# Sudden weight loss



## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

So this is my old girl now: was weaning her onto THK from Royal Canin perscription rabbit. This whole week I thought she was losing weight and I was increasing her food gradually. 

Well, yesterday things kind of came to a head. My husband said "She looks really skinny". And she did. She seemed just ravenous. I was afraid to drastically increase THK because I thought it had given her loose stools.

I gave her an extra cup of the royal canin last night at bedtime.

This morning I weighed her and she is down to 63lb. She weighed 68 at her last vet visit. She has never been under 65 in her adult life. Usually she wants to get chubby if I don't pay attention. 

Her exercise/activity has not changed. I emailed her vet about it. I will call him tomorrow if I don't hear back. According to THK box it has more calories per dry cup than the kibble and I was weaning cup to cup so she ought to have been getting MORE. But my other dog sort of acted starved when I was feeding him THK too. 

Weight loss does not show up on my search for prednisone side effects.

What do you guys think? It crossed my mind to just feed her only Royal Canin for a week and see if she stabilizes and that would prove it was THK not the prednisone.... I don't know


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## ksotto333 (Aug 3, 2011)

I have no idea, I'm sure others will be able to help or advise. Just wanted to say I'm sorry, and hope she gets better soon.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

what should she weigh?

could this be a ketogenic response?

protein , fat , and no starchy carbohydrates?


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

Her lean, mean fighting weight of youth was about 65lb. That was with not an ounce to spare, basically the way people keep working dogs.

In the past few years she has hovered between 67-69. I try to keep her at 67/68 and no more because 69 is the beginning of chub for her.

In all her vet visits in the past 6 months she has weighed 67 or 68lb. Her most recent weight at the vet for her endoscopy was 68. Now I have not put her on my home scale in a good while so there is a good chance of a pound or two discrepancy between scales. But I have never had her weigh 63. I'd think the scale was broken if we didn't both think she suddenly looked so skinny.

She has been eating Royal Canin Rabbit/potato and Honest Kitchen Keen which is turkey and oatmeal so there should be plenty of starchy carbs?

She is crazy about food, she has drawn blood on me twice taking treats during training this week which is just bizarre, but I guess that is the prednisone. She is on a pretty high dose. and she would not chomp my fingers for a treat prior to the pred so I am not holding it against her.


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## carmspack (Feb 2, 2011)

here , is this what you are feeding - Royal Canin Rabbit?

ingredients - "Ingredients
Dried potato, rabbit meal, coconut oil, hydrolyzed soy protein, potato protein, natural flavors, vegetable oil, monocalcium phosphate, fish oil, calcium carbonate, DL-methionine, salt, choline chloride, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), biotin, D-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin A acetate, niacin supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin supplement, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], taurine, trace minerals [zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite], rosemary extract, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid."

paying a lot for potato -- (starch) !

an older dog (or human) has a more difficult time digesting food . They need more protein , not less . 

for older dogs you would want some source of carnitine . -- real lamb is a very good source of carnitine .
(lowest in poultry and seafood)
this is a product I would never feed.


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## Nigel (Jul 10, 2012)

How's her water intake? Is she staying hydrated?


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## gsdsar (May 21, 2002)

Prednisone can cause loss of muscle. Which weighs more than fat.


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

gsdsar said:


> Prednisone can cause loss of muscle. Which weighs more than fat.


this.
keystone lost 9lbs in 2-3 weeks after starting pred, 40mg. It wasn't until we tapered it down to 10mg that he gradually started putting on a pound a week. he eventually returned to his healthy/start weight but noticeably less muscle than before.


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

Nigel said:


> How's her water intake? Is she staying hydrated?


She is drinking too much water. When she first started the pred she even peed her bed apparently without knowing it. After that I restricted her water for 48hrs to a "normal" amount. She seems to have adjusted a little and I am no longer restricting water. She drinks a lot and pees a lot but has not had any more accidentsso At first she was even spitting up water from drinking too much. When all that was going on I asked the vet if we could please reduce her dose and he said he really wanted her on it a little longer.

Last night I emailed him and was like enough is enough can we PLEASE start tapering her off. It's doing what it was intended to do but these side effects are horrible!!


