Q. 11 yr old chocolate lab, losing weight am able to see her ribs some , she has a good appetite and fairly good energy. She has never been lik…

ANSWER : A. If you have noticed significant weight lost or other concerning signs you should see a vet to check if everything is ok. It can be a first symptom of many general diseases but also connected with old age, inappropiate diet, worms.

ANSWER : A. There are many tools to determine overweight and obesity levels in pets. A new tool, morphometric measurements and body fat index, are available to accurately determine a pet’s ideal weight; this will allow an accurate determination of the amount of food a pet should receive to achieve weight loss. Feeding the correct amount will lead to greater weight loss success.

There are many weight loss food options to help pets reach their ideal weight. Your veterinarian can help make a ideal weight recommendation. Here are some tips to help your dog lose weight in a healthy and safe way:

1. Diet: Providing a healthy and well balanced diet is essential to your pet’s overall health. Finding the right food for your dog can be a challenging process. For those overweight animals many commercial dog companies offer weight loss diets, but it is important to evaluate food labels for adequate nutritional content.

You want to ensure you are not missing other essential vitamin or mineral content. Volume of food is also important and the amount of food that works for one breed of dog may not be the same for another breed of dog. Portion control as opposed to free-choice feeding can help your dog to drop a few unnecessary pounds.

There are also prescription weight loss foods designed by veterinary nutritionists, such as Hill’s r/d (http://bit.ly/1AoENSd). Some pet owners find that home cooking is the best option for helping to provide a well-balanced and realistic diet plan. There are websites such as balanceit.com that offers recipes to fit your dog’s specific needs. Consulting with your veterinarian or a veterinary nutritionist to find the appropriate diet is a great way to help your dog be as healthy as possible.

2. Exercise: Another great tactic for weight loss for your dog is exercise. Whether this is through running, walking or playing with a favorite toy all of these are wonderful types of exercise to help keep your dog at a lean and healthy weight.

For those pet owners with busy schedules utilizing professional dog walking services or playtime through dog daycare services is another option. It has been shown that those pet owners that exercise regularly with their pets generally live a healthier lifestyle.

3. Physical therapy: As animals age pet owners offer encounter their favorite canine having more difficulty walking and have a dwindling desire to play with toys. Physical therapy, specifically hydrotherapy is a wonderful way to help older and arthritic animals gain more mobility and lose weight. Hydrotherapy has been proven to have several therapeutic effects on the body including, muscle strengthening, relief of swelling, decreased joint pain, less stiffness in limbs, improved circulation, weight loss, and increased tissue healing to name a few. For more information on the benefits of hydrotherapy:
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4. Veterinary visit and blood work: Weight gain can also be related to underlying health concerns such as hypothyroidism or other endocrine disorders. Scheduling a veterinary evaluation and routine blood work can be another important component in increasing the longevity of your dog’s life. Conditions such as hypothyroidism that predispose dogs to gain weight can be treated with a daily medication to improve hormonal balance. If feel that your dog is unnecessarily overweight there can be an underlying health condition that needs to be addressed.

5. Healthy treats: Pet owners love the chance to reward their favorite canine companion with treats and most dogs jump at the chance to consume these delicious products. The problem is many treats, which can include commercial dog treats or table scrapes can add many unnecessary calories to your dog’s daily intake. Reading labels and making note of the calories in these treats is an important component of understanding your dog’s overall health. Treats should not exceed more than 10 percent of your pet’s daily calories. There are healthier treats that can be offered to your pet to keep calories lower yet provide a fuller sensation. A pet owner can add steamed or pureed vegetables, such as carrots, green beans or sweet potato to add more fiber and thus a fuller feeling for your dog.

ANSWER : A. While I think neurologic disease is certainly a concern based on what you’re describing, and should be ruled out with a good neuro exam (full examination of spinal reflexes and cranial nerves), a cat that sleeps all the time and is wobbly could have many things going on. What you’re describing sounds like generalized weakness to me, and that could be caused by heart disease, liver disease, kidney disease, anemia (lots of causes to this) or metabolic/hormonal conditions like diabetes. Often cats “look” neurologic when in fact they’re just really weak.

However, as far as specific neurologic conditions that might cause what you’re seeing, chronic ear infections or a polyp in the inner or middle ear can affect the vestibular nerve and affect balance, some drugs if used long term (metronidazole) can cause it as well. Other things include intervertebral disk disease (slipped disk), cancer in the spinal cord, thiamine deficiency (not a problem if your cat eats a commercially-prepared diet) and feline infectious peritonitis.

