My 11-month Golden Lab mix puppy is losing weight. Should I worry?

Losing weight could be a sign of many things and it could range from a poor quality dog food, to parasites to something unexpected in a young dog like kidney disease. I do recommend to be safe and have her examined by your veterinarian and have some basic lab work and a stool sample checked for worms. Pay close attention to her bowels for any loose stool, blood or any vomiting which could indicate something like IBD or pancreatic insufficiency. I hope this helps and please feel free to post any additional questions.

He should be ideally around 6kgs. 2.3 kgs is underweight and should be ideally checked by your local veterinarian to determine if there is any underlying health problem impairing his growth rate. Please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.

Hello, and thanks for using Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach. Yes, this unexplained weight loss in Mia definitely worries me. 2 lbs of loss in a large dog wouldn't be too alarming, but in Mia's case she's lost 25% of her original body weight and that should absolutely be investigated. It is never normal for a dog to lose this much weight and almost certainly indicates a medical problem. I recommend bringing Mia to the vet for evaluation. Anticipate that your vet will likely start with an exam, then will probably recommend checking a fecal sample and running bloodwork. Dramatic weight loss in young dogs can be due to problems with digestion (such as inflammatory bowel disease or pancreatic insufficiency), congenital issues (such as a liver shunt), intestinal parasites, and (less commonly) cancer, among other things. I hope this helps and you can get to the bottom of Mia's weight loss soon!

Hi there and thanks for posting on Petco Pet Education Center, formerly Petcoach! 3/8 of a cup twice daily for a growing labrador sounds a little under the calories he should be getting daily. He should be consuming closer to 2 cups of the royal canin maxi food daily. Chicken stew and rice are not good sources of nutrients for a growing dog and should not replace eating his regular puppy food and should be discontinued. Just feeding more of his puppy food will help him grow and put on healthy weight. Thanks again for posting!

A safe weight loss is 3-5% per month. If he started at 112 and is now 105 he lost 7 pounds which is about 7% weight loss. So, you accelerated it a bit but that is still fine. We don't want them to lose weight too quickly. I think you should have the owners do exactly what you have been doing because you know they will not be as strict as you and they will likely feed him a bit more. That should still keep him at 5% weight loss per month. When he gets to his ideal weight though they will need to evaluate if they need to increase the food a bit or leave the amount as is. The best recommendation is to have them work with their vet. Here is a good online resource for them to use: http://petobesityprevention.org/ I hope this helps and thanks for getting this dog back on track. Obesity is a HUGE problem in our pets! I hope this was helpful. Best wishes!

Hi there and thank you for using pet coach to address your concern. If you are noticing a loss of weight, especially at this age, I would recommend having his blood tested to make sure that there are no changes on his bloodwork that might indicate a systemic disease or infection. If blood work is normal then an abdominal ultrasound would be my next recommendation to find out why he is losing weight. I hope this helps guide you in the right direction. Please let me know if you have any other questions or concerns.

From what i can see from the picture, Charlie looks perfectly fit and healthy. Please give us more informations (the weight would be essential) and another pic from one side to receive more specific advices from us. Hope this answer was helpful, but please do not hesitate to contact us again on the forum or by requesting a consultation if you have any more questions or to discuss it any further.