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My Labrador eats but won't gain weight and is losing hair. Why?

Updated on September 23rd, 2025

Pet's info: Dog | Labrador Retriever | Female | spayed | 10 years and 1 month old

My spayed 9 year old labrador has not put on weight for over a year now and we don't know what is wrong. The vet did put her on steroids and it was not helping. All her hair has fallen out and is re growing slowing. We are rubbing her with coconut oil to help with re growth. She has a very healthy appetite but does not put on weight. We deworm her every 3 months. She is active and not lethargic. Her stool is normal.

1 Answer

Most Helpful Answer

Answered By Ricardo Fernandez, DVM

Veterinarian, Veterinary Oncology Resident

Published on February 1st, 2018

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!

1Pet Parents found this answer helpful

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