# Problem gaining weight



## veeland (Aug 30, 2014)

Hello. This is my first post. My 4 year old yellow lab Rodney has had a rough life. I rescued him about a year ago. Since then my vet and I have discovered that he's allergic to grains, chicken, beef, dairy and fish. I've been through 4 grain free kibble foods that didn't agree with him. I've been feeding him Darwin's Raw turkey zoologics for about 6 months. When I got him he weighed 88 lbs. I started feeding him 1.5 lbs of Darwin's a day per their calculation. He went down to 75 lbs so the vet and I decided to feed him 2 lbs a day. He kept losing weight. She checked his blood and stool...everything was ok. I'm now feeding him 3 lbs a day and he's holding steady at 65 lbs but isn't gaining any weight. I can clearly see 4 of his ribs. Given his food allergies does anyone have any suggestions of what I can add to his meals or between meals to help him get to a healthy weight?


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## doggiedad (Jan 23, 2011)

welcome to the forum! how did you and your vet discover your dog is allergic to grains, chicken, beef, dairy
and fish? you started feeding your dog a healthy diet and he lost weight. maybe he's at the weight that
he should be (his natural weight). what's the standard weight for a male Lab? i use charts and standards
as a guideline.


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## veeland (Aug 30, 2014)

We've been doing nutritional response testing for the allergies. When he got down to 75 lbs the vet said it was a perfect weight for him...but he kept losing.


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## naturalfeddogs (Jan 6, 2011)

Has your vet done a fecal to test for parasites? What does his blood work look like?


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## veeland (Aug 30, 2014)

Yes. His blood work was clean and he has no parasites. His bowel movements are are also normal.


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## bett (Mar 15, 2012)

haretoday has novel proteins (rabbit, llama, goat) and perhaps you can google satin balls if you think he needs some more weight.


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## Shamrockmommy (Sep 10, 2009)

How about some digestive enzymes and pre/probiotics to help his gut?


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## dogcha (Oct 4, 2014)

That's nearly 1/3 his weight. Did you also get a urinalysis done? My dog steadily started losing weight over six months, and initially we were happy - the vet too, for she recommended it would be good for her arthritis. But when we started seeing her sacral bones, my homeopathic vet was alarmed. We got a full blood panel and a cbc, a urinalysis and a fecal test. Her liver enzymes were through the roof. She was diagnosed with terminal liver cancer and the prognosis was bad - we were told to prepare and say goodbye in about two weeks. That was in July, she seems to be still okay - so we enjoy every moment we can with her. 

Not to scare you but consistent weight loss is actually indicative of something very wrong with the system. Nothing against your doc, but I would also recommend a second opinion.

Good luck!


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