My Pet World: Dog thin despite good appetite and playfulness
Dear Cathy,
Our daughter brought back a dog from Hong Kong about three years ago. She has become our dog now. She's a lovely "village" dog, looks like a dingo, and is about 6 years old.
About 18 months ago, she developed an odor, and we took her to the vet who said it was her teeth. We spent $500 on teeth cleaning, but she started to lose weight. The vet said she might have an allergy. We went through lots of food choices and now have her on special dog food with no additives, only lamb and sweet potato.
She is still losing weight, even though we feed her three times a day -- about seven cups of food total. She is 32 pounds and is supposed to only have two cups of food a day for her size. She seems happy but likes to stay inside more than before. Her water intake has increased, and she is negative for worms.
We are perplexed, but since she is chasing squirrels and seems OK otherwise, we don't want her to go through another veterinary experience that results in an unnecessary teeth cleaning. She has huge pudding-like poops. -- Carol, Hinsdale, IL
Dear Carol,
Our pets can't tell us what's wrong, and so tests are often the only way a veterinarian can detect an underlying health problem.
Recently, I mentioned that I have what I refer to as "bottom-up vet" rather than a "top-down vet," which makes things a little easier on a pet owner when diagnosing a pet's health problem. A "top-down vet" will recommend an assortment of tests and scans not knowing what he or she is looking for exactly. It's a "let's throw everything at it and see what sticks," approach.
A "bottom-up vet" will look at the symptoms and will try the least expensive medication, treatment or diagnostic test first, and then work up to more expensive tests as lesser health problems are ruled out.
The good news is, your vet seemed to start at the bottom by ruling out worms, food allergies/diet, and oral care first before recommending other tests. So, it sounds like your vet is a bottom-up vet who would be willing to work with you step-by-step to determine what's wrong. Just like with people, there are several diseases, like diabetes or thyroid problems, that can cause some of these symptoms you describe. But these symptoms can also be related to cancer too. Unfortunately, none of these illnesses can be diagnosed without more tests.
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