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My puppy is hungry, not gaining weight, and seems hypoglycemic. Why?

Updated On September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Mixed Breed | Male | unneutered | 6 months and 22 days old | 15 lbs

My puppy seems to act very hungry. A recent decal test showed he doesn’t have any worms and I am feeding him more than the recommened feeding. He won’t put on any weight and sometimes seems a little hypoglycemic before feedings.

2 Answers

Most Helpful Answer

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Answered By Makenzie Kurth, DVM

Veterinarian

Published on May 23rd, 2018

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I have several thoughts for you regarding Cooper. 1) He's simply hungry. Puppies, just like human children, do not all eat the same and do go through growth spurts. If he is underweight (per a veterinarian), increase the total amount by ~25%. If he is an appropriate weight, but seems to have "stalled out" in the growth department, give it time - again, sometimes weight gain comes in spurts. Your vet can actually calculate a daily calorie goal for Cooper based on his current weight and body condition score if you'd like a more specific recommendation. 2) He has an underlying problem. Liver shunt, heart defect, pancreas problem, or other issues can cause a "failure to thrive" or "runty" puppy. If he truly isn't gaining weight or is underweight despite a good appetite and plenty of food, it's time to talk to your vet about bloodwork and other testing to figure out if there is a problem. 3) He has worms. Worms do not shed eggs 24/7 and it is technically possible to have a "negative" fecal float and still have worms. If he had enough worms to cause problems gaining weight, it is doubtful the float would be negative but still, talk to your vet about a dewormer - just in case. It is much cheaper and easier than all the other testing so you'd hate to miss such a simple fix. Hope this helps and best of luck to you and Cooper!

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Other Answers

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    Answered By Daniel Fonza, DVM

    Veterinarian

    Published on

    Hi there and thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach to address your concern. If you have not had any blood testing done on Cooper, I would recommend doing so to see if there is an explanation on the blood test results that would help explain the poor weight gain. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns and I would be more than happy to help you further. Please take the time to mark this question as helpful or not as it helps us to improve on the quality of our answers to other pet owners. Thank you kindly!

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