unexplained weight loss

[csantana7224]

my dog is a mixed breed, i have owned her nine years, someone dropped her off by me
. She has been under a vets care since i have owned her. She was a large dog around 80 lbs. In august of 2013, she started slowly losing weight, but her appitite increased. I have never seen her when she seemed to be sick or in any kind of distress. I took her in after about six weeks because she was still slowly losin weight. The vet could find nothing wrong. At the present time she has a big stomach, but the rest is just skin and bones, i took her in again, but after everything the dr. could think of all tests came back neg. If she seemed to be in pain i would have her put down, but she  acts like she feels good. She looks so bad, i can hardly look at her, does not stop me from petting her though. Has anyone had a dog with this condition? We have a fenced in yard,she is not allowed to run free.

[amielynn24]

It could be related to his kidneys too.  And once, the kidneys are so bad and failing it's only a matter of time before his pancreas starts to suffer.  Get him to a vet.  Kidney disease is manageable but treatment can get very expensive and tiring.  I just lost my beagle buddy to kidney failure 3 weeks ago.  

[Ghilly]

PLEASE don't make the same mistake that I did.  Have your vet test her immediately for something called exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (EPI).  These were exactly the same symptoms that my Katie had and our local vet TOTALLY overlooked the EPI diagnosis.  It was I who finally diagnosed her and by the time I did it was too late to save her.  Meanwhile, the vet first thought it was diabetes, then he thought it was Cushings Disease, then he thought it was thyroid issues, and all the while she was basically starving to death because her pancreas wasn't producing the enzymes necessary to correctly digest her food.  The poor dog ate everything she could find because she was always hungry!   I just knew that something was desperately wrong and so I kept researching, and by the time I discovered EPI and the fact that every one of her symptoms pointed to it, too much damage had been done to her internal organs to be able to save her.  

If EPI is diagnosed in your dog, there are supplementary enzymes that can be given to allow her to live a fairly normal life.  Many EPI dogs never do regain all of the weight they lose, but they don't lose any MORE weight and as long as you are providing them with the enzymes they cannot produce on their own, they can live just fine.  Please post back after you speak with your vet about EPI and let me know what he says.  

Ghilly

[Misfits4Me]

What tests (EXACTLY) were run? Blood, urine, both? Fecal?
When was the last time she was checked for parasites or wormed??
What food does she eat?  Thanks, Karla