Raw Weight Loss

[Shalista]

So Bax has had a bit of a flip flop on weight. He first started on basic kibble, I forget the brand. He was about 12 pounds i think? But he started pooping blood pretty quickly so the vet recommended i switch him to this https://www.proplanveterinarydiets.com/ ... teric-dog/

He was on that for awhile but was still having runny mucousy poos so i ultimately switched him to raw. He's been doing fantastic on raw. his coat is glossy, his teeth look great, and its been way cheaper. its been amazing. He was still a bit over weight so i cut his raw food to help him lose some. he wasn't losing much at all until suddenly a few weeks ago his weight dropped pretty dramatically. he went from 'over weight' to being what the vet calls a 'thin 4' which is JUST shy of being underweight. I've been upping his food for a few weeks to bring him up to a 5 and i just got back from the vets. hes STILL dropping weight. The vet is highly recommending i start giving him vitamins and if that doesn't start bringing his weight up they want me to switch to THIS http://www.hillspet.com/en/us/products/pd-canine-wd-dry which looks like its basically nothing but corn.

Bax is currently 10.4 pounds (166.4 ounces) and he gets roughly 5 ounces of food once a day. I recently started adding a tablespoon or two of frozen peas as well. His poos are solid and he has them about once every 3 days with no undue amount of straining or anything. He recently had blood work done that came back fine and he also had a urine check which also came back fine.

My vet says that liver and bone and meat aren't enough to get him all the nutrition he needs so of COURSE he's losing weight. I reeeeeeaaaalllyyy dont want to put him on the corn fiesta that that food is sooo, thoughts? If my math is right he should be maintaining his weight not dropping right?

I'd just you know, add more meat but im concerned something else is going on if he cant maintain his weight at this body % of meat.

[JudyN]

So he's on about 3% of his body weight per day. That's the top end of the normally suggested range, but I reckon a small animal, and one who is fairly anxious and active, may very well need a bit more (I'm not that much more than half OH's weight, but I certainly need to eat more than half the amount he does ). Lamb breast and green tripe are often recommended for fattening up raw-fed dogs - might be worth a try.

How easily can you see his ribs?

[Shalista]

I recently posted pics in the general chatting thread when i first expressed concern about his body weight over here viewtopic.php?f=11&t=19649&start=1785 he's lost a little bit of weight since then but still looks about the same.

Like i said he's classified as a "thin 4" with a 3 being underweight and in need of some fattening.

and good call on the tripe. he's never tried it but i might poke around and see if i can dig some up somewhere. I'm loathe to give up on raw ESPECIALLY in favor of that corn loaded garbage he wants to put him on.

[Erica]

Satin balls, I think they're called, are also raw-friendly and are used for dogs needing a bit more calorie-dense foods. The recipe shouldn't be difficult to find on the interwebs