Has anyone else had the vet suggest this as a solution to losing weight? My young raw fed 3 year old lab looks like a poster for a rescue at the moment. Despite feeding him extra for the last month he is still losing weight and looks dreadful. Just had an appointment at the vets and she suggested injections, an adaptil collar and some nutracalm on his food. He has the same exercise and more food than my other one who looks great. Have to take him back next week for another injection and consultation. Would be interested to hear from any one else who has a stressed lab with stomach and weight problems. Christmas 2016 he was a sleek 28 kg and now he’s 24!!
I`m sorry , I don't know anything about these injections , but just wanted to wish you well , so sorry for your worry and I hope this helps him .
Oh, how difficult for you! I did foster a dog a couple of years ago who was 10kg underweight. It was a real uphill struggle, and we rejoiced over every tiny improvement in weight. A lot of his issues was around the fact he could not settle, although a resilient dog, he still was anxious for a good few weeks on arrival. In time he did gain a good amount of weight. We went initially for a prescription of vet wet food, then onto Peak Performance Millies Wolfeheart a high-fat, high protein kibble, although I appreciate you feed raw. We supplemented this with lightly cooked 20% fat mince. I think your lad sounds a bit different, does his anxiety play a major part do you think? I only ask this, because if anxiety is at the root of his weight loss, then there are anxiolytic medications which have a side-effect of increasing appetite. I am assuming that your vet has ruled out any underlying health issues?
Thank you for your kind words. He’s only been this weight once before but then he was very ill. I do worry that there might be something quite serious wrong with him.
Hi @Peartree I think suggesting the B12 is a consequene of your boy being underweight rather than something that will help weight gain (apologies if I am staying the obvious). In human medicine we use it for deficiency of B12, one of the "B group" vitamins. This can happen due to either a deficient diet (rubbish food or poor apetite) or because of poor absorption of the vitamin in the guts. In humans it is only absored at the end of the small bowel before the large bowel starts and is also dependant on there being enough of another substance produced by the stomach (intrinsic factor). I wonder if your vet has seen some changes on his blood cells that might suggest this deficiency? Sometimes this B12 deficiency causes something called pernicious anaemia and can be associated with other autoimmune conditions like diabetes and thyroid problems. But equally those with chronic diarrhoea problems where everything shoots through too quickly to be absorbed can cause this, (malabsorption syndromes) like colitis. I guess this doesn't really sound that helpful for you but might give you a little background to the injections in humans. Hope he starts picking up. Jac
Thank you Beanwood The Vet is being quite conservative with the treatment at the moment as she knows that he is a very anxious dog. She thinks, as do I, that he is fretting and stressing a lot of the weight off. She saw him at the beginning of December when he injured himself and so knows that in the last month he has had two weeks rest as well as the extra food. He is always slim as he is a very fast and active dog but prone to stomach upsets. He does not do well on biscuits, even grain free produces horrible, sloppy, smelly poos. He is much better on raw, loves his food and his poos are normal. If I over feed then I get diarrhoea and he is presently getting 1and half times recommended food spread over 3 meals. I would be interested to try him on medication. With a dog who can get upset v quickly and easily having him at such a low weight is concerning. If this doesn’t work she will do some bloods to see whether there is an underlying medical condition.
Your vet is absolutely the one to be giving advice and I would recommend having whatever tests need doing. If it's simply a case of his anxious energy causing a deficit in calories, though, then (aside from trying to manage that anxiety), you could look at using calorie-dense foods to increase his intake with less volume of food. With Shadow as a youngster, too great a volume of food would go straight through him and he was a scrawny thing most of the time. But I'd say definitely have all the tests done by your vet first. Good luck, do keep us updated.
I’m assuming your vet tested for worms, especially tapeworm? With raw you might find feeding a different animal might cause weight gain. For Snowie, if he eats duck he puts on weight - it’s very fatty. But for equal amount (weight) of venison, he remains slim (v lean meat).
Your dog sounds very similar to Lucan. Lucan lost an awful lot of weight almost 2years ago (went from 32kg down to 26kg) with odd bouts of sloppy poo and occasional projectile vomiting, he's also regarded by the vets as an anxious dog! After a nasty bout of what was put down to pancreatitis he had an endoscopy with biopsies taken of his stomach and gut which showed he has Inflammatory Bowel Disease which is very similar to Crones in human's. Lucan's treatment has been to put him on RC Hypoallergenic D21 food which has hydrolized soy protein and no meat, which by and large has worked, but he will still have an occasional flare up. He also has daily Zantac which helps with excess acid and reflux. B12 injections are commonly used in cases of IBD or where the gut isn't absorbing food properly, they're mentioned every time Lucan has a flare along with steroids. Oh, and funnily enough we worked out that his stress/anxiety was actually bouts of stomach pain. Hope you get some answers soon, it's easier in some ways to know exactly what you're dealing with.
Thank you all for your replies and I thought that you might be interested to hear how we are doing. I took him yesterday for our follow up appointment and despite all our efforts he had not gained any weight - in fact he had lost a little more. The vet decided to do full blood tests and we are still waiting on the results. I do have one result back though, which is the cholesterol which is low. This would fit with him not putting on weight as I understand that it means he is not absorbing fats well. We have been given a low dose of antibiotics for him and am continuing with the Nutracalm. I was a bit sceptical about the claims of raising seratonin levels but I must say he is much more settled in the evening since having it sprinkled on his food.
Thanks for the update @Peartree , I am sorry that despite your best efforts , he has lost a little more weight, must be a worry for you , I hope that the full blood results will give you some definite answers x
Thanks for the update. Hope you get the answers you need. Have you ruled out inflamed gut? @Snowshoe ’s dog had a gut problem that was treated successfully.
Oban has Lymphangiectasia and he did receive 4 B12 injections. It's usually a series of 6 but he only needed 4. But, at that point his initial 20% weight loss had been remedied and stable for about 6 months. His blood work showed a relapse with a lowering of albumin levels, again. They had been going up. The lower B12 was something new and fairly minor and was brought back to normal quickly, before any more weight loss. Though he had started the diarrhoea again we seem to have caught it in time. His albumin levels, which a lowering of seems to be a prime clue for Lymphangiectasia, have been stable for two years now. ETA: I'm on a Lymphangeictasia Facebook group and the symptoms seem to be different, follow a different sequence, for many dogs with it.