Unfortunately the only way to start figuring out what’s going on is likely with lab work (complete blood count, chemistry panel, and urinalysis) and x-rays for starters (likely of the spine). And as I said above a good neuro exam is critical to starting to figure out whether it’s a neuro problem or not. Your vet will possibly recommend other tests based on the initial results. If you’d like to consult further about exactly what’s going on with your cat select the “consult” button.

ANSWER : A. There are many ways to determine if your pet is overweight: breed standards, body condition score (BCS), body fat index (BFI), and morphometric measurements. These tools are used to determine how overweight a pet is, as well as to determine how much to feed to reach the pet’s ideal weight. Most weight loss programs fail because food dose calculations are based on inaccurate estimations of ideal body weight.

Current methods of estimating ideal body weight (body condition score/ guessing) are most likely to underestimate % body fat and therefore overestimate ideal weight, which leads to overfeeding. Pets are being overdosed on food because of inaccurate estimations of ideal body weight.

To determine body condition score it’s often helpful to have a scale from 1-5 to compare to: http://www.hillspet.com/weight-management/pet-weight-score.html. This scale is based on your ability to feel or see the ribs, the size of your dog or cat’s waist, and the appearance of the abdomen.

An overweight animal can be predisposed to several health conditions including high blood pressure, arthritis, endocrine disorders such as diabetes, and hypothyroidism. This is why it is important to determine an ideal weight for your pet and work hard to maintain a healthy weight.

ANSWER : A. Weight loss and hair thinning can happen as a cat ages, or may be related to an aging-related health issue. If she is continuing to lose weight or begins to lose patches of hair in addition to this, it may be a good idea to schedule a senior wellness check with your local veterinarian. They may want to do some bloodwork to check for the most common issues that could cause hair and weight loss in order to find an appropriate treatment. Be sure to also note any other changes to behavior or the body as well, and alert your vet if they become sudden or severe.

ANSWER : A. This all depends on how much and what kind of chocolate. A small piece of a snickers bar is probably no big deal, but something like bakers chocolate is a different story. Malteses are pretty small dogs so it wouldnt take much for your dog to be in trouble. You should take your dog to the vet where depending on how long ago the chocolate was consumed they can do things to help minimize the effects. Bloodwork will most likely be done to try and determine the extent of the damage. Fluid fherapy alomg with certain drugs can help your dog avoid long term damage. If recently consumed they may even induce vomiting. Like i said, rich chocolate can be very toxic, and it wouldnt take much for a small dog. Good luck

ANSWER : A. Per AKC breed standard, there is no set weight for the Papillon. The only guideline given is that weight should be proportionate to height. In general, females may weigh a bit less than males; yet in regard to height both genders will fall between the 8 to 11 inch guideline.

In general, if a Papillon is of standard height, the adult weight will be between 6 pounds (2.72 kg) to 10 pounds (4.53 kg). It is not uncommon for a female to be a bit smaller than a male in regard to weight. Females tend to settle down near the 6 to 8 pound range and males generally are a bit larger and are closer to the 9 or 10 pound range.

We have seen some sources list the weight of the Papillon to be as tiny as 4 pounds (1.81 kg) however this is not common and a Pappy of this size would be considered undersized should he or she be the expected 8 to 11 inches tall (floor to withers).

So, with this information, your dog should weigh about ten pounds if she is 11 inches at the shoulder.

ANSWER : A. As I’m sure your vet has told you it’s pretty unusual for a dog to have had multiple UTI’s starting at 8 weeks of age. I think it’s likely that she has a congential problem, which means something didn’t develop correctly inside or outside her body and it’s making her prone to the UTI’s.

There are a few bladder abnormalities that can contribute to UTIs, including urachal diverticulum (a little pouch or out-cropping of the bladder) and ectopic ureters (the ureters do not enter the bladder at the appropriate spot). On the outside, she could have a redundant vulvar fold, which is predisposing her to trapping fecal matter at her vulva, and the bacteria is ascending up to her bladder and causing recurrent UTIs.

The other possibility of that she got a UTI initially and it was never treated appropriately, i.e. The appropriate antibiotic wasn’t used and it never really resolved, but it seems like it’s coming back. I think this is less likely, as it’s really uncommon to begin with to see UTI’s in dogs this young. I also once saw a 4 month old dog with bladder cancer, but that’s incredibly rare and I think highly unlikely in your dog.

Your question got cut off at the end but it sounded like you were about to say that she may have kidney problems. If that’s right clearly this is becoming a serious problem for her.

Your dog needs a competent vet to work up this problem. It’s likely that she’s going to need some advanced imaging, including possibly an x-ray procedure called a cystogram and possibly an ultrasound. You might consider taking her to a veterinary internal medicine specialist at this point, if one is available in your area.