[jakl]

hi, i have a dog who is having trouble gaining weight. she's an eight month old standard poodle. we got her about a month ago and she had some issues with fleas ticks and who knows what else. also had an upper resp. infection. all of that is straightened out now. feeding eagle pack puppy food, first thing in it is meat, high protien, high fat content. she's kinda picky about what she'l eat, anny suggestions? thanks

[GreatDaneMom]

have you had her checked for worms? how much does she eat? how much does she weight now? as far as i know st. pood. are thinner dogs to begin with. and since shes still growing, that will contribute to being thin. with our danes, its best for their health to keep them lean untill they reach 2 yrs old, then worry about their weight. its better to have them a little skinny than too fat because the more weight, the more stress their is on the growing bones and joints. but since you said she had other problems with ticks and such, i would def. have her checked for worms. if she really is too skinny, and there are no worms, your vet will probably want to check her blood and such for anything else going on. at this point, i really dont believe its your food.

[jakl]

she's been wormed, checked for heart heart worms too. haven't had blood work done but will if necessary, vet wanted to wait untill infection cleared which it has. I haven't weighed her for about a week. but her hip bones seem to be a bit more padded than last week. i think mostly i just wanted her to heal too fast. have her on soybean /wheatgerm oil suppliment. also her appitite is getting better.

[GreatDaneMom]

when you have a puppy with that many health problems going on, its going to be harder for them to gain weight because the body needs that energy to fight off infection and try to stay healthy. im glad youre seeing improvement though

[jakl]

she's over 20 in at the shoulder, and only weighed 30 lbs. poodles are supposed to be lean, but she was beyond that. infection cleared up, taking her back to the vet in 10 days to get booster shots, may do some blood work.

[GreatDaneMom]

its not a bad idea to have to bloodwork done anyway to make sure the infection really is gone. also this will help you know that nothing else is wrong. good luck.

[Ginny01OT]

Poodles will not over eat and my standard poodle just started to bulk up muscle wise and he will be two June 18--a few things--as mentioned has the dog had a complete medical exam including stool samples tested for worms, including giardia. Also, a simple blood test (in addition to a routinel blood test) is a test for Addisons disease--I would definitely have the dog tested for that as it is very common in standards. If ALL checks out--I found Innova large breed puppy food, in addition to raw food (Nature's Variety) worked for the first year--now Riley has raw patties with Nature's variety Instinct kibble and he is doing great. Standards should not be overweight--the vet told me Riley was a little on the slimmer side as a pup but was really close to optimum because as the dog gets older their metabolism will change/slow down.

First and foremost get a complete physical including testing for Giardia and Addisons (which is a simple blood test taken during fasting) as well as a urine sample, etc. It will be well worth the time and money and can alleviate more intense problems in the future. Good luck and keep us posted.

[jakl]

up to 34 lbs, lots more energy looking better all the time.

how important is an addisons test on a dog who came from a good breeder? I thought it was genetic and if both parents ware clear she was good too?

[Ginny01OT]

Originally Posted by jakl

up to 34 lbs, lots more energy looking better all the time.

how important is an addisons test on a dog who came from a good breeder? I thought it was genetic and if both parents ware clear she was good too?

Definitely if both parents are cleared, there is a much less chance that a dog can inherit Addisons as it is recessive in nature. For this reason, even if both parents are clear, if they both carry the recessive gene (they would test clear) there is a possibility that an offspring can inherit Addisons.

If a puppy, particularly standard poodle, is not energetic and not gaining weight and appears to be on the slim side I would not hesitate to check for Addisons. It is a simple, inexpensive, noninvasive test. Unfortunately many dogs/owners do not realize their dog has Addisons until it goes into a crisis of some sort (usually brought on by stress of some kind) and at that point it may be too late to save the animal whereas a dog diagnosed with Addisons before a crisis can be put on medication and stress management and then it will live a long, full, productive life.

My standard came from a very reputable breeder that has all their animals tested and cleared for most things including their eyes and I have all medical papers of both parents but you still never know--he came from a litter of 15 if there was something recessive, that does increase the odds of having an offspring with it.

I had my dog tested because twice during walks last year appeared to get nauseous and somewhat dizzy (it happened only twice but it freaked me out) because I was bringing the dog in for full a full exam, urinalysis, blood work, etc I opted for the Addisons test as well to rule it out. I am glad I had it done--I don't know what those two episodes were--perhaps vasovagul that he grew out of--perhaps a reaction to flea meds as both incidents were during flea season--I don't know but it hasn't happened again and he is doing great and there are no doubts in my mind.