my dogs losing weight, and i dont know what to do

Question
I sent u an e-mail the other day regarding the health of my dachshund. She was losing weight and you suggested that I change her diet. I have stupidly not followed your advice because I worry that a different type of food could hurt or kill her. She still looks the same. When I got her, she was still a bit weird. She threw up, had diarrhea, and sometimes in that diarrhea, there would be blood. Any suggestions to her medical problem? I suppose you can suggest other foods available at PetsMart.

Answer
Cecilia-

First let me apologize for the time it took to get back to you. I was unexpectedly admitted into the hospital for a few days.

Now,
There is a great food available at petsmart, called Blue Wilderness. Its a grain free high protein all natural food. I would recommend that.

I'm a little confused at the sentence "When I got her, she was still a bit weird. She thew up..." does this mean, when you originally got her, or is this something more recent? Is she throwing up with diarrhea now? Vomiting with diarrhea can be a thousand different things, from parasites or a food allergy to a serious illness. IF she is vomiting and having bloody diarrhea now, she needs to go to the vet and have a stool sample checked, because she could have a viral or bacterial infection. If the stool sample comes back clean then its definitely problems digesting the food shes on.

My advice then would be two things. First, no matter what, change her food. Give her a can of pumpkin filling (like you use for pumpkin pie) to help her flush out her system. This will give her diarrhea for a short time but it will get any toxins out of her system, its like the colon cleansing drinks available to humans. Then switch her over to her new food with only a handful of her old food mixed in for a week. Second, be very observant of her behavior for the next three weeks. It will take a little while for all the bad chemicals and preservatives that are in low grade dog food to work their way out of her body, but when it does you will really notice a difference. I was skeptical at first until I changed my 7 dogs over. I have a 4 year old rescue with hip dysplasia who has been on medication since he was 6 months old. Since I changed his food he trimmed down on his weight, built muscle, found energy, and I haven't had to use his pain medication in over a year. Its really, really amazing what diet can do.

Good luck,