The mystery of the shrinking Phoebe Health

Im going to keep a bit of a photo diary on my shrinking dog. Phoebes weight has been a bit up and down since November last year but only going a kilo down then back then down, now the problem has escalated and were are 4kg down and i think may have gone a bit more. Vet is putting this down to kennel stress at the moment as we have no other explanation. Phoebe has been a regular at the kennels i work at for 3 years as i also work in events and during summer Phoebe spends friday to monday in kennels. This hasnt happened the past 2 summers so not sure why she is finding being at kennels stressfull this time but i have noticed she is a bit more reliant on me for support this past 7-9 months. I now have 3 weeks at home as just doing local events so will be home every night and i have an army of friends helping so i dont need to put her in kennels even for a day over this next 3 weeks. I plan on fattening her up a bit so that when she does go in the kennels in 3 weeks time she can afford to lose a little weight if it happens. The rule book about feeding has gone out the window now and im just doing what i think is best for my dog, as nobody knows her better than me.

These photos have just been taken and due to being on my own was quite hard so not the best photos as shes breathing out on some so doesnt look to bad.

I do not know what to say or to suggest Katy, as I know that your vet is looking after Phoebe and has not as yet come up with anything to help her.

And I am in the opposite position having a dog who is overweight and due to her condition getting weight off her again is proving very difficult.

I hope that you will be able to feed Phoebe up to gain some weight and that she will keep it on, and in the meantime all I can offer you and Phoebe lots of special {{{vibes}}} and (((hugs))) xx

Thanks @Malka. to much weight was our problem a while ago she almost tipped the 58kg mark at one point but i didnt notice atall. Now i have the other problem shes down to 50kg and i need her back to her normal weight of 54kg.

to show the contrast that 4kg makes heres phoebe at her normal weight

This weight problem can be a nightmare, but Pereg is the opposite to Phoebe and there does not seem to be anything I can do to stop it.

She went from 17kg to 20.8 in six months - took me 18 months to get her back to the weight she should be - and she has now shot up to 22.2kg again.

I do know that it is not my fault - I have to make a choice between giving her food when her brain things she is hungry even though she is not, or fighting her gimmee gimmee gimmee munchies with the risk that by not "giving in" could, and has done, caused short-circuiting in her brain.

The weight loss in Phoebe is very noticeable, but if she is OK in herself with nothing bad diagnosed by your vet, then I guess you have to accept it. The few kg for her are not as drastic as they are for Pereg, but then of course they are two totally different dogs so it is really not possible to compare one with the other.

Have you tried her on green tripe not the bleach white stuff.

Which worming tablets do you give Phoebe, as my vets told me some worming tablets can cause dogs to have upset tums & runny poos, which means they are not getting the protein to keep weight on.
Hope that make sense

tripe is one of the things she has for lunch, i use drontal and she was wormed about 3 weeks ago. her poop is fine. so sadly nothing that easy. borderline diabetic is vets suspicion but cant treat it till we have some concrete results

If boarder line diabetic then I going to say over activate thyroid, as both go together, unfortunately for me I got under activate thyroid so find it difficult to lose weight x

Shes been having grain free wainwrights.

been to a small country show today in derby and met so many lovely dogs, including a mally pup that was just a huge teddy bear and gave me a great bear hug. But i also met a very nice man on a dog food stand (he was a trainer). He was telling me that he thinks the food just doesnt match Phoebe so shes not absorbing what she needs from the food, he said its the only explanation he can come up with if tests are fine and her poops have been bigger since on this food (it is now a 2 hand job) he recommended a different brand of food or going back to our old food if we didnt have any problems when on that. I spoke to him about the fact shes bloating all the time on an average of 3 times a week now aswell and thats is causing me stress and im sure Phoebe is not happy about it. Nothing has changed to cause this. He did say this could also be down to the fact shes lost lots of weight so not enough fat and muscle support around her tummy to keep it all in right place and moving at right pace. What he said did make sense. he recommended a food called Robbies by "the land of holistic pets" (he didnt sell this by the way) he said its dehydrated and has to be soaked for 10 mins before eating, shouldnt bloat on this food, completely hypo-allergenic and due to what it is made from Phoebes poop should be reduced by half and if it isnt i should speak to vet about non obsession of nutrients.

Anybody heard of this food? anybody got any thoughts on what this man has told me?

I think - I'd need to look it up before being certain - that it is made by the brother of the man who owns Burns dog food.

It's a reputable company I think - and as it's small I am sure you will be able to email or phone them for advice.

The benefits of Holistic Dog Food

• A happy healthier dog
• More contented dog
• Less visits to the vet with your dog
• Less dog waste to clear up
• No more irritating scratching from your dog

Sounds very interesting & price wise not to bad either
CHICKEN £4.60 per kg
LAMB £4.76 per kg

yeah he was telling me that. He said the brothers had fallen out because the brother that has burns dog food was putting to much rubbish in it so the other brother decided to go it alone and make dog food he believed in. Works out at £2.70 a day on that food i have some samples on the way so i can have a look at it

Well its been 2 weeks and she hasnt lost anymore weight but she also hasnt gained any . We cant get her fitness levels back up and start building muscle untill she has some weight gain. This is all just so bloody frustrating. I almost wish she had a diagnosed medical condition so i would atleast know what i was dealing with and how to deal with it. Had urine test done last week and all normal.
If anybody has tips for building muscle in an older dog that would be great.
We have looked at the local hydrotherapy centre and had a good chat with the lady that does it ready for when we have some weight gain. Im mostly interested in building tummy muscles as vet thinks the lack of muscle support could be one of the reasons she keeps bloating , and lets face it the pot belly isnt a good look .

The samples of the food came. Very odd as it looks all shrivelled up but looks pretty nice once soaked and it smells amazing. Lots of herbs in it and rice and bits of veg. Phoebes poop was smaller, and she was feeling rather energetic for the 2 days she got to eat it, first time in about 6 weeks that shes actually ran when we let her off lead far ages now shes just pottered around and taken herself back to car after 15 mins, so was sooooo nice to see her running like the mad hatter ive grown to love, her toys also came out for first time in a while. Full size bag of food is now on its way.

This sounds promising - I hope the big bag arrives soon!

@katygeorge - fingers crossed that this new food does the trick and Phoebe gains the weight she needs.