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9month old Lab will not gain weight

12K views 38 replies 25 participants last post by  freezeland 
#1 ·
I have a new Lab puppy. He is 9 month old and has been in training for the last 2 1/2 months. The trainer is feeding him 5 cups of food a day, but the dog is not putting any weight on. I am concern and so is the trainer. We worm the dog 3 times when he was a puppy. Could there be something I need to have the dog check for? The dog food he is eating is Diamond Brand. The trainer said he was going to start feeding the dog canned pumpkin. Thanks for the help.
 
#2 · (Edited)
My female ate like that when she was growing. Sometimes she still does, when we train hard.

I switched kibble brands and supplemented with foods with higher fat content than you find in kibble. Gram for gram, fat has more calories, so if you can feed your dog something with a higher fat content than what it is getting now, you will be able to give it more calories from the same volume of feed.

I will add that giving my dog additional kibble didn't seem to help, I think she just pooped in out. I also do not feel comfortable giving 5 cups of kibble to my dog due to its vast expansion when you add water to it.
 
#8 ·
Ever since we brought him home as a puppy. He would have a couple solid stool .then a running one. We had his stool check and everything was fine. But he still has the running stool and the trainer said that sometimes after training they will have a running stool. But I am still concern about the no weight gain.
 
#10 ·
I can't say for sure, I am not a vet, but your situation sound vary much like Rick's. I was feeding 51/2 cups and he was still loosing. stool vary much the same as your dog. Now I feed 3 1/4 cups and he hold his weight fine. Still has soft stool sometimes but never runny.

Keith
 
#14 ·
Check Diamond's web site. They have recalls often. Pumpkin won't make him gain weight just fills up his tummy. That's usually to help a dog loose weight??? Sounds like his gut is not absorbing nutrition. Get some ANSWERS goat's milk and add it to his food. It's partially fermented and is not pasteurized. Made especially for this type of situation. It is wonderful to boost his immune system and is super packed with pro-biotics and pre-biotics. We sell tons of it at our animal foods shop. Hope this helps.
 
#15 ·
So I should have the vet check his digestive system out. We did have him check for Giardia and that came back clean. I will talk to the trainer tomorrow.I have a lot of money is this dog already and do not want him to be sick all the time. I will keep you posted. Thanks for the help.
 
#19 ·
As I recall from my experience, there are two tests for Giardia. One is quicker and less expensive, but also less accurate. The other is just the opposite. You can usually pretty well tell from the stool. Runny is not necessarily Giardia. Runny, oily looking, and an almost indescribably foul smell is more likely to be Giardia.

Even after we finally got my dog cleared up, he still tended to be a little runny. We started using Forti-Flora and that got about 1000% better. You might get the same results from plain yogurt, but we did not.

Good luck with this. I know it is frustrating.
 
#18 ·
my pup (now 16months) was eating the same food and amount as my 58lb husky from the time he was 15lbs until he was about 60lbs now he gets more. but it was slow. he would go 2 months with now gains. sometimes they just arnt growing for a short time. but for sure check with your vet.

god luck dave
 
#20 ·
I am still fighting the runny stools with my dog. Tried the yougurt, tried forti flora, treated for Giardia 4 different times with panacur and mentrobendazole (sp?), after 2 negative tests. Changed foods from PPP to Eukanuba 30/20 the only thing so far that has made his stool solid, and I'm still not positive that it is long term is feeding Iam's Vet Formula Intestinal Plus 22/9. He is 17 months old and skin and bones. This change in his stool only occured after switching from Pro plan puppy to the performance. I am at a loss but if nothing helps ask your vet about the Iam's stuff, its pretty pricey but better than explosive diarrhea.
 
