How can my dog gain weight on Hills z/d without upsetting his stomach?

Hello. At this point in time, you are probably better just using this weight management diet until you are pretty sure most of Ziggy's digestive issues are settled. Supplements will not help him to gain weight, holding food down will. That is the most important thing right now. If he continues to do well, you can add small amounts of a diet made for puppies to increase the caloric density of his meals. Over time, add more of the puppy food until you are pretty sure his digestive difficulties are over. Then switch to a regular maintenance food. Once there, he should do fine. Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach.

First of all, you should get Zorro checked by your regular vet, as he has lost a lot of weight. Weight loss could be due to liver or kidney disease but it is also commonly seen in diabetes, hormonal disfunction or even tumors. Zorro should have a blood and urine test done first (and possibly abdominal scan and chest x-ray), and if the results are negative, you can think to increase the calories intake. Giving food for young, active/working dogs is one of the option. But if Zorro, for example suffers from diabetes, he will continue losing weight regardless what he is feed until the diabetes gets under control.

Without a full diet history it is impossible to prescribe a diet. Hills z/d is a hydrolyzed formula where all the proteins have been broken down (akin to being pre-digested) into small pieces so the immune system should not react to them and so should resolve the food intolerance symptoms, it is easily digested and highly absorbable by even the most sensitive bowel. A similar, hydrolyzed option is royal canin hypoallergenic or anallergenic and many pets find these extremely palatable. Some cases can do well on a 'novel protein diet' of home prepared food based on a protein source which she has never eaten before. This should be formulated only by a specialist nutritionist - tufts university clinical nutrition team are available by phone or appointment to help with this but it can be extremely expensive and time consuming to feed such a specific and strict diet and commercial brands are often more successful in resolving symptoms in the long term

Provide food that is high in calories, like puppy food or a food that’s designed for active, athletic, or working dogs. Higher protein and fat pet foods are best. Underweight pets should be eating foods that are around 30% protein and 20% fat if they’re eating dry kibble; 7% protein and 5% fat (or higher) if you’re feeding a wet food. Intersperse your pet’s diet with small amounts of high-calorie supplemental canned food or canned products made of 100% meat sources. These will have a high protein and fat content, like 100% pheasant or bison, for example. They won’t say “complete and balanced” but rather “for intermittent or supplemental use” because they’re not meant to replace regular feeding. Some moist foods may be easier to digest, so your pet may retain more nutrients, and more importantly these products tend to be more palatable and tempting to a pet who isn’t eating enough. Any diet changes should be done gradually over a week's time as to not cause any GI upset. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

At this point it sounds like she needs a higher amount of calories. There are some food you can try but with her history of the pancreatic cancer component it could cause inflammation of the pancreas. I will discuss with your veterinarian something like hills a/D, recovery diet, are you at Max-Cal diet. Sometimes something like Ensure works as well. Sometimes we also use kitten or puppy food as it has a high calorie counts as well. But again your veterinarian maybe concerned about him on a fat with your dog having pancreatic issues.

He likely has inflammatory bowel disease or some type of malabsorption problem. Keeping him on lifelong steroids (prednisone) is not recommended. The first thing you have to do is get a diagnosis. I recommend he have an abdominal ultrasound and/or x-rays and some blood testing to start with. A fecal test is also a good idea to rule out any intestinal parasites. If you can't afford testing then speak to your vet about doing a trial of Tylosin powder to control IBD symptoms instead of steroids.

Weigh loss causes are multiple: insufficient food intake, increased exercise, anorexia, diseases affecting the intestine/pancreas/liver, infections, tumors....To exclude all the health related causes of weight loss a vet check up would be needed. If everything health wise is in order I would recommend to check if the amount of food he is getting is enough for his weight; consider to adjust the dose if needed and/or change the diet completely. Good quality commercial diets (Hill's, Royal Canin) are definitively the best choice to make sure you provide all the nutrients Pancake needs. Please post again on the forum if you would like to discuss it further. I hope my answer was helpful.