My 1-year-old dog is underweight and has hard stool. What to do?

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! It is definitely concerning that Sadie does not really want to eat and is thin. I recommend having her seen by a vet as she may have some chronic inflammation of her intestinal tract or a sensitivity to certain foods. Your vet can also recommend some diet changes that have more calories to help Sadie gain weight. If Sadie is eating bones, I recommend stopping as they are not nutritionally adequate and can cause chronic irritation to the intestinal tract. I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!

Thank you for submitting your question regarding Ginger. It is abnormal for a dog not to gain weight as she grows. I would recommend that she sees her veterinarian for fecal testing and deworming. If this does not resolve her symptoms, I would then try her on a prescription low fat highly digestible diet. Most of the time poor stool quality is related to parasites or diet in young puppies. I hope this information helps!

Poor Rosemary. Unfortunately, there are several things that can cause these symptoms like parasites, inflammatory bowel disease, pancreatitis, toxins, food allergy, bacterial or viral infections, and much more. I would have your vet take a look at her. Your vet will be able to do a fecal, blood work and even x-rays if needed. Your vet will be able to get her started on a treatment plan to help her feel better. I hope this helps!

A bland diet may result in soft stool with the appearance in the images. You can try transitioning Bear slowly to his regular diet. A good quality large breed puppy food my help put weight on him. Have him examined by your veterinarian if the weight loss persists. Submit a stool sample to diagnose intestinal parasites, bacterial overgrowth, maldigestion or malabsorption disorders. Make sure he isn't getting into anything else, such as bird seed.

It could be Lady is suffering from intestinal worms causing her to have diarrhea and not put on weight. They can be common in puppies. I would have her checked out by a vet today or tomorrow, and bring in a sample of her feces with you for the vet to examine under a microscope. If she does have worms, the vet can give her a deworming treatment. Best of luck, I hope this helps!

Thank you for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! I can see that Stone is a little thin from the photos, and the amount of weight he has lost in the past 3 weeks is definitely cause for concern. The next steps after checking for intestinal parasites include blood work to make sure that there isn't an underlying infection present and that organ function is normal. It can also determine that food is being digested and nutrients are absorbed appropriately. X-rays and an ultrasound can rule out masses, obstructions, and inflamed bowels. I hope this helps and am happy to answer any other questions you may have!

Thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! Part of her not gaining weight could be due to an intestinal malabsorption issue. Your veterinarian could consider further advanced diagnostics like an abdominal ultrasound and a GI panel to check for something like that. I do suspect that her skin issues are possibly due to allergies and that probably plays a role in her quality of life. It really comes down to figuring out what is causing her allergies so that they can be treated or the specific allergen avoided. There are many things that can cause allergies though in most cases they can be broken down into 3 big categories: flea, food and environmental allergies. Allergies are usually worked up in a stepwise fashion starting with flea allergies as this is the easiest and cheapest to take care of. If not on a flea preventative, then it would be a good idea to get started on one. If already on one then it would be a good idea to change to something else (there are many new products out in the market). If not improved in 1-3 months then it is time to move on and check for food allergies by switching to a novel diet (new protein and new carbohydrate). If that does not seem to be the issue then you are left out having to check for environmental allergies which require blood and/or skin tests. Allergies can be very frustrating to deal with at first but so rewarding at the end when we are able to treat them effectively!