#23 · (Edited)
You've got a performance dog on a 22-9, as in 9% fat? If so no wonder he's skin & bones, Fat = more calories & energy/weight if energies not-used. Maybe your dog doesn't need 20% fat but a quality maintenance formula is usually 12-16% fat. Anytime you switch foods, you will have runny stool from 1 wk -1 month, this is even if you switch to a different food of the same brand name. I'm just getting mine over a switch she went skin and bones runny stool; to solid stool and fat, took about 2-3wks for that after I changed foods. Still if he did good on Puppy, I'd put him back on puppy, I know several dogs who have been on puppy their whole lives, because they didn't like the change to PPP. Formulations are pretty much the same except puppy has more CA & other minerals, which puppies definitely need more of but which won't hurt an adult dog. Still what ever you switch to expect 1wk-1mt of Runny stool until his system, adapts. If you keep with the IAMs you might have to add Fat to keep his weight up. Still teenage boys are always hard to keep weight on, they just eat and eat and never gain weight, until they hit middle age, The 6 pack-turns in to a keg around that time ;)
 
#22 ·
I had the same thing with a young dog. Lived with a trainer. Terrible stools. Dull coat. Etc. tried every premium food available, plus all the additives. Worked with my vet who sent blood to Texas A&M for some fancy work-up, consulted nutritionists and the consensus was he wasn't processing the higher fat levels. Put him on Science Diet ID (9% fat ) to calm his system down and started introducing PP large breed, also low fat. It worked!!! I always worried he wouldn't be getting enough energy from these low fat foods, but not true. He ran back to back tests this last weekend in the 90degree heat and held up well and recovered quickly. We made the change in December and all is good since then.
 
#26 ·
My first dog has the same problem. Stools were fine most of the time but every now and then he'd have a runny stool. He was on Euk Performance 30/20 and couldn't keep the weight on. At one point he was being fed 6 cups a day and that barely maintained his weight. When he came home from the trainers he would finally put on weight. I know for a fact it wasn't the trainer not feeding him. My dog was a kennel pacer to the extreme. If he wasn't out on the truck or training he almost never sat down and relaxed. It was so bad that he would get very tender paws because of the constant movement. He eventually had to be kept in my trainers back yard so he could see what was going on and the soft dirt/grass would'nt tear up his paws. To this day whenever he is at the trainers he is constantly moving and has a hard time keeping the weight on. He's 9 now. When he is at home he eats half as much food and gains weight. In the beginning we had the Vet do all sorts of test for parasites and anything else we could think of. Everything was always fine. No hormonal issues or anything.
 
#27 ·
Rule out (via your vet) the obvious such as parasites (just because he was wormed as a small pup does not mean he could not have them again) and Giardia. Then I would try PPP Sensitive Skin and Stomach (salmon) as he may just be a dog that does not handle basic foods. Some probiotic sure won't hurt pup either. If none of this helps then a more extensive work-up by vet would be in order. Pumpkin is helpful for an occasional bout of loose stool but sounds like this has been going on for months so doubt it will fix this.
 
#28 ·
Had the same issue with my male. He was a kennel pacer and was always amped up while the other dogs were being trained. Even to the point of wearing his pads down on stall mats. He started out on Diamond, then we switched him over to Victor High Energy which helped a little. His stools were off and on loose and then firm. He was very muscular but wouldn't put on weight. He's on Blue Buffalo Wilderness now and is doing great. Only issue is the price of the food. He's 20 months now and is really filling out nice. I feed about 4 cups a day once a day and his stools are firm for the most part. This is what he looked like a couple of months ago. Dog Mammal Vertebrate Dog breed Canidae
 
#31 ·
Thanks for all the help. I talk to the trainer and he is looking into the Goats Milk and will also talk to the Vet. He is not a pacer in the kennel. So its not that. It could be just his age. He has plenty of energy. I have had a few Labs but never had this problem before.I will post more when we find out more.
 
#35 ·
I had a client dog that had this same problem. He was actually losing weight no matter how much I fed. Turned out it was exocrine pancreatic insufficiency and he could not metabolize protein. The only thing that was different about him than your dog was that he had copraphagia like I have never seen before. He would eat it before it hit the ground!
 
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