Battle of the Bulge - how drastically to reduce food intake for weight reduction?

With such an upset tummy I would also switch to a bland home-cooked diet immediately. His bad coat could be due to stress rather than diet. When I last put Willow and Shadow in kennels for just 2 nights, their coats went awfully dry and lost their shine due to stress. And that’s why I’ll never have them in kennels again!
You can buy salmon oil from Zooplus who deliver in Spain (zooplus.es). Mine get three squirts once a day. Willow used to get more when her coat was bad.

Good luck, looking forward to seeing his transformation! Remember to take before and after pics!

 

I can't get things by post here, it's very frustrating. But I do think the flaky coat is stress. He didn't have it that I noticed in the shelter.

I saw the vet at the shelter and he says the diarrhoea is from drinking standing water with bacteria. I guess it's pretty common. He prescribed antibiotics, no food tonight and rice only tomorrow, then add a little protein. So that's it for the kibble, he can just start on home cooked.

Apparently with the Leish, I have to adjust my home cooked ingredients, though, to low purine. So that's going to take a bit of education on my part!

 

I was wondering if his leish have affected his coat?

 

Yes, he is missing his fur on the inside tips of his ears and at some of the joints on his legs (very small areas). Toby/Alf from last year lost almost all the hair on his ears (inside and out) and his lower legs but it grew back very quickly once the Leish was treated. I couldn't figure out why it hadn't improved yet with Carbon, but at the vet today I learned that they were only giving him half the recommended dose for his weight because they couldn't give it to him twice per day (there is only someone at the shelter for 5-6 hours a day, so every 12 hours dosing isn't possible). Now that I can dose him 2x per day - so double the dosage he's been getting for the past month - it should clear up.

The vet also thought that the dandruff was from bad food, but that doesn't make much sense as he didn't have it before and was eating the same food. I also thought it may be from the change from being outside 24/7 to a heated house, but I don't know if it would happen that quickly. He's only been here for two days. Anyway, the vet thought it would clear up quick enough with a better diet.

 

It could be all of those things together. Stress gets written on the body

 

I'm certainly no expert, Inky weighs 24 kegs at 18 months. He had 330 gms kibble divided into 2 meals, treats and kongs. I do add a few extras for training but I'm careful as he can get soft poo very quickly. This week I tried sardines which he loved but he had horrible diorrhea later so I've given up on that. He's fine with squeezy cream cheese so that's the real treat at the moment.
I'm waiting for something called Heal herbs from CSJ after someone here recommended their food and they were very helpful when I emailed them. It's supposed to be really helpful for dodgy digestions. I'll let you know if it works.

 

It’s perfectly normal for a dog to get diarrhoea when he has a new protein source. Slow introduction and persistence normally sorts it out.

 

The dandruff could just be due to stress, even if it is lovely stress of going to a new home! Mine could produce dandruff just going to the vet, soon went.