![]() You’ve got to make sure the palatability enhancer doesn’t worsen the illness that’s causing the loss of appetite.” So something like lunchmeat, which is high in both protein and sodium, wouldn’t be a good option, but sweet things or fats may be useful. You don’t want to add sodium- and protein-rich foods to the diet of a dog with kidney disease because too much of these nutrients could exacerbate the condition. “We also add palatability enhancers like a little bit of honey or fruit yogurt, apple sauce, or maple syrup or even butter. So trying a new flavor might increase a dog’s willingness to try what’s in her bowl. “A dog, like a person, may associate the last food they ate before feeling nauseated with feeling sick, whether or not that particular food had anything to do with it. “Sometimes changing a flavor can help,” Dr. Heinze says, “but there’s not a lot we can do to improve appetite as the disease progresses.” Dogs with kidney disease, especially as it advances, often feel nauseated, and the disease may also affect their sense of taste. Of course, with kidney disease, “we treat the underlying condition,” Dr. Something progressive like kidney disease, on the other hand, is going to necessitate a more involved approach. Tooth pain, for instance, might be solved with a root canal or a tooth extraction, and the dog can go back to her usual diet. The nutrition treatment depends on the diagnosis. Medical problems that can cause a dog to eat too little include everything from tooth or gum pain to kidney disease, heart disease, intestinal disease, certain cancers, and parasites. ![]() Getting too thin with a systemic disease is a lot harder to come back from than getting too thin when healthy.” ![]() While a healthy dog can generally recover from a few weeks of too little food or even complete starvation, that’s not true for a sick dog. A sick dog who doesn’t take in enough calories is going to get worse much faster if she doesn’t get the energy and nutrients she needs. So if a dog is consistently losing weight and the vet thinks the animal is underweight, we rule out medical issues. “In our clinic, we don’t see too many healthy dogs who aren’t eating what they should. “The majority of the dogs we see who aren’t eating enough calories are undereating because they have considerable health problems,” Dr. Does Your Dog Appear Underweight or Losing Weight? The tops of the bones on her lower back were visible, too, and her pelvic bones were becoming prominent. She had gone down to a 3, however.” It meant you could feel her ribs too easily and even see them a bit. ![]() “On the Body Condition Scale, Indiana had been a 4 out of 9 in the first place - quite lean, but not too thin. She is also a member of Your Dog’s editorial board. Heinze’s sister is Cailin Heinze, VMD, DACVN, a veterinary nutritionist at Tufts Cummings School whose life’s work is to treat dogs and other companion animals who need help with nutrition. I called my sister, and we talked about it.” But the house in town has just a little yard. Heinze says: “road kill, horse poop - you name it, she ate it. “When we lived on the farm she had a lot more access to things to eat,” Ms. Heinze had Indiana for a year and a half, she moved from her parents’ farm “into town.” That’s when the already quite lean Indiana lost 5 pounds - 10 percent of her body weight. When I took her for dog training, it was very hard because I couldn’t find any food she was willing to do a trick for.” ![]() The shepherd mix weighed “about 52 pounds,” she says. “I got Indiana when I was still living with my parents,” says Kristen Heinze. ![]()
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