Weight Loss

Bostongirl'sChin75 · Jan 5, 2010

When weighing Herby this morning, I noticed that she had lost a bit of weight. She is down from 632 to 593 grams. I think it is due to the stress of having taken her with me this past weekend when I went out of town. She did not eat as well as she normally does due to this.
She has never been a really hefty chin, as she has never weighed over 650 grams but she had some dental issues a month ago that caused her to lose quite a bit of weight and she is still trying to recover from that and I do not want her to go any further downhill.
I have some Critical Care here at the house, along with some LifeLine and Dyne. I am starting to feed her 10 cc of Critical Care along with 2 TBSP of ground pellets and 1/8 tsp of LifeLine and 2-3 drops of the Dyne, as per the directions for both. I am also offering her as much hay and pellets as she will eat, along with making sure she is drinking her water,as well. She is getting the Dyne 2 times a day and the 10 cc's of CC 4-5 times a day.
My questions are: How long should I give her the Dyne? and Is there anything else I can do to help her gain some weight or anything else I should be doing?

Any advice will be greatly appreciated!

ticklechin · Jan 6, 2010

I personally do not handfeed for weight gain, if she can eat, let her eat at her own pace for weight gain, slow weight gain is best when recovering from illness or teeth issues. If she can't eat, that is a different story, but if she does eat let her gain weight naturally.

Bostongirl'sChin75 · Jan 6, 2010

Oh! Okay, I will do that then! Thanks!

tunes · Jan 22, 2010

I will hand feed for weight gain if they need it. An ill chin can eat and still lose weight. If you don't stop that weight loss and start the healthy gaining again, you'll risk losing the chin.

The amount of weight you describe is not huge, so I wouldn't mess with it. If you do, she may end up choosing the critical care over the regular pellets, then it becomes a huge battle.

Bostongirl'sChin75 · Jan 22, 2010

Thanks! She ended up gaining all the weight back and a little more too. She still likes her pellets a little ground up and moistened, due to her teeth issues, but I make sure she has access to both those and dry pellets and plenty of hay. And she eats like food is going to out of style!