Weight gain

[Nainbud]

Hi all
Hope you and your fur babies are doing well!

I wish to know how lomg would it take for an Epi dog to gain weight. My buddy has been having almost consistent stools but I have noticed the weight gain has been real slow. She is on home cooked meals and the fact that spring season has started has lead to a lot of shedding of her coat. I hate seeing her ribs. Her poops are almost similar to any normal dogs but the body still needs to gain back muscle.is there anything else that I can do?
Thanks a bunch

[jilbert57]

Hi Naina, is Buddy on any B12 supplement? You could try adding another enzymed meal sometime during the day or before bed.

Jill

[Olesia711]

It all depends on the individual EPI dog how long it takes them to gain back all their weight..... the range can be anywhere from a few months to a few years!!!

Jill gave you a great suggestion, adding another small daily meal helps.... are you feeding your EPI dog 150% of what it normally would require? This is what we suggest in the beginning...only until the dog regains most or all of it's weigh, and then you can go back to normal amounts of food.

The other thing you can try is give cold pressed / organic coconut oil.... start with 1/2 tsp breakfast and dinner.... and watch the poos.... make sure the poos don't go "soft".
If all goes well for a few days, then increase the coconut oil to 1 tsp breakfast and dinner.....

THis is a nice healthy MCT fat to give EPI dogs and they usually digest it very well... and it also helps with dry skin

[Nainbud]

Thank you so much Jill
I wouldn't be able to add another meal. Yes she has b12 syrup twice a day other than the weekly dose of injection.

Thank you so much Olesia . I have ordered cold pressed coconut oil. Will start it probably next week. Keeping my fingers crossed. Luckily she is extremely active n playful that helps me wonder that I'm worrying a lil too much. She runs unlike any other dog so that's a big plus which indicates that she is doing well

[Olesia711]

if the attitude is happy.... that is always good .... but ..... it is also good to stay ahead of possible problems too ... so if you want to try and increase the weight a bit.... a healthy fat is one way to go, another thing to try when feeding is give a higher percentage of protein.... sometimes that helps too!

[Barb]

Hi Naina,

I wrote you a response last night, but evidently, it didn't post.....

Our Kolby was a very slow gainer. It took him over a year to get to his target weight. But it was slow and sure. Sometimes, he would only gain a pound in two months. But we were happy because he wasn't losing. Other dogs we knew were gaining all their weight back in a few months. So again, each dog is different in how they respond to treatment. As Olesia and Jill suggested, there are different ways to add calories to your pup's diet. Let us know how she does with the ways you choose.

Barb

[Nainbud]

Hi Olesia
Thank you so much for your suggestions.
I have been giving her 400gms of chicken per day along with the veggies n 2 egg whites . Do you think some more can be added.
Also as suggested by you I have started with cold pressed coconut oil too. Yes she is a happy n playful dog who runs really fast n plays a lot.

Thank you so much barb. She had been gaining weight very gradually but in the spring now the hairfall has been a lot which has started showing her ribs. I am yet to recheck her weight

[Olesia711]

Hi....I am wondering.......is there a specific reason as to why you just give egg whites without the yolk? The reason why i am questioning this is because i have always ben told to never give just egg whites since it can lead to a biotin deficiency....., but rather give the whole egg. I always give my dogs fresh whole eggs raw... but i do know that lots of vets suggest giving boiled eggs instead of raw.

[Nainbud]

Hi Olesia
I started giving her boiled egg whites due to the fact that egg yolk contains fat.
I didn't really know how well epi dogs can digest the yolk.
Do you recommend giving the entire boiled egg??

[Nainbud]

Also I have no help from our local vet. I just put my problems either here on the forum or with our indian epi group.
The diet I started for her was recommended by our Indian members. I initially just gave the broth but slowly started adding eggs,banana,curd n lil low fat digestible pedigree.