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

Fodder said:


> this.
> keystone lost 9lbs in 2-3 weeks after starting pred, 40mg. It wasn't until we tapered it down to 10mg that he gradually started putting on a pound a week. he eventually returned to his healthy/start weight but noticeably less muscle than before.


That REALLY sucks because before now I had even noticed that she had lost major muscle mass, now she is losing what little she had and at her age can she even get it back?


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

carmspack said:


> here , is this what you are feeding - Royal Canin Rabbit?
> 
> ingredients - "Ingredients
> Dried potato, rabbit meal, coconut oil, hydrolyzed soy protein, potato protein, natural flavors, vegetable oil, monocalcium phosphate, fish oil, calcium carbonate, DL-methionine, salt, choline chloride, vitamins [DL-alpha tocopherol acetate (source of vitamin E), L-ascorbyl-2-polyphosphate (source of vitamin C), biotin, D-calcium pantothenate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6), vitamin A acetate, niacin supplement, thiamine mononitrate (vitamin B1), riboflavin supplement, folic acid, vitamin B12 supplement, vitamin D3 supplement], taurine, trace minerals [zinc oxide, zinc proteinate, ferrous sulfate, manganese proteinate, copper proteinate, copper sulfate, manganous oxide, calcium iodate, sodium selenite], rosemary extract, preserved with mixed tocopherols and citric acid."
> ...


Carmen yes that's the stuff and trust me I am no happier about it than you are. I was in the process of weaning her to THK Keen but the day I got her to 100% THK she started with loose stools and I thought I had gone too fast for her. I increased her food so much in the past 3-4 days she is now at 50/50 of each type of food and basically eating twice as much.

Vet wants her on novel protein. Best as I can remember she has never eaten lamb in her diet but she did get very sick after a raw lamb bone when she was about a year old. She was swallowing chunks of it. I called my trainer who had given me the bone and asked if it was okay that she was swallowing pieces and she said it was fine. Afterwards she had such bad diarrhea and vomiting that I had to take her to the vet. I quit listening to that trainer and threw the bones away.

I have ziwipeak lamb in the cabinet, I could try giving her some...would her body react to lamb because she got so sick that one time?

Right now she is alternating between cow patties and regular stools, I am sure because I increased her food so much but what else could I do, she was wasting away


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

A raw bone has a lot of fat and rich marrow in it. 

If it was her first bone at 1 year old, her gut just did flip flops from it because there was new, fresh, fatty food going thru her gut that it had never seen before. 

I always recommend (for a dog who has never had a bone before) to only give it for about 15 minutes then freeze it and give it again the next day. Keep repeating and lengthening the time the dog has it every day until the gut gets use to it. 

My dogs drink more water when I have them on HK.

Moms


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

I am certain the water thing is the prednisone.

Her vet wrote back to me. He does think the weight loss is the prednisone. We are dropping her dose today. PHEW

I did feed her a small bit of the Ziwi lamb on our walk....we'll see what the results of that are. The good thing was she liked it so much I was able to easily call her off eating poop, which is a major problem right now. She is compulsive about it. I was standing on the trail talking to my husband and she wanted to eat this poop so I stood over it, feet on either side to guard it from her. She snuck around behind me to grab a bite. This is NOT my dog, the prednisone has made her crazy and ravenous. I feel like it isn't fair to punish her for it. So I took poop bags up on the trail and bagged everything I could find and gave her a piece of ziwi for calling off and she liked it so much it worked.

If the ziwi does not make her sick maybe I can use that to keep her calories up while this is going on and Carmen said lamb is good anyway.


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## Momto2GSDs (Mar 22, 2012)

Thecowboysgirl said:


> I am certain the water thing is the prednisone.
> 
> Her vet wrote back to me. He does think the weight loss is the prednisone. We are dropping her dose today. PHEW
> 
> ...


Good news about the PRED!

Ziwi is like crack for my raw fed dogs! LOL
Hope it works for her! :thumbup:

Keep us posted!
Moms


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## Fodder (Oct 21, 2007)

Thecowboysgirl said:


> That REALLY sucks because before now I had even noticed that she had lost major muscle mass, now she is losing what little she had and at her age can she even get it back?


Swimming!?


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## Thecowboysgirl (Nov 30, 2006)

She does swim a fair amount in the summer. Maybe I should pay for her to join dock diving too. I am already driving there for the boy. She doesn't jump far but she will jump


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