so I slowly replaced almost about 3/4 the chicken with ground beef. About 1-1/2 to 2 months later, nothing had changed except he had very bad gas all the time. Thats when I said I'm going to try a some dog food. So I put him on about 1 cup 1 to 1 1/2 cups 3 times daily of Blue Buffalo larg breed puppie. And to no supprize he did not like it and would not eat it. For days I did the 15 min. down than take away till next meal. That did nothing . he would eat about 4 bits and than walk away. So I started putting just enough wet food (about 2 tbl.) to make him eat it and than he did. With my vet watching, I have slowly up'd hiss food more and more and still no change in his lbs or stool.

Thats when I too khim in and I told her the hole thing. She did a fecal (stick up the but one) and said that everything looked good. she said that her thought was that he could not digest the protien. Thats when she said she would put him on that hypo food. At that point I was getting ready to take him on a trip out of state for Christimas so I said can I do it when I get back, I don't want to deal with a food change in the car. SO she said to put him on some pills (Sulfasalazine 500mg every 12 hours and metronidazole 250mg 2 times daily) that will help heal his insides from all the runny stool and change his food when we got back, and if that food did not work that the blood test for thyroid check.. So I did that, now the pills are gone and I'm not sure what to do about food.

Sorry so long. I do not have any way at this time to send any pic's.

What kind of result did you see from the meds?

As Sarah points out, hyperthyroidism is rare in dogs (except maybe as induced by bad dosage of thyroid replacement for hypothyroidism). Never mind at 9 weeks. I would still want the test, though, and start crossing stuff off.

I'm curious about parasite tests. I'd want the blood panel suggested by Sarah as well as the fecal culture. "Culture" is the important word there.

Have you ever tried plain small frequent meals of skinless white poultry for a few days to see what happens with the stool?

How much does he weigh?

Perhaps I missed this detail in the thread: have you contacted the breeder regarding this problem? I believe you mentioned that he was thin when you picked him up from the breeder, was this discussed at the time? Or, better yet, has the breeder seen him (pictures or in-person) since and provided you with a physical assessment insofar as body structure/proportion?

 Quote: christi collett

I had now luck with that as far as lbs and stopping the soft stool.

After that diet I talke with some people on her and they said maybe I should back off some of the chicken and put in some ground beef so I slowly replaced almost about 3/4 the chicken with ground beef. About 1-1/2 to 2 months later, nothing had changed except he had very bad gas all the time.

are you saying you did have luck with the chicken, or is your "now luck" supposed to be "no luck"???


you added beef, he got gassy.

so don't feed him beef.

before trying special overpriced hypo dog food, try a novel protein source raw, like i mentioned earlier. Venison or rabbit. i can't remember which would be better for weight gain, IF the dog even needs to gain weight....

give this a shot..

venison/rabbit/other protein(emu, bison, quail, etc...)
eggs
lamb

you could also order some of the veggie THK, and serve it with these meats.

lay off the yogurt and supplements for a while, except for the salmon oil/vit e...

start with ONE meat source with the THK, once that is good, then and only then add another protein.

http://www.cvm.tamu.edu/clinicalnutrition/bcsdog.shtml
http://articles.mercola.com/ImageServer/Public/2005/october/10.13.fatpets.BCS_Chart_dogs.jpg



just so you know, even well seasoned vets think the "ideal/optimum" condition presented here is "too thin". they are used to seeing fat dogs, plain and simple.

plus, these ideals are being presented by a pet food company, which wants you to buy tons of their food...so you could follow that even a tad thinner that "ideal" is desired, as long as there is good muscle tone.

we really do need a pic of your dog....