[Gem M]

Okay so here is his history

We obtained him at 8 weeks he was skin and bones. The vets told us to prepare for the worse. He didn’t even weigh a pound! He had blood in his stools but was very playful and alert. They said it was parvovirus, I argued that it was worms. After worming him regularly each week he started to grow and the weight came on. Food was an issue he’d go three months the get sore skin and anal glands. Some food he would have very loose stools.

The vets would give us steroids but overall we just kept moving through different kibbles moving to anything grain free. He never had an ounce of fat on him and had an absolute love of life but never got to an ideal weight for a pointer for more than a month. We managed his environmental exposures to help his paws and kept switching foods every 3 – 6 months unless there was an immediate problem.

In January I researched food until I was blue in the face, by this time I was working at a vets myself. I decided on Orijen… The vets disagreed that he needed so much protein and as he was loosing weight I felt despite him looking fab fur wise, anal gland wise and pads I should listen to one particular vet and give him a carb based diet. He gained nothing and I spoke to a nutritionist who said no way is this the right food for him. So I decided enough is enough we are going raw. I spoke with another nutritionist and she explained meats, percentages etc etc. I’m also adding in some sweet potato and butternut squash to his veggies. The plan is lamb as a main base, little fish each day and small amounts of goats yogurt and veg. Egg each day.. Then move to more meat but all of this slowly slowly..

So my boy is pretty much the dream of my vets, he is very active, yet calm, and they think I’m making too much fuss as he is in their minds healthy!! I have spoken to 7 different vets with all different backgrounds and they all say yes he is underweight but he is fine. But I can see every rib, his hip bones, even his back bones. He shivers in the winter. He needs some fat. We’ve gone from walking him 2.5 hours a day off lead to 1 hour every other day off lead. But we can see that what other dogs do in a week he does in an hour. That’s no exaggeration we once did a 26 mile hike and he was STILL running on the 25th mile! He is just a beautiful dog with a lust for life. He is fast playful and great fun. He plays fetch, plays with my other dog, loves his walks and is active around the house for about 8 hours a day… But very obedient.

Anyway last night I gave him some frozen meat in a bowl and he absolutely woofed it down… So I think it’s a texture issue! I’m sure giving frozen is not good but I’d rather that than no food. He ate some frozen lamb, pumpkin, two eggs and two frozen sprats in the end!!!

• This reply was modified 10 years, 6 months ago by Gem M.