Bottomless pit: Why?

My goddog is a Bichon, maybe a mix, maybe 11, 12, 13 years old. (Picked her up off the streets after somebody dumped her, and the vet guesstimated her age at that time.) Anyway.

In the past year, she had developed an amazing appetite. Not all the time, but pretty often, you CANNOT fill her up. You would not believe how much a 12 pound Bichon can eat! Yet she still seems to be losing weight. Not a lot, but still, not a trend you want to continue. And she wasn't overweight to begin with.

I personally think that some older dogs lose the ability to process their food properly, so no matter how much they eat, their bodies still crave nutrition. I saw this with a couple of my own. Yet neither my vet nor my friend's--and we both have excellent people--thinks this is so. So I don't know.

Anyway, anybody have any ideas about what my friend can give Echo to bulk her up a bit? She absolutely would not touch Nutrical, btw.

Does the vet have any idea why she eats a good amount but is losing weight?

Once all medical reasons have been ruled out, I would feed her a food with a higher protein content. The protein will keep her fuller longer and will promote healthy muscle. What do you feed her now? What is her energy level like?

We are going through that with my senior greyhound and he ended up having colitis. He was eating double what he used to and get more calories then younger more active dogs.

DarkChild, I don't think she has colitis. My Sheltie had that, and Echo shows none of the symptoms.

Bowie, that's a good suggestion. I'm currently feeding Wellness Core, and I may just give the half bag I have left to my friend to try. Echo loves the stuff, btw.

Joan's vet, Dr. Butzer (you may have seen him on "Animal Cops Miami") sees no problem. She and I may simply be overprotective. Probably are seeing a problem where none exists.

I don't know, though. While we have enormous confidence in Dr. Butzer (NOT because he's on Animal Planet!), he may, like so many vets, simply know little about nutrition.

Neither did Sci but when they did the fecal smear they found uneven bac. levels. I would have them do one JIC

Hmm. Good suggestion. I'll mention it to her. Thanks, DC.

Np and its a easy fix too. But he was eating more calories then dogs a 1/4 his age and all he did was sleep and he wouldnt gain, he would lose then gain lose then gain. so we ran blood, urine and a lab fecal nothing came back wrong. they did a fecal smear and his flora was screwy.

Have her tested for hyperthyroidism. . .

Thats weight gain and bad coat.

Not hyper, that is usually associated with hypo.

I'd also ask for the hyperthyroidism test. And even Cushings if the hyperthyroidism comes back negative. People usually think of weight gain with Cushings but that's not the deal with Boomer's. He was constantly in starvation mode, ate a lot and was quite thin.

I just relized that she said hyper LOL. Sorry mind elsewhere. The vet said it couldnt be Hypo with sci because of that.

Hyperthyroidism is super uncommon in dogs. It's more of a cat thing. You could see weight loss with hypothyroidism though, weight gain is the "typical" symptom but the symptoms for thyroid disease are really all over the place and vary dog to dog... don't know if I'd jump to that thought if you're not noticing anything else--thinning hair, cold intolerance, lethargy (although in an older dog that one might be hard to notice) etc. Wouldn't hurt to test though. Maybe recommend just a general blood chemistry profile to make sure everything internally is working normally.

Have they done a fecal exam? Might be a good idea if they haven't.

She's going to see Dr. Vet pretty soon, and I will urge the fecal exam thing. She has been rather lethargic. Her last blood test showed her to be somewhat anemic, so her owner tries to increase iron-rich foods, but how many chicken livers can you give one little dog?!?

There's also a money issue. My friend will do absolutely everything she can afford and hate herself for not being in a position to do more. (I think quite a few of us totally understand this.) So I'm hoping it will turn out to be something relatively easy to deal with.

I would have thought a fecal would have been the first thing they'd have done. Not gaining weight, being lethargic and anemic... could be worms?