6 month old English mastiff weight gain or no weight gain

[StaceyFitzgerald]

I had my English mastiff pup flown from Ohio to Nevada. He had a ton of worms. He went in for all his regular check ups and Vacs. I told the vet each time about the worms and he was givin de-wormer each time. He had dirareah. I told the vet and I was givin probiotics. I gave him the right daily amount and he still had diareah. His was eating blue buffalo ever sence we brought him into our home. I took him back to the vet, no worms but still diareah. The vet said to just wait it out. It was just from all the worming medicine. Now his 6 months old. I have him on a raw diet. Just so i know what he's eating. His poops are now firm and healthy. But he doesn't seem to be gaining any weight. His ribs show. But boy can this dog eat. Any advice on a healthy weight gainer or should I just keep waiting? He's been on the raw food diet for 3 weeks now. What else can I do to help my boy?

 

[dujac]

Now his 6 months old.

can you post a photo of him?

 

[StaceyFitzgerald]

Not from my IPhone. I'm not near my computer right now.

 

[musicdeb]

Are you feeding him 2-3% of is expected weight? If his expected weight is 110 lbs, then he should be eating 2-3 lbs of food a day.

 

[StaceyFitzgerald]

I give him a 3-4 lb meal 2 times a day. It consists of trout caught in a near by lake, white rice, blue berries, sweet potatoes, peas, egg, apple, carrots, raw chicken, and broccoli. My husband insists on adding some dry like penicle or Nutro.what do you think?

 

[musicdeb]

Does his meal consists of more meat or more vegs and fruits? His meal should be 3-4 lbs of meat. Do a search for raw diet or raw feeding on the forum for a lot of info. I belong to this raw feeding group which has a lot of info as well. I'll help ya out and there are others on the forum who raw feed as well.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/rawfeeding/

 

[angelbears]

How much actual meat is he getting? How much does his parents weigh? How big did his breeder say he should be?

 

[Kelly]

From what I've heard, adding kibble to the mix will upset his stomach, too much to digest. should be either kibble or raw.

 

[Crystalanya]

Hi Stacy,

I struggled with my pup's weight until very recently (he's just now 8 months). At 4 months he still only weight 25lbs (he was the runt, though, so only 12lbs at 9 weeks). By 4 months he was eating 6 cups of dry biscuit a day by 4 months (now he's at 8). He's 80lbs and still has that really skinny look but looks less scrawny. He's got a fast metabolism. He eats far more than my friend's Mastiff puppy at roughly the same age. I worried for a couple months (my graduate work is in animal nutrition so I knew he was getting great nutrition through his food) and was considering having the vet run tests. I gave it a couple months and he's starting to look 'right' finally.

Gummy Bear, my boy, also has a terrible stomach. If you could feed him four times a day it'll help the stress on his digestive system. Regarding food, you may have to experiment with carbs and proteins. Gummy doesn't do well with rice, but he does very well with lentils and potatoes. He seems to do better with duck and fish than he does with chicken (red meats are completely out of the questions). You can try pumpkin, yoghurt and other sources of probiotics if the supplements aren't working. Adding dry food probably won't help much (and if you do, avoid anything with by-products and corn as these are fillers. Avoiding soya is also advisable as well as wheat if he has a sensative stomach). NOrmally when dogs have digestive problems adding raw foods is the answer not kibble. That being said, he may be getting too much protein or too much carbs. Be careful to ensure the protein/fat/carb/calcium/phosphorous amounts are right for his breed. You want to keep him from growing too quickly to fast. You want low carb/low fat (the fat could also be causing his stomach problems).

It can take quite a while to sort out upset stomachs. Just keep working on it. You can also ask the vet to test for giardia (possibly he drank from a puddle or lake/river).

Cheers,

 

[amirajenn]

I also had this problem with my E.M He is also on blue buffalo , he was having problems gaining weight and also diarreah everytime he went to the bathroom. My vet said that it is probably to rich for their system. So they gain weight but not all the weight that he should be. He no longer now (@ 8 months) has the problem with the diarreah but still having a problem with weight gain. It almost seems when he is looking good for weight his height & length shoot up and out ...lol... & by the time he's looking like his weight has caught up he shoots up in height and out in length again. Although it does still concern me My vet says he's ok with his weight but could stand to put on an extra 20-25 pounds, so I am taking him to another vet to get a 2nd opinion and some extra blood work done for him.
I'm wondering if it's a higher metabolism or sometimes even stress? I know the 2 times I left him to go on family trips that he couldn't go my mom watched him and she said he got really bummed out more and more each day I was gone & when I came back you could see a small weight loss. My poor baby gets sad even when I am out of his sight even if i'm in the same house ....so I continuesly worry if its stress? My other thought would be is there something in blue buffalo (or your raw diet) that is too rich for them, or something they are not getting enough of? The new vet said it could be something they are lacking in nutrition?....but he can't eat foods with grains etc. she also said it could be from allergies! There are just so many things it could be , so I can't wait to find out what is going on!!! It makes me sad & sick to my stomach worrying about why he isn't putting weight on & sometimes looks like he looses it.
I really wish you well with your guy has he gotten any testing done? I now the vet says to wait it out ...but be a little more pushy with your concrn because his problem may be alot simpler to fix "now" than "later' if you just wait it out. see if you can get a simple blood panel done?

 

[Jeff/]

You can post pics from I-phone using the free version of taps talk! Just in case you wondering how to do it from phone.

---------- Post added at 01:37 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 PM ----------

Sorry, that's( tapatalk)

 

[Jeff/]

Sorry, that's( tapatalk)