Does my dog need prozac?!?!?! pics added - Hunterwayit

Does he have a set routine?  Do you do NILIF?  My pit mix can be an anxious dog when it comes to some things, but she seems to thrive on routine--she *loves* it.  My lab is more laid back, but Sally wants to know what to expect out of her day.  Also, I have found that doing NILIF with Sally helps.  We are not extremely strict with it, but we do find that it provides her with the structure that she craves.  In fact, when we brought our other dog in as a pup, she was really very unsure of the whole situation, but when we stepped up the NILIF, she seemed to be much more comfortable.  

It's nice to see you back. As for lean and hyper, all I can offer is I have one of those. I worry about it too, since it is summer here and Kord has taken to eating less due to the heat. He also loses weight fast when he skips a meal.

He was just into see the vet for yearly vac's and she said leave him be, he is young, hyper and active, but healthy and just like us eventually age and weight are going to catch up to him down the road.

I am sure someone will come along with better knowledge, my only advice would be no drugs unless it is a serious issue.

I have had a cat on Prozac and the effect for him was much different than the effect on people. The cat's as mean as a snake and would attack just about everyone, so the vet suggested Prozac for him. It fixed the problem... it also fixed personality, he had none while on the medicine! Even my dad (who hates the cat) said that we couldn't continue to give him the medicine because it messed with him too much and he seemed worse off on it than he did off of it.

How long does he go off his food? Do you offer it to him again or do you spice it up before offering it to him. Misha thinks it's really cute to start not eating because my parents will start giving him table scraps. I have to monitor exactly what he eats right now, so no more table scraps (we haven't had anything he could eat that we brought home or had leftovers of). He'll still stop eating for a while, but the longest he ever went without food was three days. And it was sitting right in front of him, so he wasn't starving. The more you offer him tasty treats for not eating, the more often you'll have to offer him tasty treats.

What specifically are you seeing that makes you think behavioral?  pacing?  repetitive behaviors???????

 Have you had the vet check him out?  a fecal in particular? 

Family stress can wreck havoc -- I've got a dog in much the same situation, and I just took her in for a complete blood work-up and fecal and thyroid exam simply because she's so prone to lose weight. 

 I have pretty well doubled her food and now additionally I'm giving her Prozyme (a pre-digestive enzyme you add to their food) because everything health-wise checked out fine. 

You could try something like Hylands Calms (dunno if that's available in NZ -- it's a homeopathic), or you could try something herbal easily like St. John's Wort.

Sorry I don't know what NILIF is??

Our routine is fairly good but I do go off course sometimes, due to work & I own a horse that sometimes takes me away from him for a bit longer than planned. But currently he is in company when left with my flat mate & his dog, Tala. But one positive thing is my home situation is changing in two weeks which I think will be for the good. Will be just us in a self contained unit where my horse is kept, on 36 acres primo for my pooch  that likes to run.

His weird quirks are yes pacing, can't settle. But normally if I tell him to get on his bed or the couch yes we let our dogs on the furniture hehe he will settle unless something distracts him which can be as small as the other dog doing something. But the odd thing is he isn't reacting to that situation or even showing interest he will normally do a pace circle round the coffee table and then struggle to settle.

He has been like this since I have owned him I am in a consistant weight fight with him, often resorting to making him dinners with rice/mince etc but this is hard with the other dog so I have upped his breakfast cause Tala is not up when we get up in the morning.

I have had the vets look at him on two previous occasions, both times they said he is healthy and I am not doing anything wrong. He is fed well & just stresses his weight off. The advise me to up his food and exercise.

I will take some pics of him tonight to show you his condition and weight. Will be interesting what you guys think of my skinny pooch.

Sorry not the best photos couldn't get hold of a digital camera so used my phone. Chip is not a fan of cameras even phones he seems to know your taking a photo. He normally just does a sad face. But here it seems he has gone for "Starving Euthopian look" hehe

Poor guy, sorry to hear you're having troubles.

NILIF: http://k9deb.com/nilif.htm

Basically, the dog has to do something you ask him to do before he gets something that he wants. I think of it kind of like kids doing chores around the house in order to get toys, allowance, etc. Sit before going out the door, down before dinner, "go to your pillow" before getting a cookie, etc. It's basically just using "normal" rewards (food, trips, toys, etc.) to reinforce training ideals (commands, good behavior, etc.).

It's certainly helped my nervous little guy, maybe it will help yours, too? 

Oh cool thanks for the link have had a brief read of it, we already practice it slightly by default but does seem very logical will read thru properly & put it into practice.