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dog loosing weight

hi my staffordshire bull terrier had 7 puppys 6 weeks ago and when they feed off her she is sick please could you tell me why as she is losing alot of weight thank you

Symptoms: Vomiting, Weight Loss

•   Sami Mieir says:

  August 27th, 2008 at 10:37 AM

  She is probably losing weight because all of the energy she is consuming in food is being converted into nutrition for her puppies. The best thing, overall, would be to have her spayed so that her body does not continually have to go through the rigors of pregnancy and welping. It's very hard on a female body (canine and otherwise). The best thing to do right now is to place her on a high-calorie food such as puppy food (which she should have been eating her entire pregnancy and the time she was feeding puppies). I recommend Merrick Puppy Plate or Innova Puppy. Both food are AAFCO approved for pets of all stages of life, so she could eat this for her entire life if you wanted to keep her on it. Both are excellent foods. That is what you can do for the weightloss. Also, do not try to help her gain weight by feeding her table scraps. This can cause hemorrhagic gastroenteritis and pancreatitis which will only further make her sick. If you want to supplement canned food, you certainly can. Merrick makes an excellent canned food called "Working Dog Stew" that is very high in calories and is great for the dog's system. I use this on my pitbull right before competition events.

  As far as her vomiting, she will need to see your veterinarian to be certain that she does not have any underlying issues such as intestinal parasites that is leading to her nausea and potentially her weightloss (this could also drain her body of vital nutrients). Dehydration is the main concern with a vomiting dog. Death can come quickly for a pet that is already debilitated, so I would highly recommend doing this today, if you could.

  Finally, the puppies are 6 weeks old. Give them soft puppy food or hard kibbles soaked in water (not milk!). It's time for them to stop feeding from mom and start feeding on their own--they're old enough. The foods that I mentioned above such as Merrick Puppy Plate or Innova Puppy would be excellent foods to start th babies on.

  Let me know if you need further assistance!

  Sami

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