Weight loss in dogs is a result of several things, ranging from severe conditions such as metabolic disorders to stress and anxiety.
A dog experiencing weight loss has lost around 10 per cent of its total body weight, and it is a cause for concern and worry for dog owners. Seeing your pet looking unhealthy and shrivelled is always disheartening.
Suppose your dog is losing weight. You should find a dietary balance essential to keeping your pet healthy and strong. However, your dog’s diet is not the only factor that makes it lose or gain weight. Ensure you take it for routine check-ups. Treat all underlying medical conditions.
My Dog Is Losing Weight; What Can Cause This?
Gastrointestinal Disorder
Suppose your dog cannot swallow or digest its food; this will affect your dog’s ability to eat food. When your dog suffers from a gastrointestinal disorder, it will display symptoms that include vomiting, reaching, and diarrhoea.
Additionally, it will be uncomfortable, and you can hear gulping sounds from your pet. It is likely to regurgitate the food it just ate. As your pet cannot digest its food properly, it will lose weight as the body does not get enough nutrients, which causes it to lose weight.
Metabolic Diseases
Diseases such as kidney, liver, heart diseases or diabetes can disrupt your dog’s body’s ability to convert food to energy. Consequently, your dog will not gather the required nutrients the body needs to function correctly and be healthy.
Diabetes in dogs causes them to lose weight quickly because their bodies cannot break down food and obtain energy from glucose. Liver disease can be caused by ageing, but a hereditary condition can also cause it.
Kidney disease does not cause weight loss immediately; weight loss in dogs arises when kidney disease has reached a chronic stage. Similarly, heart diseases do not cause weight loss in dogs immediately.
Digestion Disorders
Your dog can have a healthy appetite and eat a lot but will have problems digesting its food. An example of a digestion disorder is exocrine pancreatic insufficiency, which affects your dog’s ability to break down meals into valuable nutrients.
This means that all of the vital nutrients your dog consumes daily flow through their digestive tract and are not absorbed by the body. It may cause your dog diarrhoea, loose yellow stool, and weight loss.
Malabsorption
Your pet’s ability to absorb nutrients from food entering its digestive system is inhibited by malabsorption disorders. One of the most prevalent malabsorption illnesses in dogs is inflammatory bowel disease.
Irritable bowel syndrome occurs when your dog eats a lot yet loses weight, vomits, has diarrhoea, or has foul-smelling loose faeces.
Dietary Issues
Changing your dog’s diet can result in weight loss. It may be that the new diet regime you place on the dog does not agree with your dog’s system and may make it stop eating. There is a likelihood that the new diet contains irritants and allergens, causing it to stop eating.
It may even be that you need to give your dog more food. Giving your dog foods with low nutritional value will cause it to lose weight whether you feed it much of the food.
Parasites Often Cause Weight Loss In Dogs
Parasites in dogs may not be as common as in times past, thanks to advancements in dog care. However, your dog may be infested with parasites that affect its ability to digest food and absorb nutrients.
Intestinal parasites such as hookworm, whipworm, roundworm, giardia, and tapeworm can cause weight loss in pets. At the same time, an internal parasite like the heartworm also causes weight loss. These parasites cause vomiting, diarrhoea, and malnutrition in dogs.
Stress And Anxiety Often Leads to Weight Loss In Dogs
Some dogs do not respond well to changes. These changes can include diet, activity levels, and introducing new pets to the family. Furthermore, your dog can also react adversely to changes in the attention level it gets or changes in the environment.
Stress and anxiety can make your dog lethargic and lose interest in food. This is sure to make it lose weight.
Cancer
It is common for your dog to lose weight despite eating the same amount as before if suffering from cancer. Like in humans, dogs have several kinds of cancer, and some don’t show signs until they’ve spread.
Although this disease can affect all dogs, it is more prevalent in older dogs. Your dog is likely to lose weight because of this. However, your pet might also be in severe pain that will cause it to stop eating.
Cushing’s Disease
Hypercortisolism refers to the presence of excess cortisol in the blood, which is due to the overproduction of cortisol in your pet. It can lead to kidney damage, diabetes, lethargy, thinning skin, frequent urination, and weight and hair loss.
Weight loss is one of the significant effects of Cushing’s syndrome. It causes your dog to lose weight, and its symptoms, such as lethargy and kidney failure, also trigger weight loss in a dog.
Conclusion
The older a dog gets, the more its rate of metabolism slows down, as most of its organs cannot function as they used to. It is more common for older dogs to lose weight, but it can also happen in puppies.
It would be best to visit a veterinary doctor when your dog is experiencing weight loss, and they can diagnose what is causing it to lose weight. However, you should ensure your dog is on a healthy and nutritious diet.
