7yr old Chiuhauha, hair loss/bloating/weight loss....?

Hello, I have about a 7yr old male short hair chiuahuaha named Peppi. Recently, he has had a semi major hair loss going on on his chest. I know these breeds of dogs are nervous by nature or high strung as some people would say. But Peppi is pretty mellow for his breed. Along side with that he has been losing weight for some reason and at the same time getting bloated ( in the gut area ). My first few vet visits with him have yeilded nothing except a little higher than norm levels in his kidney ( i think it was they said) but nothing major, according to the vet. Now it seems his hair loss has accellerated a bit along with his bloating/weightloss. We recently had a routine vet teeth cleaning visit but nothing out of the ordinary has happend. He had a couple teeth that got pulled while they were cleaning. but he bounce back after the visit but his other systems still persist. There hasn't been any radical food/enviroment changes, he is taking a allergy pill at night, but he has been on that for about a year now with no problems. He did at one time start to get backed up and wouldnt do his 2nd duty like he normally did ( after the teeth pulling ), but we gave him some pumpkin and he seems back to his normal bathroom duty's but the other issues still persists. Any ideas? Update* labs came back still with high enzyme lvls. Without the Ultra-sound or a Biopsy the Vet told me he is in liver failure, Mid to late stage. more on the late. I was told he has a few months at best. I have been reading various articles from alot of differnt web sites concerning * Milk Thistle * and the Home cooked Liver cleaning diets, all natural or whatever other various names they have. They one i have chosen to try to elevate his quality of life and or extend is one by Dr. J. Dodds from California. Thankyou all that have responded.

7 years for a chihuahua is really old. things like this happens once the dog hits the old age

Did they check his thyroid? Perhaps you need a second opinion from a different vet.

he has cancer. poor bugger.

need further checking like thyroid or even cushings or other endocrine disorder. Protein losing enteropathy may also be a possibility.

he has cancer

i think your dog has cancer i had a chihuahua with the same symptoms and she died of cancer srry take her to the vet immediatly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i really hope i'm wrong :( but check out these symptoms on this page because yours are matcing ...

It is something in the gut. He may not be absorbing nutrients (hair loss, weight loss etc.) It could be related to the pancreas or just an inability to absorb certain nutrients as he ages. Then there could be a blockage in the intestines (could be benign or not) and that would cause the slow intestinal movement and poor absorption of food which means weight loss. Have the vet run a blood test - forget the name of it but it is pretty accurate on detecting malignancies. A stool anaylsis would be a good idea. If there is a blockage, the only way to real tell conclusively is xrays and/or ultrasounds. Try going to a higher fat food - one of the premium performance foods that are more digestable and more concentrated. Check Eagle (Pak?)Pack and Diamond that both make performance foods. (My preferred is Caribou Creek Gold but it (1) only comes in a 40 lb bag which feeds a 115 lb dog for 4 weeks and (2) it has to be ordered from the folks that make it and shipped to you as it is not sold at retail.) Add some oil to his diet - maybe corn oil if he will eat it (mine never have) or olive oil. Best would be fish oil capsules. You can get them a health food store for less than a pet supplier charges. Given his size, get the lowest possible dose and only give him one every 2-3 days or better yet, open the capsule and pour 1/2 - 1/3 at most on his food.

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