Couple of questions about my dog?

Question

Okay my first question may seem a little odd but it confused me. I have never had a male dog before so forgive me for the ignorance on the issue.....but when male dogs are neutered, do they always castrate them? I had my male cats neutered and they still "appear" to be intact as they only cut the sac to remove the testicles then close the wounds and it fills with fluid appearing normal. Yet I was brushing my dogs belly last night and noticed he has NOTHING but a penis. No sac, no anything. Is this common practice?

My second question is, what would make a dog not like the good foods? I have tried feeding him Natural Choice, Iams, Science Diet, Pro Plan, Pro Plan Select, and Authority. No luck, he refuses to eat any of it. He will nibble here and there but no real eating and he's losing weight now. Vet says he's perfectly healthy, all tests came back normal. Suggested just trying new foods to find one he'll eat. More info coming.........

I adopted him almost 4 weeks ago and his previous owner fed him generic foods, will I have to resort to feeding him such bad food?? I have even tried feeding him our food, he's extremely picky! For his breeds (he's half golden retriever and half saint bernard), he is about 15 lbs. underweight, was almost that when we got him. I'm trying to get his weight up but he's not cooperating. Any suggestions?

Serious answers only!

I'm not just changing his dog food continuously. I bought small sample type packs of the dog foods from my vet to try with him and when he refused to eat it, I mixed it with the ProPlan I have been feeding him and nothing. I know better than to outright change a dog's food. But I need to find a good food he will eat because him losing weight is not good. I can't feed him soft food because it gives him bad gas and loose stools so that's out as well. Just looking for ideas to get him to eat better because it's worrying me. A giant breed dog should not be as thin as he's looking.

Answer 1

Well, for your first question, yep, just a penis. That's all mine has after his surgery. As for food, all pets are different. I always thought that dogs just inhaled their food like you see on the pet food commercials on tv. Mine's never done that, and he's a pretty hardy dog. He just eats once a day (in the evening). I've tried him on several different foods too. It surprised me when he settled in with regular Purina Dog Chow. Every once in a while he gets a little bored with it and I change it over to Beneful. Do the different brands that you try still have the same main ingredient? Are they generally beef, lamb, chicken? Maybe it's not so much the brands that he doesn't like, but the main ingredients? Just a thought. Good luck.

Answer 2

Most vets nowadays don't remove everything, the empty sac is still there. Your dog was just done differently for whatever reason.

As for feeding him, you should pick a good quality food and stick with it. Changing his food is going to give him diarrhea as well as contribute to his pickiness. What you can do is add a little oil (about 1 tablespoon) to his food which is great for his skin and coat. Also, you can mix in a bit of low-fat cottage cheese or some no-fat, no-sugar yogurt (it's good for digestion), a few vegetables, or you could mix in a bit of canned food to get him to eat.

I also don't agree with taking a dog's food away after a couple of minutes, try giving him more time.

Answer 3

the neuter is done the same way as a cat. the sack is cut and the testicles are removed and stitched the sack will get smaller and smaller in till it is level with the body. pick a good quilaty food and put it down and give him 5 min. eat and then pick it up and feed it again at next feeding after two days he should start eating what you give him. you can e-mail me if you have any more questions

Answer 4

i have a golden retriever/ chow and he is very picky about his hard food i always have to mix it with soft food and he usally will eat it, you might wanna try that