[Lily H]

Hi all.
I’m a dog mom to a 2.5 year old golden retriever who lost 2/3rds of his intestines, including his ilium about six months ago. They aren’t entirely sure the underlying cause but his intestines strictured and we almost lost him. I’m so thankful to have found this forum because there is so little information out there.

Our poor guy is pretty consistent these days but he seems to still be losing weight. We tried a number of commercial prescription diets (hills, Royal canin, Purina em) but the dry food kibble just gave him extremely liquid diarrhea which led to some rapid weight loss. We’ve been doing chicken and rice but I can’t help but feel like he’s not getting enough nutrients so we are going to consult with the nutritionist again. (For those in the US the university of Tennessee has animal nutritionists and they do remote consultations and diet plans for between $100-300).

Baker is on about eight medications a day (I’d be happy to share if anyone would like the list). But the thing I’ve noticed makes the biggest difference in his stool is the fiber powder we give him with each meal. He pops about 3 times a day and because he’s eating 2000+ calories a day the bms are quite large. I’m hopeful that over time his diet can help firm things up and that he’ll start absorbing some of the calories.

I have a couple questions for the group of people are still active. First, when did people start noticing their dog gaining weight again? Was it a time frame or once related to another metric?

Second, Baker has recently started having a lot of pain/trouble with his hind end and possibly his spine. We saw a neurologist and she didn’t think it was a disc problem. Xrays said it could be possibly mild hip dysplasia. It’s just crazy to think he has another, unrelated problem. I’ve noticed he seems uncomfortable when he poops because the stance is hard on his back end and I wonder if any other chronic diarrhea dogs have had similar issues from the amount of time spent in that awkward position?
Thanks all!