My dog is underweight and not gaining weight. What are the causes and solutions?

Question

My dog doesn't seem to be gaining weight. He looks like a stray that hasn't eaten for days. He has good dog food and at times we give him table food. I feel so bad I don't know how to get himnto gain weight. Please help. Pet's info: Dog | Dachshund | Male | unneutered | 1 year and 6 months old

Destini R. Holloway, DVM · Accepted Answer

If he isn't the appropriate weight then there is likely an underlying cause for this. Most healthy pets should be able to remove all the vital nutrients from their food and use it for energy; however there are certain disease processes that can interfere with this, including intestinal parasites, malabsorption/maldigestion issues, certain endocrine disorders such as Addison's disease, and pancreas disorders like Exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. So I think the first priority here is to get Peanut examined by your vet to determine if he is ind Ed underweight to begin with. We achieve this by determining his current body condition score, where 3/5 or 5/9 is considered ideal weight. Then determine if the pet needs specific testing to look for certain disease processes that would lead to the weight loss, such as decal examination, pancreas testing and so forth. And of course generally speaking you should be feeding your pet a high quality adult small breed formula, such as Royal Canin, Hill's Science Diet, Evo or Natural Balance just to name a few. I hope Peanut turns out to be ok. Best wishes!

My dog is underweight and not gaining weight. What are the causes and solutions?

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